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08.23.05
Berklee Finds Free Lessons
Hit A Rich Note
 By
David Utter
Free music lessons from the Berklee College of Music have helped the school see
growth in its paid programs.
The Berklee College of Music plans to double its freely available lessons available
at Berkleeshares.com. That would make
over 170 downloadable lessons available. In a press release, the school sees the
free content it has available now as partly driving "explosive growth in paid
enrollment" in its online extension program.
One might see the concept of file sharing, even of free content, in diametric
opposition to the purposes of a music enterprise. Fortunately, Berklee recognizes
the value of legal and appropriate file sharing. Lessons for drums, guitar, voice,
and most importantly, bass, may be found online.
Many of the lessons come in pdf files, but a few lessons like Bass Funk Grooves
are available as MP3s, while Muting Strings for Bass is in QuickTime's movie format.
Berklee notes in its release that over a million unique visitors have downloaded
over 500,000 lessons.
Those downloads go beyond just music education and improvisation. Berkleeshares.com
also offers lessons on Production and Technology, Songwriting and Arranging, and
Music Business & Careers. Berklee also operates an online extension program at
BerkleeMusic.com; that program offers
students a chance to participate in programs without having to live near a Berklee
campus.
The success of the program reinforces what should be an ingrained lesson to site
publishers everywhere. Quality content brings in visitors, and very high quality
content converts them into customers.
About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. |
