Dave Kusek is the founder and former CEO of Berkleemusic and he has just launched a new venture providing an 8 week course to teach indie musicians "How to think like an entrepreneur".

The new course, which is not associated with Berkleemusic, is called "New Artist Model".

Some of the things the course will be teaching includes:

• Creating a career plan
• Building a team
• Booking gigs and tours
• Collaborating in the digital era
• Understanding copyrights - licensing and publishing
• Crowdfunding and financing your projects
• Digital marketing strategies
• Building an audience and a network

"In the digital era, independent musicians have enormous opportunities to manage their own careers, but musicians themselves need to think more like entrepreneurs and coordinate and manage a wide variety of activities," states Kusek. "The idea behind this course is to teach musicians skills and knowledge to fully manage their careers, from planning through execution. After they have finished the course in just short eight weeks, musicians will be better prepared to orchestrate all the pieces and people who will help them succeed."

For most of his life Kusek has been working in the music business with independent musicians, songwriters, performers, and educators. In 2005 he co-wrote one of the best selling music business books, The Future of Music, which sold over 50,000 copies. He also helped to get the MIDI technical standard started and was a pioneer of digital music at Passport Music Software.

Berkleemusic won the award for the Best Online Course eight years in a row from the University Professional & Continuing Education Association (UPCEA). Dave Kusek taught music business at Berklee College of Music for 14 years.

All of his experience in the field suggests that his new course is worth taking a look at for those of you just starting out in the music business, and perhaps for some who are looking for new ways to understand the digital music landscape.

As I mentioned before, this new course is not associated with Berklemusic, in fact Kusek is going into direct competition with the likes of Berklee Online and Full Sail University and he is saying he can deliver the same training you get from a 2 to 3 year course for a much lower cost.

He is offering two levels, the "Essential Class" for $297 and the "Master Class" which includes personal coaching from Dave Kusek for $997.

Classes begin in February and you can get more information at newartistmodel.com.

You might also like to check out their Indie Artist Summit to be held in Nashville February 20-22.