Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Former Fox Music President Robert Kraft Makes His Own Lane

11/12/2019

Addressing the packed Berk Recital Hall on campus last month, music industry giant Robert Kraft seemed astonished to find himself looking back on his career with the rest of us. In conversation with Don Gorder, chair of the Music Business/Management Department, Kraft discussed his beginnings as a songwriter and bookseller living in New York City, and how a series of unexpected early career opportunities (record deals) and misfortunes (label failures) led him, eventually, to first writing music for television, then scoring films, then producing and supervising music, and eventually to his long career as president of Fox Music, where he worked until 2012. He went on to found the production, management, and media consulting company Kraftbox Entertainment in 2013.

Whats It Take to Succeed in the Music Business?

Berklees Music Business/Management Department prepares graduates for long-term careers in the industry.

Kraft explained how he would try to to get in the way of opportunity through personal tenacity and an openness to saying yes first and then figuring out how to get the job done once the pressure was on. He discussed what makes a great soundtrack (it's simple: a hit, like Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On from Titanic, which Kraft oversaw during his time at Fox Music). And he stressed the important but often overlooked role self-care plays in a creative profession. I eat right, I try to sleep, I exercise-I do all of those things for one simple reason: this is an athletic endeavor, being an artist and a musician; you've got to be together, because if you want a long career you've really got to lay in for it.

Kraft also answered student questions about how he dealt with competition in the music industry- comparison is the thief of joy, he said, quoting Theodore Roosevelt-and how to be an effective, assertive leader even if it means nobody's going to like you all the time.

Below is an edited selection of takeaways from Kraft's remarks.

On Deciding at a Young Age to Become a Songwriter: Just making a very specific choice of a destination, in retrospect, was very helpful, because not unlike I'm sure a lot of people here, I like a lot of things-I like movies, and I like writing songs, and I like canoeing but I decided to focus on one thing, and it really helped me to just say, That's who I am and what I do,' because it actually turned out to be the wedge into every other field.

On Career Endings and Beginnings: My career continues to keep ending...Careers, when you're an artist...are always just about to end Because we've all decided in this room to take a risk with our careers. I had roommates that went to business school and law school, and they have a kind of lane ahead of them. I don't have a lane ahead of me; I make the lane.

On Learning to Manage a Film Budget: It didn't occur to me that movies had budgets before I started at Fox. I thought you just do what you do, you express yourself-and they pay for it.

On the Commonality between All the Roles He's Held: In the center of this wheel with all these spokes-all of which are surprising to me as well-is music There's nothing I love more than a funky beat.

Related categories:

News

Related Reading

From Berklee to Nashville with Chad Michael Jervis Chad Michael Jervis 18 followed a Career Jam opportunity that led him to King Calaway, a new country band already making noise in Nashville.

Breaking a Sound Barrier with Captain Marvel Berklee Today

Spring

2019

Volume

30

Number

3

Composing Berklee's Story Berklee Today

Spring

2019

Volume

30

Number

3

More from Berklee Now

Most Popular

Berklee Alumni and Faculty Nominated for Grammy Awards 28 Berklee alumni and two faculty members were nominated for Grammys across 17 categories.

Latest

Ricky Duran Lights Up the Semifinals on The Voice The Massachusetts native and Berklee alumnus will sing in the show's finale next week.

Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra Performance Spans Countries, Cultures, and History Inspired by an iconic John F. Kennedy quote, the BCSO selected each piece to be written by a composer from a different country, embarking on a global musical journey.

Former Fox Music President Robert Kraft Makes His Own Lane The longtime film music executive offered advice to Berklee students on withstanding the constant changes of a life in the industry.

Read All

Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.

Berklee Blogs

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Instagram

Snapchat

Soundcloud

Spotify
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/news/berklee-now/former-fox-music-president-ro...
See more stories from berklee

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

23/06/2026

Case Study: YES Networks IP Transition Expands Production Possibilities and Redefines Workflows

When we began planning our transition from an SDI-based infrastructure to a new ...

23/06/2026

Imagine Communications Appoints Greg Garmon as SVP, Americas Video Sales

Imagine Communications has announced the appointment of Greg Garmon as Senior Vice President, Americas Video Sales. Garmon will oversee account growth and busin...

