When Kevin Ray peered through the window of the new multimillion-dollar studio for the music technology program at Ball State, he knew music would be in his future.
The Ball State alumnus and member of pop rock band "Walk the Moon" was on a tour of the university at the time, and he had mentioned to his tour guide that he was interested in music.
“It was so clear for me, and it was the first time I had been honest with myself with ‘That’s what I want to do,’” Ray said.
Ray visited campus April 20 and answered questions from dozens of students about his time at BSU and his experience in the music industry.
Ray studied music engineering and graduated in 2009. He said much of what he learned prepared him for the industry, but it was important to apply what he learned.
“Do it yourself. No one is going to do it for you,” Ray said.
He encouraged aspiring musicians to continue to use social media. He said he was hesitant about using social media at first because it was a fairly new concept at the time he was trying to break into the music industry.
“Not being afraid to use social media is so huge,” Ray said.
Each of the band members runs their own social media accounts. They also manage the band’s accounts.
One aspect of the music industry Ray said he wished he had known about was how important digital streaming and sales would be.
“You don’t make money selling music, that is just fact,” Ray said.
He said the band has more than 100 million plays on Spotify, but the band’s cut of the sales was about $5,000.
Kristin Villiger, a freshman biology major, said she enjoyed hearing what Ray learned at Ball State and his insight in the music industry.
“One thing that stood out to me is when he was saying that being really good at what you do is just the baseline,” she said. “You have to go beyond that because there are going to be 100 people who are really good at the same thing you do.”
Walk The Moon recently announced on its website that its summer tour is canceled due to an illness in member Nick Petricca's family. However, they will play the shows scheduled for April and May.
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