Berklee College of Music Selects Widen DAM to Help Faculty Manage Digital Media Course Materials

MADISON, Wis. - Nov. 4, 2014 - PRLog -- Berklee College of Music, the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world, has selected the Widen Media Collective for its digital asset management (DAM) needs. Widen's DAM solution will be used by both faculty and students in the attempt to make educational materials easier to find and easier to repurpose.

Berklee is known primarily as the world's foremost institute for the study of jazz and modern American music. Because music is both an auditory and visual discipline, digital media is a critical tool in creating course materials for students. It became increasingly difficult to not only manage, but to also repurpose the vast library of audio and video assets created by Berklee's Grammy award winning faculty.

"We want to unlock the value of those learning assets by letting faculty reuse them in new ways," stated Jay Barnes, AVP for Digital Learning at Berklee College of Music. "To do that, we needed a central repository with appropriate metadata attached to each file that would enable faculty to find interesting examples of diatonic harmony, for example, and use them in their course homework assignments and reading materials."

Berklee began their search for that central repository by reviewing a report from an independent third party DAM industry analyst. The report reviewed and rated DAM vendors relative to various needs and usage profiles. After reading the report, they also attended a DAM technology conference to hear about the state of DAM technology and learn how other organizations selected and implemented DAMs. Finally, they sought out peer groups to see how they address digital asset management.

In the end, Berklee chose the Widen Media Collective because of its high marks on usability and on its handling of audio and video. Of particular importance was how audio and video could be streamed to their students through course web sites rather than requiring downloads by every student.

"During the evaluation process we found the Widen team was great to work with, very responsive, direct and flexible," said Barnes. "Widen's response to our request for information arrived the day after we sent it out."

The Widen DAM will be used by Berklee Faculty who will search for assets relating to a particular topic. Berklee students will benefit by consuming the assets from course websites.

"As a college of music, we have a lot of music audio, music notation PDF files, videos of artist interviews, and performances that represent great teaching moments," declared Barnes. "We also have production mix files that are used for homework assignments that can be shared."

"The use of the Media Collective as a repository for course materials and training resources is by no means a new method," said Craig Bollig senior digital asset management advisor with Widen. "There's a number of Widen customers who have taken what started as a marketing technology and are using it for e-learning and training. For Berklee College of Music, the capabilities to manage, stream, transcode and embed rich media files will help their students become the top artists of the future, and we take great pride in knowing that it is our solution that will be an influencer."

About Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music is through the study and practice of contemporary music. For nearly 70 years, the college has evolved to reflect the current state of the music industry, leading the way with baccalaureate studies in performance, music business/management, songwriting, music therapy, film scoring, and more. With a focus on global learning, Berklee in Valencia, a new campus in Spain, is hosting the college's first graduate programs, while Berklee Online serves distance learners worldwide with extension classes and degree-granting programs. The Berklee City Music Network provides after-school programming for underserved teens in 45 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. With a student body representing nearly 100 countries and alumni and faculty that have won more than 310 Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today -- and tomorrow.

About Widen Enterprises, Inc.
Widen is a marketing technology company that powers the content that builds your brand. Leveraging cloud-based resources, Widen delivers configurable, scalable, and cost-effective digital asset management solutions to help you easily store, search and share your digital content. Organizations of all sizes use Widen's SaaS DAM solution, the Media Collective, to streamline their marketing and creative workflows and make their content work harder. Widen is trusted by hundreds of thousands of users around the world at organizations like LG, Roche, Trek, Cornell University, New Orleans Tourism Marketing, The Atlanta Falcons, Red Gold Tomatoes, Electrolux, and Yankee Candle. To learn more about Widen, go to http://www.widen.com.