23/06/2026

Snap Promotes Emma Wakely to Head of Sports and Media Partnerships, Americas

Snap has promoted Emma Wakely to Head of Sports and Media Partnerships, Americas, succeeding Anmol Malhotra, who has been elevated to Global Head of Content and...

23/06/2026

YES Network and Gotham Sports App to Air MI New York Major League Cricket Matches

YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air MI New York's Major League Cr...

23/06/2026

HAND Issues Persistent Digital IDs to 2026 NBA Draft Class

The Universal Talent Identifier (HAND) has issued HAND IDs to 34 top projected prospects in the 2026 NBA Draft class, including AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer, and...

23/06/2026

World Boxing Launches World Boxing TV Streaming Platform

World Boxing has announced the launch of World Boxing TV, a subscription-based streaming platform built on the Joymo platform, offering live events, on-demand c...

23/06/2026

FloRacing to Stream 32 Off-Road Motorcycle Racing Events Including AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship

FloSports will stream 32 off-road motorcycle racing events on FloRacing, includi...

23/06/2026

SES Adds 14 Regional Channels and New Set-Top Boxes to ASTRA TV in Spain

SES has announced the expansion of its ASTRA TV platform in Spain with the addition of 14 regional channels in HD and UHD quality and the launch of new hybrid s...

23/06/2026

Appear Supports Rede Legislativas Contribution Workflow for Brazils TV 3.0 Trials

Appear ASA has announced its role in Rede Legislativa de R dio e TV's contri...

23/06/2026

PBS Selects LTN for Nationwide IP Video Network Across 330 Member Stations

LTN has announced that PBS has selected it as its IP video partner to modernize content distribution and contribution across more than 330 public television sta...

23/06/2026

Ease Live Powers Interactive Experience on Rally.TV for WRC

Ease Live has announced that its graphics overlay platform is powering an interactive fan experience on Rally.TV, the official streaming platform of the FIA Wor...

23/06/2026

Chyron LIVE Adds Haivision StreamHub Integration, SCTE-35 Ad Insertion, and Switcher Updates

Chyron has announced updates to Chyron LIVE, its cloud-native live production pl...

23/06/2026

ESPN Announces ESPN Fan House, Fan Engagement Hub Powered by Flowcode

ESPN has announced ESPN Fan House, a fan engagement hub powered by Flowcode, launching in August ahead of the 2026 college football season. Publicis Sports will...

23/06/2026

Sennheiser Relocates Americas Regional Hub to Nashville

The city's solid position in broadcast, entertainment, and sports attracted the major microphone manufacturer Sennheiser Group is moving its Americas Regio...

23/06/2026

Violet Audio's dMix 128 now shipping

128 channels of signal routing & DSP Announced just before the NAMM Show 2026, Violet Audio's latest digital audio matrix offers 128 channels of signal ...

23/06/2026

Minimal Audio launch Memory Rites

Latest Current expansion created by EPROM Minimal Audio have just launched the latest Current Expansion, Memory Rites. Designed in collaboration with renown...

23/06/2026

Undertone Audio's MPEQ-1 goes virtual

Popular hardware EQ gets official plug-in emulation Undertone Audio have just launched a new plug-in that brings one of their most popular hardware designs ...

23/06/2026

Colorfront Support for AWS CDI Unlocks New Potential for Cloud-Based Visual Effects and Content Creation

December 7, 2022 Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the multi-award-winning develope...

23/06/2026

Colorfront Delivers Even More AI Automation Power and Extends Technology Partnerships with Dolby, Apple

April 23, 2026 NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...

23/06/2026

IAB Tech Lab Releases SupplyChain v1.1

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

Besco to Represent PlayBox Neo in South Korea

PlayBox Neo appoints Besco as Channel Reseller to establish a firm foothold in Asia Pacific's thriving high-tech export-driven economic boom PlayBox Neo, t...

23/06/2026

PBS Selects LTN to Power Nationwide IP Video Network

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

PBS selects LTN for nationwide IP video network

LTN, a global leader in IP-based video transport and network services, today announced that PBS has selected LTN as its IP video partner to modernize and future...

