“I want to make the music industry a better place,” says Tim Van Bloem, a third-year student candidate of a Bachelor of Science in Music Industry with a 3.99 GPA, Dean’s Fellow, and Honors student. “I aspire to find the perfect intersection of technology, legislation, and creativity to improve the music industry for creators everywhere.”
In terms of creativity, Tim has it in spades. He’s a singer, songwriter, and producer who spends a lot of time creating music in his home studio. Tim is also a member of the Northeastern selective, world-renowned Nor’easters a cappella group and has even performed in London. Tim combined creativity with legislation when he coordinated the launch of Good Dog Licensing, a non-profit educational startup that helps independent artists get their music in student films around the country. It is also the only student-run music licensing organization at a U.S. college or university.
Tim considers Good Dog Licensing to be his greatest achievement. In March, when a new student came to a meeting and asked how Good Dog worked, Tim asked a freshman to explain. “She was able to speak on the intricacies of the Creative Commons license, all the points to pitch to artists and filmmakers, speak on the educational aspects of Good Dog, and hit every important point,” he says. “That was the moment when I realized that Good Dog Licensing could exist long after I left Northeastern because there were other students who were just as passionate about helping independent artists as I was.”
Tim’s passion for helping is not exclusive to the music industry. He volunteered for the #Voted Initiative working with college students around the country to coordinate a massive virtual concert to support voter registration. He’s president of the Student Advisory Board, the undergrad representative for Northeastern’s Curricular and Learning Committee, NEU 2030, and participated in #NEXTGEN_U, a virtual Future of Music Industry Event co-sponsored by SoundCloud and Big Machine Records.
In addition to his creative pursuits and volunteer activities, Tim is a sync licensing intern at Downtown Music Publishing and producer, instructor, and counselor for the Gas Lamp Theater Company. Previously, he was a music licensing intern at Mandolin.
Professor and Chair, CAMD-Music, Daniel S. Godfrey says Tim “is a guiding light among our undergraduate majors and is richly deserving of the recognition that comes with the Garnet Award.”
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I aspire to find the perfect intersection of technology, legislation, and creativity to improve the music industry for creators everywhere.”
Timothy Van Bloem