Workshop Guidelines
This Music Technology Workshop is designed to focus on musical artists, including performers, songwriters, producers, and engineers, who need support in finding new models for monetizing their works and increasing their income and potential as artists.
Artists should have experience in their local music industry with monetizing their work. They should possess basic knowledge, or at least a strong interest in, digital music financial streams and emerging technologies’ impact on the music industry. Artists should have a demonstrable ability to apply their learnings in their local music economy, and a strong network of other artists and influencers with whom to share their learnings.
This first Workshop focused on three artists from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. The artists received individualized training and coaching at the Lab.
The Workshop format could be expanded to serve up to 12-20 artists at a time grouped in teams of 3-5 artists, receiving a comparable experience.
Workshop conditions
Workshop: The Workshop should run in tandem with a hackathon or tech event. A successful hackathon usually lasts 2 full days, with periods designated for input from mentors or end users, and a final pitch where the teams and product prototypes are evaluated.
The challenge for the hackathon is also focused on creative media or the music industry, so that the prototypes align with the interests and needs of the artists.
Artists: Artist exposure to technological prototyping gives a first hand experience at how innovation can create new opportunities for creative expression, artistic collaboration, and monetization of music.
Artists involved in the hackathon can see and experience first hand how innovation can create new opportunities for creative expression, artistic collaboration and monetizing their music.
Artist feedback on prototypes during the hackathon is invaluable to designers and hackers.
Student Fellows: Ideally, the hackathon participants complete an orientation in design thinking and, user-focused methodologies, so they are focused on the experiences and interests of the artists, their end-users
Setup, Equipment and Materials
The training spaces should be engaging, flexible and with natural light. Trainings should shift between different rooms throughout the Workshop week, in order to adapt to the types of trainings being given, and to offer a change of scenery.
The rooms should also be large enough to allow the participants to move around and collaborate with each other during the sessions. Along with the training rooms, there should be adjacent clusters of tables and chairs or couches where participants can meet in smaller groups, to discuss with each other or with the hackers.
The spaces should be equipped with the suggested equipment and resources listed here.
