BIMM Berlin student, Joel, has taken some time away from their busy schedule to tell us what they love about studying at BIMM…
Who are you listening to at the moment?
At the moment I have John Mayer’s ‘Continuum’ playing on a loop! I mean, like crazy… I rediscovered it about a month ago and it’s been years since I got so obsessed about an album. They’re great songs – it’s his best album, no doubt about it. Apart from that, I listen to a potpourri of every genre… except electro – odd for a Berliner, I know, but I’ve just never felt it.
I have a weakness for country and reggae music, and a hot passion for hip-hop. A weird combination, but it can kind of be explained because I’m weird in general. All in all, you would hate having me as your co-driver on road-trips, because I’d DJ every genre possible. However, you would definitely want to follow my playlists on Spotify, because they are crafted with love.
Some of my favourite albums include: ‘Californication’ (Red Hot Chili Peppers), ‘Back to Black’ (Amy Winehouse), ‘Demon Days’ (Gorillaz), ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ (Bon Iver), ‘Boys & Girls’ (Alabama Shakes), ‘Traveller’ (Chris Stapleton), ‘Black Star’ (Mos Def and Talib Kweli), ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ (Kendrick Lamar), ‘Led Zeppelin IV’ (Led Zeppelin), ‘The Doors’ (The Doors), ‘Jake Bugg’ (Jake Bugg)… the list goes on forever!
My first favourite band (and still my favourite) is Led Zeppelin.
What do you love about Berlin?
Berlin is the only place in the world where, when I look out the window of the plane while landing, I say to myself: “Ah Berlin, you piece of work, I love you”. It’s a bitter-sweet place. It’s ugly, but charming. It’s weird, but cool. It’s international, but arrogant. It’s dirty, but beautiful. It’s loud, but it sounds good. It’s accepting, but also isolating. It’s the only place in Germany where you’ll never feel German. You always describe yourself as a ‘Berliner’. When asked: “Where are you from?” you answer: “Berlin”, as if it were a country; your world, your planet.
It’s a microcosmos, a village, a huge city and a metropolis at the same time. Everyone knows everything, but then again, nobody knows anything. It has everything you want (except a beach, of course). It has every personality. You’ll find leftist communist anarchy punks sitting next to conservative capitalist real estate agents on the U-Bahn. You’ll find blonde-haired blue-eyed boys eating lunch with brown dark-eyed girls. You’ll find pale red-haired women working with brown-haired bearded men. You’ll find lovers where you think to yourself “Wow, how diverse! How did that happen?”. You have gay clubs and straight clubs and weird clubs and posh clubs and trashy clubs and club clubs. You really have any club you want.
It’s a culture clash; a melting pot; a vibrant place. It’s indestructible. It’s historic, it’s young, it’s creative. It’s evolving, aging, changing and developing all at the same time.
It’s my home and I cannot leave… even if I wanted to.
Why Music Business?
I chose to study Music Business at BIMM Berlin because it combines what I want to do in life, which is working and understanding a business, in a field I’m passionate about: music. I have a musical and theatrical background – I play guitar and sing and studied music to a high level in high school. It was my best course, because I was passionate about it.
On the other hand, my father – a successful businessman – showed me many aspects of the business world, from simple concepts of buy and sell to more complex budgeting issues, and more.
I believe that I’ve found a course where these two worlds collide. Even though it’s a very music industry-based course, it never fails to give us business know-how. The course teaches us to realise what we imagine, to implement what we plan and to enjoy everything that we do.
