The Platinum Boy Music record company hosted a Music 101 College Tour seminar in SAC Ballroom B to teach students about the ins and outs of the music industry on Wednesday night.
The university’s Office of Multicultural Affairs collaborated with the Platinum Boy team to educate students on the music business and encourage them to get involved. The team spoke about how music has helped people overcome hardships, including police retaliation and the current presidential election.
Dr. Jarvis Watson, the assistant dean for multicultural affairs, explained how music has helped people express pain and emotion during difficult situations.
“The reason why we have Music 101 is because of the things that we experienced back in the ’90s,” Watson said. “A lot of stuff was going on and society had a lot to deal with, [like] things that are going on right now.”
The team, founded in 2000, has been touring with this seminar around New York. Last week, they visited Pace University. They also made stops at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and Microsoft’s headquarters in midtown Manhattan earlier this year.
Antwan “Amadeus” Thompson, chief executive officer and producer of Platinum Boy Music, gave a lecture on the function and reality of the music industry. During his career, he worked with well-known artists like Trey Songz, Chris Brown, Cee Lo Green and Jennifer Lopez.
“The music business isn’t what you think,” Amadeus said. “Music is spiritual. The music business isn’t. Music is a gift, and anybody can’t just wake up and be an amazing artist.”
Over 40 students attended the event to seek ways to obtain a music career. Although some of them have majors unrelated to the arts, they still have dreams of achieving musical stardom.
“I love music and I want to get involved in actually being able to put my music out there,” Tishana Michel, a junior health science major, said.
After Amadeus spoke to the crowd, student artists took the stage and demonstrated their talents to the producer. Some of these artists included Michel and the senior pop/rock musician Gui Williams.
Amadeus then presented a panel of his colleagues to offer advice to the students. The panel speakers, including performing artists Melissa B. and Grafh, spoke about achievements in their musical careers. Melissa B. is a New York City-based singer/songwriter with her own record label and Grafh is a rapper from Queens who recently released his second album, “Pain Killers: Reloaded.”
“I have incorporated music and technology together, so currently I’m on a couple of projects to incorporate that,” Melissa B. said. “I’m actually working on something with Grafh. We’re working on a tour and taking this tour to Asia and incorporating holograms.”
