Dave Kusek is an American business executive, music educator, author, and

software developer Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

known for his work in the

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

. After working as chief engineer at Star Instruments in the 1970s, in 1980 he became the founding CEO of the music software company Passport Designs. With Passport he helped develop Master Tracks and Encore, and also co-developed software and hardware that utilized the then newly introduced

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

interface. From 1997 to 2012 he taught music business at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

, becoming a vice president and founding its online music school Berkleemusic.com. In 2005, Kusek co-wrote the music business book, ''The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution''. In 2014 Kusek launched New Artist Model, an online music business school, which has been featured in publications such as ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', ''

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

'', and the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

''.

Early life and education

Dave Kusek was born in 1955 in Southington, Connecticut. From 1974 until 1980, Kusek studied music, communication, and

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

Business career

Star Instruments and Passport Designs (1970s-95s)

From 1975 until 1979 Kusek worked as chief engineer at Star Instruments, which made electronic drums such as the

Synare The Synare was a series of electronic drums made by Star Instruments in the mid-1970s through the 1980s. The Synare was a drum synthesizer, meaning that it was essentially a synthesizer, but instead of being controlled by a keyboard, it was trigge ...

. He became the founding CEO of Passport Designs in 1980, also taking on the role of president. The company developed music software allowing musicians to record and produce music using home studios. Among other programs, the company developed Master Tracks, Encore, MusicTime,

Alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

and the Soundchaser. While with Passport, he co-developed software and hardware interfaces using new the then new Music Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) industry standard. He worked with Passport Designs until 1995.

Digital Cowboys (1997-present)

In 1997, Kusek founded and became managing partner of Digital Cowboys, a digital media consultancy. Clients over time included companies such as AOL,

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

, BMG, Polygram,

Nettwerk Nettwerk Music Group is an independent record label founded in 1984. The Vancouver-based company was created by principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record label to distribute recordings by the band Moev, but the label expanded in Ca ...

Roland Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...

, Yamaha, Boston Acoustics,

Liquid Audio Liquid Audio Inc was a US software company based in Redwood City, California, Redwood City, California. Formed in 1996, Liquid Audio developed a major standard, multiple software clients, and a client/server media distribution system for streaming ...

, Kaman Music and

Berklee Music (1997-12)

Kusek started teaching music business at

in 1997, where he continued to teach for 14 years and became a vice president of the college. As founder and CEO of Berkleemusic, now called Berklee Online, Kusek created educational curricula as part of the first online music school. Berkleemusic won the award for the Best Online Course from the University Professional & Continuing Education Association for eight consecutive years. Kusek wrote a music business book, ''The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution'' with co-author Gerd Leonhard. Kusek left Berklee in 2012

New Artist Model (2014-present)

Kusek is currently founder and CEO of New Artist Model, an online music business school for musicians, songwriters, producers, and managers. According to ''

'', Kusek started the course "to help build a next generation of independent artists." The first eight week Essential online course debuted in early 2014, and topics include "licensing, publishing, e-commerce, concerts, promotion and networking." In April 2014, Music X-Ray, Bandzoogle and CDBaby became affiliates of New Artist Model. The program has been used by artists such as Eden Kai, who won the '' Brown Bags to Stardom'' award in Hawaii in 2015. By 2018, enrollment in the school reached 3,700 members from 60 countries.

Publishing history

References

External links

NewArtistModel.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusek, Dave American music industry executives American music educators Living people Year of birth missing (living people)