1. 1550 Owens Store Road
Canton, GA 30115
April 19, 2012
Judges, Senior Project
Creekview High School
1550 Owens Store Road
Canton, GA 30115
Dear Judges:
My name is Aleia Hollands and for my senior project, I decided to produce a demo of
original songs. For the most part, this consisted of finding a band to record and then
editing and mixing their songs to create a finished demo. For most of my life, I wanted to
get a degree in a medical field. However, my dream job always involved making music.
My overall goal of this project was simply to experience the creation of music and learn
as much as I could about a music producer’s career. I had to at least experience this
career field in order to be sure if I should continue to pursue a career in medicine.
While researching for my project, I learned much about copyright infringement and how
it affects the job of a music producer. Infringement reduces sales, jobs in the music
industry, and profits they receive from royalties. While making the demo, I stressed that
the band must have their own songs and could not have any copyrighted material in the
songs. Therefore, all the songs are completely original. There was one song that has lines
from a nursery rhyme, which required some research on nursery rhyme copyrights. I
encountered many other obstacles, most of which were technical in nature. For example, I
had issues with lack of certain necessary equipment needed to record and with equipment
that was not compatible with my computer software. Since recording equipment is quite
expensive, I had to accommodate my project around these obstacles and use the resources
available.
Recording, editing, and mixing are all part of the job of the music industry. I have found
out through my research that at the current time, the music industry is slowly declining
because of the increasing infringement on musical copyright through online
downloading. This greatly influenced my decision on this career path and my future.
Before I started my project, I had chosen to go to Middle Tennessee State University if I
ultimately decided to pursue the music industry. If I chose a career in the medical field, I
decided to go to the University of Georgia. After doing this project, I have solidified my
original pursuit in the medical field, specifically a degree in animal health at UGA.
Overall, I am very grateful for the opportunity to explore the job of a producer and to
learn about the hard work they commit to the creation of music. While I found the project
a positive and enjoyable experience, it is not something I would like to do everyday. I
have decided not to continue an education in this career path, but I would like to continue
to do this as a hobby. Thank you for taking the time to review my project.

2. Sincerely,
Aleia Hollands