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Menendez

Experiential Learning Interview and Opportunities Research

Alex Menendez
10/30/14

On October 30th , I met Sachin Santhosh in Odegaard Library to discuss his interests, passions, and outlook for a
future career. At the heart of this discussion was experiential learning. We talked with each other to uncover what
were interested in pursuing, and how we could potentially start down that path now as undergraduates through the
numerous avenues for experiential learning open to us at UW. Sachin had made it clear that he had been volunteering at the UW Medical Center for several years, stating thateven though he is not interested in medicinehe
feels secure in having that as a potential option, and explained further that it would be easy for him to become
much more involved in the Medical Center due to his previous service there. This, however, is not what he was
identifying as a candidate for experiential learning; anyone who knows Sachin knows that he is incredibly talented
and musically inclined. Therefore, he wasted no time in saying that he would ideally like to become involved in an
experiential learning project that involved music. I was curious, though, Isnt musicin and of itselfexperiential
learning? I mean, isnt learning to play an instrument experiential? If so, hasnt Sachin completed this project many
times already? Sachin was quick to diffuse my confusion, however, as he made it clear that he wants to be involved
in music by working at the interface of music and business. He and I are in the same microeconomics class, and when
I asked what his major was, he said he wanted to pursue a business degree here. When prodded why he wanted to
pursue business as opposed to a fine arts degree, he said that a business degree translates easily into numerous fields
and that, while he wanted to nurture his passion for music, he also wanted to have a secure, applicable degree from
a solid school like UW Foster. I thought that was really smart of Sachin to acknowledge that; even though he is
a multi-instrumentalist, there are thousands of other teenagers who are as well who are just as motivated. Rather
than simply taking the first bus to L.A. like any other musically-talented young adult, Sachin is being proactive and
making sure that he gains solid credentials so, if he chooses to focus solely on music, he will also have a strong degree.
So, naturally, I dug around for some opportunities for Sachin, and this is what I found:
1? .) Votiv, Inc. / Seattle, WA
Votiv is a company based in Seattle that promotes young talent through production/distribution, management, venture capital, and strategic, aggressive marketing. This would be perfect for Sachin to learn more about, due to the
fact that it not only focuses primarily on the business aspect of music, but is conveniently located in Seattle. Votiv,
Inc. has multiple areas, including:
a.)Votiv Music, which focuses primarily focuses on creating, marketing, and selling the music of up-and-coming
musical talents. They do this through marketing strategy, touring, advertising, radio promotion, publicity, digital
strategy, sales, and partnerships.
b.)Votiv Publishing, which provides publishing services to all of their artists.
c.)Votiv Management, which focuses on marketing, label relations, advertising, promotion, touring, recording, and
business strategy.
d.)Votiv Films, which focuses on producing feature films.
e.)Votiv Capital, which offers financial services such as management, investment, mentorship, and networking.
Clearly, Votiv caters to numerous areas of interest, all of which are rooted in the musical and visual arts. Each
of Votivs branches places a strong emphasis on the application of business strategies, so this seems like an interesting avenue for Sachin to look into. Votiv does offer internship positions to college students.
http://votiv.is
2.) Sub Pop Records / Seattle, WA
Sub Pop Records is a medium-sized independent record label based in Seattle, WA. They are responsible for releases
by Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Tad; hence, the label is often associated with grunge music. They offer
internship positions.
3.) This Fiction Management / Brooklyn, NY
This Fiction is a newly launched management company based in Williamsburg. They are the result of a merge between Seth Kallen and Josh Roth. Between the two of them, there are nine bands including X Ambassadors, Ra Ra
Riot, Panama Wedding, Jukebox the Ghost, Cayucas, Savoir Adore, Great Good Fine Ok, Sun Club and Exroyale.
They are currently seeking interns who want to gain direct experience with artist management and publicity.