It's all who you know?
The issue I have with his story is when he says "When I was 18, at Berklee College of Music" he's basically saying "When I was 18, at [the MIT/Harvard/CMU/Stanford of Music]" - that is, just being at that institution gave him the opportunity to meet a BMI executive. Now, how did he get to Berklee?<p>Yes, hustling is always a good thing and I sincerely congratulate him on his initiative, but "who you know" did play a small part in his success (not that it's a bad thing, it just is).<p>(BTW, in the off chance Derek is reading this - if you get a chance, please talk to the folks at The Record Co. <a href="http://www.therecordco.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.therecordco.org/</a> - it was created by some Berklee folks as a way of providing low-cost recording studio services to artists who can't afford pro-studios and may need more services than can be offered using USB mics and Audacity.)<p>edit: grammar/typos