Incorporating classwork into future careers is integral for most students, and the upcoming Capital, Craft & Vinyl, and Cold Beer event is helping music technology majors bridge the gap.
Neal Schmitt’s Music Entrepreneurship class is collaborating with Craft & Vinyl, a record store and bar in Grandview, to give students a consequence-free, test run, comprehensive event.
“It’s the practical application of music entrepreneurship,” Schmitt said. “Some kind of application of putting something out into the world. The overarching theme is ‘What are we going to due as entrepreneurs?’”
The class was broken up into groups, four or five students per group, each group having a project: a 16-page zine (small magazine), four-song EP, event planning and sponsorship, and the concert group.
All of the groups have their own jobs but work with the sponsorship team who creates revenue for the event and products, getting donations and sponsorships, like the sponsorship from Dogfish Head Brewery.
Each group has to collaborate internally and externally—the content of the zine matches and works in with the EP cover art, the EP team creates a cohesive sound, and the EP team works on the communication that is necessary for the collective group.
“We’re looking at a scope of different jobs in the music industry, and a big part of our philosophy within the department is the idea that there’s very few people who do one thing in this profession, most people have multiple revenue streams,” Schmitt said.
The class project is many students’ first try at hosting an event or creating the behind the scenes content needed in their future careers. Giving students a trial run where they have the freedom to make mistakes and learn.
“They should all be really proud of themselves,” Schmitt said. “It’s not just a school project, the opportunity they’ve been given—and even to fail at it is something you don’t get in the real world. There’s nothing at stake and I think that’s a really exciting thing.”
The products of all the students’ work will be at the April 12 show; there will be physical copies of the zine, copies of the EP, giveaways and raffles of sponsored material, and the live show.
The bands performing at the event are The Soul Hunks, Bexley Moms, and Why Omen. Jack Ellis is involved with the show, but will not be performing.
Bexley Moms, a band run by Brianna Snider, sophomore, and Matt McCroskey, 2018 graduate, is a mix of excited and nervous.
“We haven’t actually played a gig together in over a year so we’re ready to knock your socks off and hopefully not mess up,” Snider said.
Because McCroskey is located in Cleveland, the two have been sending videos back and forth to practice and relearn their songs.
McCroskey came up with the name ‘Bexley Moms,’ because of the iconic Bexley mom culture that lives next door to campus. Since forming in January 2018, the duo has performed at campus events and produced three songs for the public as well as new, never-heard songs which they will be performing at the Craft & Vinyl event.
“I hope everyone digs the music and has a good time!” Snider said. “Hopefully, someone in the crowd will walk away from the show a Bexley Moms fan, too.”
One of the other bands performing is Why Omen, a Capital-based band. Members Thane Leshner and Elijah Jones have been in bands since 2013 and have added members Griffin Brink and Gino Frederico through the years.
Why Omen will be performing their “Gaia Hypothesis” EP as well as new music. The band is preparing for the upcoming show.
“I prepare for a performance by keeping my heart rate low and head clear,” Leshner, senior, said in an email. “I try not to talk to people, I don’t think about playing, I don’t like to do anything arduous during the day or eat very much.”
The event will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, April 12, at Craft & Vinyl on 1806 W 5th Ave.
For information on the event contact afisher2@capital.edu. For tickets contact any of the bands mentioned on their Facebook pages. Any additional information can be found on Craft & Vinyl’s Facebook page.
