Source: Louisville Business First
Ed Green, Business First Staff Writer
Kevin Richardson, a member of the pop music group Backstreet Boys, plans to use his knowledge and experiences from the music industry to open a school to educate individuals in Kentucky and the Midwest states on how to launch a musical career.
The school, which he and partner Keith McGuffey are calling Music Workshop, will be located at 624 W. Main in Louisville.
The partners have leased about 3,500 square feet on the sixth floor of the building for use as offices, classroom space and a small recording studio, Richardson said.
The school is expected to open Aug. 1, with classes beginning soon after, he said.
"I'm a Kentucky boy, and I want to give people in Kentucky and all over the Midwest a leg up in the industry," said the Danville, Ky., native. The curriculum will consist of "everything that I've learned, the experiences, the legal battles, the confusing terminology -- all of these different things that can be confusing when you're getting started."
McGuffey, a songwriter and longtime friend of Richardson, will manage day-to-day operations of the school and teach classes. Richardson, who lives in Los Angeles, will visit routinely and provide students with motivational speeches and personal experiences from the industry.
"This is my and my best friend's project," Richardson said. "We're not investing in it, this is us."
He declined to disclose how much is being invested to start the venture.
Among the offerings at Music Workshop will be courses in three areas: general music education, music and publishing, and a production software called Pro Tools. Each will offer 12-week courses for individuals interested in particular aspects of the industry. The courses will be available to individuals of all ages, but Richardson said some of technical aspects of the classes may be too complicated for students under ages 15 or 16.
Richardson added that he and McGuffey also are talking with officials at area universities to provide college credits for some of the classes. He said the two also are considering launching a Louisville-based record label that would manage area artists. Richardson said he expects to move back to Kentucky five or six years to be more involved in the school and the recording label.
"If there was something available like this at the time when I was growing up here, I definitely would have done it," he said. "At that time I was here, there weren't any resources available here. There still aren't. We don't think people should have to go to Nashville or Los Angeles or New York to make connections in the record industry."