23/06/2026

The LiveU Q Era Arrives in ANZ with the LU900Q at ABE2026

LiveU will introduce its Q Era to Australia and New Zealand for the first time at ABE2026 on Stand No. 25, (July 30 31). Leading the showcase is the LU900Q, a n...

23/06/2026

Miri Technologies Ships V410 Live 4K Video Encoder-Decode...

Miri Technologies Inc. has begun shipping its highly anticipated V410 live 4K video encoder/decoder for streaming, IP-based production workflows and AV-over-IP ...

23/06/2026

DHD SX2 and TX2 Consoles Go On-Air at Radio Tzafon

DHD audio reports the completion of an upgrade to the audio production facilities at the Galilee headquarters of Radio Tzafon. The station broadcasts two progra...

23/06/2026

Nagravision Launches Nagra Venturi Security Offering

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

ITN Expands Programmatic Local TV Platform

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

Warner Bros. Discovery Taps AWS for New AI-Powered Ad Tech

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

Study: Younger Viewers More Distracted But More Receptive to Ads

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

Chilevisin, ClaroVTR Tap Pixop for 4K FIFA World Cup Feed

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/06/2026

Imagine Communications Names Greg Garmon as Senior Vice P...

Multifaceted Growth Executive Brings 20+ Years of Experience Leading Organizations Across Tech and M&E Imagine Communications today announced the appointment ...

23/06/2026

Australians in Film and Screen Australia's talent development initiative UNTAPPED returns for 2026

Australians in Film and Screen Australia's talent development initiative UNT...

23/06/2026

Visual Productions Unveils RdmRelay2 Four-channel Relay Control at InfoComm 2026

Visual Productions Unveils RdmRelay2 Four-channel Relay Control at InfoComm 2026 Brie Clayton June 22, 2026 0 Comments New Relay Solution Combines DMX, ...

23/06/2026

SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible, Opening Standards Library to the Global Media Technology Community

SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible, Opening Standards Library to the Gl...

23/06/2026

Gugu Mbatha-Raw leads Sky Original supernatural thriller Possession in first teaser

Also starring Jonny Lee Miller, Sheldon Shepherd and Bel Powley, the ambitious f...

23/06/2026

Arqiva response to DCMS Green Paper

The priority now is a clear and credible plan June 23, 2026, Winchester, UK - Arqiva, the UK's leading communications infrastructure provider, welcomes tod...

23/06/2026

RT AND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION IRELAND ANNOUNCE RT TOY SHOW APPEAL GRANT AWARDS 2026

The RT Toy Show Appeal has raised over 31 million since its inception in 2020 ...

23/06/2026

NVIDIA Powers Over 400 of the World's 500 Fastest Supercomputers

News Highlights: NVIDIA technology runs 81% of the TOP500 and 90% of the systems new to the list. 26 systems on the TOP500 adopted the NVIDIA Grace CPU, up ei...

23/06/2026

How Businesses Are Building Specialized AI They Can Trust

Companies are asking how to build specialized AI that fits with the way their workflows actually run. The first wave of enterprise AI was about access. Compan...

23/06/2026

June 22, 2026

Newly identified molecule strengthens the eye's response to damage in retinal disease Scripps Research discovery finds that restoring the naturally occurrin...

22/06/2026

Behind the Mic: SportsCenters Lisa Cohn to Retire This June From ESPN as Longest-Tenured Anchor

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...

22/06/2026

Cosm Appoints David Ho as Chief Legal Officer

Cosm has announced the appointment of David Ho as Chief Legal Officer, a newly created executive role reporting to President and CEO Jeb Terry. Ho will oversee ...

22/06/2026

Warner Bros. Discovery and AWS Announce AI-Powered Advertising Technology Platform

Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the developm...

22/06/2026

Daktronics Completes Audio Control System Upgrade at Petco Park for San Diego Padres

Daktronics has completed an audio control system upgrade at Petco Park in San Di...

22/06/2026

Accelerate Media Names John Willi President, Launches Accelerate Sports Network

Accelerate Media has named John Willi as President and announced the launch of the Accelerate Sports Network (ASN), a prep sports media and streaming platform c...