| Course | BMB 670 Music Business Leadership and Ethics |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | graduate discussion post on the qualities of effective music business leaders |
| Length | About 380 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | MBA in Music Business |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BMB 670 Module 1
Module One Discussion
She Paid the Guarantees Anyway
The leader I want to discuss is the founder of the concert promoter I will follow all term. She opened a 400-capacity club in Columbus in 2004, started booking theaters in 2010, and launched a three-day festival on a farm outside the city in 2015. The company now books about 300 shows a year, has eighteen full-time staff and draws about 22,000 people a day to its festival. By any commercial measure she has been effective. I want to look at why.
The first reason is trust, and it was earned through specific acts. When the 2020 shutdown canceled more than eighty shows, most contracts' force majeure clauses allowed the company to keep or return deposits without paying artists' guarantees. She paid every guarantee for shows within the following two months anyway, about $310,000, using a bank loan. Agents still mention it. Brown et al. (2005) describe ethical leadership as fair conduct that others can see and learn from, and that decision did exactly that: it taught her staff, her artists and their agents what the company would do when it cost money to do the right thing.
The second is relationships. She knows most of the agents who route tours through the Midwest by name and returns calls herself. The third is judgment under pressure. A promoter's day is full of emergencies, a late truck, a broken generator, a storm warning, and she decides quickly and takes responsibility. Avolio and Gardner (2005) link authentic leadership, in which actions match stated values, to the trust and engagement of followers, and her staff describe her as the same person on a good night and a bad one.
The habit is the problem. Almost every decision still goes through her, from ticket prices to the menu for volunteers. Schein (2010) observes that founders shape a company's culture through what they pay attention to and control, and the culture she created waits for her. Staff rarely make calls on their own, and the company has no one ready to lead when she steps back, which she plans to do in two years.
For classmates: if you were hiring her successor, which of her qualities would you insist on, and which would you deliberately not look for?
References
Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 16(3), 315-338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.001
Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002
Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
What the BMB 670 Module 1 instructions ask for
The opening BMB 670 discussion typically asks you to describe the characteristics of an effective leader in the music industry, sometimes a well-known figure and sometimes a leader you have worked with. A strong post moves beyond adjectives such as visionary or passionate and shows specific actions that earned trust or produced results, then considers the leader's weaknesses as well. Research on leadership helps explain why certain behaviors matter, for example why consistency between words and actions builds credibility. Replies should test a classmate's example: would the same behavior work in a different part of the music business, or at a different stage of a company's life?
How this BMB 670 Module 1 discussion example is built
The post describes the founder of a Columbus promoter who grew the company from one club in 2004 to about 300 shows a year and a festival of 22,000 people a day. It identifies three sources of her effectiveness: trust earned by acts such as paying every artist's guarantee for canceled 2020 shows when force majeure clauses allowed her not to; deep relationships with agents and artists; and fast decisions during show-day crises. It then names the weakness: almost every decision, from ticket prices to volunteer meals, still goes through her. Using research on ethical and authentic leadership, it argues her strengths built the company and her habits now limit it, and asks classmates which of her traits a successor should keep.
Where the BMB 670 Module 1 rubric puts the points
Grading for the first discussion usually weighs the depth of the leadership analysis, the use of specific evidence, a balanced view of strengths and weaknesses, connection to leadership research and the quality of replies. The best posts tie each trait to an action and its effect on people, explain through research why that action mattered and recognize that a trait that helps at one stage of a company can hinder it at another. Posts that list admirable qualities without examples, or that praise a famous figure uncritically, earn less. A post that admits the leader's costly habits usually reads as more credible. Replies earn credit for testing a classmate's claim in a different setting.
BMB 670 Module 1 help: the mistakes that cost points
The weakest first posts are lists of virtues. Choose one leader and two or three decisions you can describe, then explain what each decision showed and how people responded. Include at least one weakness, since every leader has habits that limit the organization, and leadership research is as useful for explaining failures as successes. Keep the research focused: one or two sources that explain why the behavior mattered are better than a survey of theories, and say how you know what people thought of the leader. Close with a question that makes classmates commit to a view about the leader, ideally one where reasonable people would disagree.
Get BMB 670 Module 1 written to your instructions
Send the BMB 670 Module 1 prompt. The post will judge a leader through specific decisions and their effects on people, connect them to leadership research and leave classmates a pointed question. About two days; a first post is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
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BMB 670 Module 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free BMB 670 Module 1 Discussion sample?
This page includes the full BMB 670 Module 1 post on what made a Columbus concert promoter's founder effective and where she falls short.
What makes a leader effective in the music business?
Credibility with artists, agents and staff earned through consistent actions, deep relationships, sound judgment under pressure and the ability to build an organization that does not depend on one person.
What is ethical leadership?
Leadership that models fair and honest conduct, communicates ethical standards and holds people accountable, so that followers learn appropriate behavior from the leader's example.
What is authentic leadership?
Leadership grounded in self-awareness and consistency between a leader's values and actions, which research links to trust and to followers' engagement.
Can a leader's strengths become weaknesses?
Yes; habits that help a founder build a company, such as personal control of decisions, can slow it down and discourage others from taking responsibility as it grows.