September 26th, 2018 | In partnership with The War on Drugs and the GRAMMY™ Music Education Coalition, presented with New York University #PandoraChallenge

“The Real Industry Pandora Challenge events give students a look behind the curtain into real-world artist marketing technologies and scenarios. This is the type of work they can put on resumes during future internship and job searches.”

— Heather Ellis, Manager, Artist Marketing at Pandora

On Wednesday, September 26th, New York University students came together for a kickoff event in partnership with The War on Drugs and the GRAMMY™ Music Education Coalition for the Pandora Challenge. The GRAMMY™ Music Education Coalition is a non-profit collective dedicated to building universal music education participation in elementary and secondary schools nationwide.

At this event, students formed teams to create music marketing and playlist campaigns to support the GRAMMY™ Music Education Coalition in positively impacting the lives of young people. This is the power of music and technology powering social impact.

“The program educates, empowers, inspires thousands of students for careers in music, media, marketing, and business. Students make a dent in the universe, while gaining the real-world experience and professional networks they need to secure future employment.”

— Jay LeBoeuf, Founder and Executive Director at Real Industry

The assignment is to create, launch, market, and optimize playlists that drive awareness to the mission of GRAMMY™ Music Education Coalition. The playlists will include an introduction from The War on Drugs and student-created voice messages that educate listeners about the non-profit’s mission. The student teams have four weeks to grow their listenership and influence their audience to become activated in the conversation around the power of music in transforming lives and access to music resources for all.

The New York University Pandora Challenge wrapped up on October 24th! Congratulations to the winning teams!

The Comedown

Carmen Lustik - Music Composition for Film and Multimedia - Class of 2021

Elizabeth Croteau - Music Composition for Songwriting and Production - Class of 2021

Akua Amponsah - Journalism Class of 2022

Raised by Radio

Emily Knesevitch - Music Business - Class of 2019

Aranyaka Verma - Music Business - Class of 2019

Paul Sergent - Music Business - Class of 2019

Stephanie Goldberg - Music Business - Class of 2019

For more on the Pandora Challenges, check out Pandora’s article: http://blog.pandora.com/us/pandora-real-industrys-second-annual-university-challenge/

October 11, 2017 | In partnership with Common and the NYU Steinhardt Music Business program. #pandorachallenge

How might we engage Common's voice, music, platform and Common Ground Foundation to encourage wellness, mental health, and mindfulness in communities of color?

Between October 11-18, 2017, over 200 New York University students applied their knowledge of music business, marketing, and social impact towards this real-world challenge.

Students worked to identify campaigns and activations meaningful to them and then proposed how Common, his fanbase, or his artist collective could achieve impact. To accomplish their work, students had access to real-world listener and fanbase analytics for Common, provided by Pandora's Next Big Sound. Tutorials on Next Big Sound and Pandora's Artist Marketing Platform were provided by Heather Ellis, Manager, Artist Marketing at Pandora.

“I am delighted to host the Pandora Challenge: Music and Social Impact at NYU Steinhardt,” said Larry Miller, director of the music business program. “We teach our students how to meld their passion for music with their desires for social impact, so this challenge, and Common’s participation, is a fantastic real-world opportunity for tomorrow’s music business leaders.”

“We’re excited to collaborate with some of NYU’s brightest minds to leverage the power of music and art to make a difference in the world and help others,” said Michael Latt, social impact advisor for Common. “Together, we have the opportunity to support our brothers and sisters around the country through a campaign that Common and I are really passionate about.”

The winning team submission ("#WellGrounded") centered on creating three local pop-up shows in May 2018 (Chicago, NYC, LA) featuring Common, one other A-list artist and local artists.
To attend, participants will perform one of three online actions:
1) Submit a ~150 word writeup on how mental health has affected them (through friends,
family, workplace, or personally) to an online database.
2) Go to one of our local wellness-oriented business partners (Chicago, NYC, LA) and post
their experience on social media (#WellGrounded).
3) Creatively express what mental health means to them (sketch, poem, song, video, etc.)
and post this to social media (#WellGrounded).

Based on the online actions, attendees at the show will see:
1) Common freestyle on select submissions, illustrating real-life stories.
2) Local wellness businesses set up activation stations (yoga studios, beauty products, skin
care, healthy food, etc.)
3) Submitted art pieces displayed on big-screens.

Congrats to Ada Bensadon, Whitney Dublin, Jason Joven, and Josh Viner, all NYU Music Business '18 students on their winning submission!