To celebrate the launch of a new dual degree program in music and management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will host Creative Entrepreneurship: The Music-Tech-Business Connection, a presentation and panel discussion, on Monday, April 22.

It will be held at 4 p.m. in Studio Beta of the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) on campus and is free and open to the public.

The event, presented by the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) and the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer, will explore the connections and opportunities that exist between music, technology, and business. The new degree program in music and management encourages students to cross boundaries between disciplines to discover and capitalize on new opportunities. In doing so, it epitomizes the Rensselaer vision of The New Polytechnic.

“Music in the media age is no longer just made by humans, but also in close collaborations with machines of various kinds,” said Michael Century, professor of new media and music at Rensselaer and co-organizer of the event. “As software advances, and music technology also progresses apace, the opportunities for businesses in the intersection of music and technology are enormous, and we will be preparing our students for precisely these kinds of opportunities.”

The event will feature presentations by Ge Wang, associate professor in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University, and Paul Rapp, a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property law relating to art and entertainment. The individual presentations will be followed by a panel discussion with Rensselaer faculty members. Clint Ballinger, executive entrepreneur-in-residence and lecturer at Rensselaer, will also respond to the presentations from the perspective of an entrepreneur.

Wang, who holds a joint appointment in music and computer science at Stanford, recently published Artful Design: Technology in Search of the Sublime, a design manifesto that explores how human beings shape technology and how technology shapes human beings. He is also the co-founder of SMULE, a mobile app development company based in Silicon Valley, and the designer of popular music apps such as Ocarina and Magic Piano.

Rapp has 30 years of legal experience, as well as a career as a professional musician and member of the rock band Blotto. He is also as a lecturer and author.

Chris Meyer, professor of practice and director of undergraduate education for the Lally School, and Rob Hamilton, assistant professor of music and media, served as the other co-organizers of the event, and the Rensselaer Union also provided critical support.