My name is Rylan Mitchell. I am a junior graduating in 2012 with a major in Music Business and a major in Marketing.
Why I came to Greenville College
In one way or another I've always had a foot in music. I come from a family with a strong musical background and growing up I played in various rock bands, as well as the school concert and jazz bands. However, I never planned on having a career in music; I wanted to study business law in college and become an attorney. But playing shows as a teenager exposed me to the business world of music, and I couldn't get enough of it. Pretty soon I found myself looking over booking contracts and helping set up local shows of my own.
When I visited Greenville's campus, I was impressed by the quality of the music department. Even further, I was ecstatic to discover that the college offered a program in music business. Greenville seemed like a great fit for me: I loved the campus atmosphere, and it gave me the chance to study something that I was really interested in. Today I still plan on going to law school after college, and becoming an attorney in the music field.
The best thing about the Music Business program
Most of the best things about the music business program at Greenville have to do with the great study environment that the college provides. It's a small campus and it's a place where I can stand out and make a difference. I can walk into the office of any of my professors and talk to them any time. I'm good friends with some of my professors and the relationships I've developed with them have had a tremendous impact on my development here. They are a great resource on the music industry and they help me out all the time; last year, I was given help applying to internships over the summer and ended up interning at the Harry Fox Agency in Manhattan.
There are always opportunities for me to get involved in: perfect examples being Blackroom Records and AgapeFest. I helped co-found Blackroom Records, a student-run record label on Greenville's campus, when I came in as a freshman. This year we've signed our second artist, Owen Pye, and are releasing and promoting his new record in the spring. AgapeFest, a student-run Christian music festival, has been a part of the music program for a long time and has a lot of involvement on campus. Programs like these help students gain hands-on experience that they are unlikely to find on a larger campus.
