Senior Tali Duckworth is going all in on her dreams as a musician.
Duckworth, studying classical trumpet performance, said she was pursuing a minor in music industry to have multiple career opportunities in the music industry. Duckworth decided to drop the minor this year to be a pit musician in a Broadway show.
Having one major ended up working out for Duckworth, but for other artists, including students pursuing multiple fields through double majoring or minoring, the uncertainty of the entertainment industry has made breaking into two areas almost necessary to succeed.
In the fallout of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, film and TV production is down 7%, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times. As for the music industry, less prominent artists and bands often have a hard time making a living out of music, with setbacks such as the high costs of touring increasing and music streaming services paying a fraction of a cent per stream.
A career in the arts can be riddled with uncertainty, pushing students to learn other skills they can fall back on, like Ryan DeMotte, whose dream job has changed.
“Touring musician,” DeMotte said at first. “Now, economic consultant.”
DeMotte finished his undergraduate major in economics and is currently pursuing a minor in jazz studies. DeMotte is also pursuing a master’s in applied economics and econometrics.
Some students choose to double major or minor in order to take advantage of the resources available to them at USC.
“Even though I don’t know that I’ll ever play music professionally or anything more than a hobby on the side [or] full-time going forward, I still want to take advantage of my opportunity while at USC to take Thornton classes and meet Thornton students,” DeMotte said.
DeMotte, like many students, says he views minoring and double majoring as an outlet to explore his creativity, rather than a means to a career. It is common for students to pick up minors and double majors out of passion, rather than fear of failure.
Ben Glickman is a sophomore majoring in cinema and media studies and double minoring in Italian and the entertainment industry.
“I wanted something business-related on my resume, which is why I added entertainment industry, and I happened to really enjoy studying Italian, which is why I added that minor,” Glickman said.
For some students, minoring can help their chances outside of the U.S. entertainment industry or traditional career paths.
Torianna Jones, a senior studying in popular music performance and minoring in East Asian language and literature, said she wants to be an international musician, and the language classes at USC are helping her realize that dream.
The extra coursework is not always easy, though.
“It gets a little hard, especially with all the language classes because they are usually four days out of the five days of the week,” Jones said.
Sophomore Kalena Lenz is studying the business of cinematic arts, a major offered at few universities, in order to be involved in the entertainment industry.
“I feel like [the major] was very open to me being able to pursue what I like and find that within the entertainment industry,” Lenz said.
Chasing dreams in a volatile industry comes with financial risk, leading many students to say a backup plan is necessary.
Duckworth said, “There isn’t always super consecutive work [in this industry], so having a second option was very interesting for me.”