The legal relationship between brands and the music industry, analyzed in academic training courses

Music has played an integral role in the consumer purchasing experience at points of sales. Playing tracks while a customer is in the store requires brands to employ careful legal analysis and poses questions about the relationship between the retail world and the music industry. As the European leader specialized in providing the retail world with innovative strategic solutions, we are the only player in the industry that delves into the legal subject matter within specific university and postgraduate training courses through partnerships with Università Cattolica and Accademia Costume & Moda.

More specifically, starting in January 2023, Michele Sponza, our Group Music & Licensing Director and a leading industry expert in music design and copyright, will share his experience in two academic training courses along with Niccolò Bonazzon, the head of the Group’s Music & Radio Business Unit.

On 21 January, Sponza and Bonazzon gave a lecture at Università Cattolica’s AFMEL (Post-Graduate Training in Music and Entertainment Law) discussing subject matters pertaining to the retail and music industries, particularly the relationship between copyright protection and playing musical tracks at points of sale, licensing, etc. Along with its fourth edition, the Course provides excellent training in the field of music and entertainment law through discourse on themes involving the music and audiovisual and motion picture industries. It specifically discusses the relationship between copyright protection and new media.

In April, Mike Sponza will play a prominent role in the Style & Management for the Music Industry Specialization Course that develops strategic, innovative, and creative development skills in the recording industry, including Music Publishing in a broader sense. The course of study examines the sector’s complex rules in management and legal terms through a multi-pronged process that trains professionals who, upon finishing their studies, can discuss different aspects of the industry while working within the role of their choice. The Specialization Course’s objective is to train a new generation of professionals who are experts in identifying, creating, developing, and managing an artist and their career in the music and entertainment industry. The Accademia’s Costume Design & Fashion Specialization Course will be composed of a 40-hour module and will take place at the Accademia’s Rome Campus in April.

We have been working with in-store music for several years and acquired unique experience in Italy by working with brands on a tailor-made and accurately planned musical offering according to parameters like the target, the type of points of sale, and the brand’s mood. The objective is to use music to positively influence the consumer’s purchases. Therefore, music becomes an integral part of the point of sale, a fundamental engagement tool, and a captivating, immersive means of communication within points of sale. The music takes customers into the world of the brand’s values and story.

Mike Sponza: “We’re very happy to share M-Cube’s expertise that we’ve acquired over the course of more than 20 years working internationally in prestigious training contexts that are targeted toward a young student audience that’s about to enter the world that we’re currently at the helm of. Our message is that music, more than other art forms, allows for the sentiment generated from a highly targeted and precise music program to be scientifically and mathematically measured, both for the brand and for the characteristics of a single point of sale. What we want to communicate to our students is the power that music can have at an emotional level and in contexts where the client is the protagonist, allowing them to guide consumer decisions and help them in their purchasing journey. The legal and copyright aspects that the lessons will focus on are fundamental for regulating this industry. These aspects aren’t always clear, and it’s important to gain a deep understanding of their implications.