By: Rebekka Carpenter, Staff writer

Student do not have to wait until graduation to gain real world experience in the music industry.

VALE Music Group LLC is a student-run business at Lebanon Valley College. The group has been around for the past 12 years, originating with putting on a conference in the fall semester. Today, VALE is broken into three different categories: live, publishing and records.

The three groups come together and still put on the annual conference. In addition to VALE Music Group students, the students who participate in the digital communications major and Audio Engineering Society are subcontracted to participate in events that VALE plans.

“What we are doing is for the student,” Victoria Cecchi ‘17, president of VALE Music Group, said. “We provide an opportunity for students to meet and learn from professionals.”

Students who participate in the VALE Music Group meet once a week, similarly to how a board meeting is run, to discuss and plan their upcoming events. Student who participate will receive one credit for interdisciplinary studies. Any student from any major can join; all a student needs is a real passion for the music industry.

Each semester students start from scratch and begin planning the events that will take place throughout the school year. The class is responsible for providing the funding for these events; they sell merchandise such as t-shirts, water bottles and CDs.

Beginning in the fall, students begin planning the VALE conference. Student plan everything from the topics, guest speakers, even the food. It’s great for a networking opportunity, and in the past students have landed internships which for some led to employment.

After the conference, the next large event is signing an artist to VALE records. In January, artists and bands can create a YouTube video and submit the link to VALE. After careful consideration, a band or artist is picked and signed to a record deal with VALE records. The debut of the signed artists or band happens during ValleyFest.

Each major event includes the three different parts of VALE working together. Though only a one credit course, it comes with a lot of hard work and determination.

“They do more work in this class than they would in three classes because of all the work outside the classroom,” Dr. Jeffrey Snyder, Professor and Interim Department Co-Chair of Music and Director of Music Business, said.

The class is difficult but students are left with a sense of success.

“The unforeseen challenges make it frustrating, but we are still able to get an EP signed in the spring and put on the conference in the fall and in my eyes, it is successful at the end of the day and makes the hard work worth it,” Cecchi said.

VALE Music Group LLC hopes to continue to grow and give students a real life work experience while in college.