Susanne Ripsomaa

 

It’s time for you to meet our patrol. I myself believe that the music business is at its best when it realizes its own essence. The current state emerges as a consequence of some prior action, outcome, or production and engages the participants involved. This same principle applies to building a team and forming one. In that case, it’s best when the team forms almost on its own – you suddenly realize the patrol exists. Ideally, everyone’s commitment is self-initiated, although sometimes a tangible shared experience is needed to kickstart it. It’s usually the way in. Either way, this is what happened to us. For us, the trigger was the music business management lectures.

As many of you know, I have been lecturing at several universities – teaching music business management. Every time a course comes to an end, some students want us to continue. This happens with every course. The course is somewhat incomplete, or at a stage where all of us are aware of what needs to be done next. However, tt often remains just a conversation.

Something unusual happened during the Campus Online course last summer. This time, those thoughts didn’t just remain as talk. I noticed the course had transitioned into a discussion phase even after it had ended. When I took a break from lecturing and gained some distance from the topic, I realized our patrol had been born. It just needed to be initiated.

However, the biggest surprise was the reaction of our group when I presented the idea to them. Most of them were anticipating my contact and already knew what I was going to say. So, there was no need to persuade anyone to join in. This is exactly what I mean when I say the best things naturally fall into place.

When we began considering our operational targets, the same pattern repeated itself. I had collaborated with several artists, and I often use them as examples during my lectures – discussing the relationship between an artist and a manager, among other similar topics. Most of the examples we use are drawn from real situations artists have faced. We present our operational targets and our own plans. Often, this implementation takes place during the course, and students can observe its progress and degree of success. So, why wouldn’t we continue from where we left off in the lectures?

A similar concept has also been on the minds of artists. When I then approached them with a concrete idea, they were also keen to join. As a result, we are jumping on board this moving train, and our group gets natural operational targets. For the next four months, we will be enhancing our teamwork, aiming to achieve a collective understanding of what we’re doing, and initiating various plans related to our artists.

So here we are, the future management patrol.;

Heidi Huttunen,

Johanna Laakkonen,

Olli Jukkola,

Viivi Koivu,

Susanne Ripsomaa,

Petri Savola,

Nicolas Roimola and

Mika Karhumaa

Experiences gained from this collaboration will also be utilized in future books and related education. We will delve deeper into many aspects in various locations. I believe this is a modern way to make things happen. Also, this story will be is updated..

And yes, the operation we’ve initiated reflects the same ideals that modern vocational education aims for. I’ll get back to this later when it is time for it. Until then, have a great autumn time!