#29 Music Business Program Director

I didn't get the job.  I didn't tell many people that I was offered the position.  A very prestigious university with an incredible music department had asked me to apply for the Program Director of Music Business. I was honored and flabbergasted all at the same time. They also had an amazing music wellness division that I was excited to exchange ideas with.  

Last February, before the lockdown, I had been on a panel at the university -- the subject was diversity.  As I left the stage, the Dean asked if I would apply for the job of Program Director.  I was overwhelmed and not sure what to say so I blurted out "Let me mention that I didn't finish college and don't have a degree,"  He said, "That's okay, you have a degree in life."  Well, I'll go along with that.  :)  

In the past I had said "no" to these offers -- either because it would have meant a big move or the time involved would have meant closing the studio.  Keep in mind until now, I had never made out a resume and didn't know what a CV was. 

In the first interview I said that I wanted to keep the studio and Blue Coast operating.  In fact, they agreed and encouraged me to do so, along with travel and other research activities. The outline of the time involved and commitment seemed to good to be true.  And maybe it was.

Then the lockdown came.  We were all forced inside and meetings happened on Zoom.  You might remember my trials and tribulations about Zoom. It seemed every time I had another interview with the university my zoom would crap out.  I spent days, weeks testing, upgrading and getting it to work, building a room, setting up cameras/lighting.  I'm still not sure why my voice became inaudible at the interviews, but it always did.

The last interview came down to me and one other person (I'll find out soon who got the job). The first 20 minutes of my interview was spent reconfiguring my zoom setup which ended with me calling it in from my iPhone.  I was thinking "geez, if we have to teach remotely on zoom, this interview is reason enough not to hire me".  But despite the issues, the teachers were gracious.  They wanted to know how I was going to handle balancing the studio/Blue Coast with running the program, a 3 hour daily commute 5 days a week and academia.  They warned me that academia is the opposite of moving fast, making decisions and executing.  Academia would be tedious.

I started to think they might be right.  New projects and assistants were now at the studio. We're entering into podcasts and immersive sound. A new deal with Entertainment One is in the works and a lot of catching up needed to be done.  I thought maybe driving 3 hours a day was going to be a bad idea. I wondered if I should withdraw my name -- especially as the weeks went on and no call either way came. 

I told myself, if I get it -- I'll do it.  Just do it and learn something. The thought of financial stability might be an interesting concept to have at this point in my life. As the new assistant list grew, it became harder to imagine how they would survive without me at the studio.

Then last week, I got a lovely email from the Dean apologizing for not getting back to me sooner.  They felt they were close to closing the deal with the other person and I probably will not get the job.  Truthfully, I didn't want to sound too happy that the job wasn't going to happen.  Dean, if you're reading this now, please understand that I would have taken the position with a positive attitude and learned the ins and outs of academia.  In fact, I may want to apply for a position like that one day again. I love teaching.  But now might be too soon with an unsettled world and my own goals changing.

Who ever got the job is probably outstanding and I can't wait to meet him.

It was an honor to be asked.