The impacts of the global pandemic have brought an abrupt halt to internship opportunities for college students and recent graduates throughout the country. For many aspiring to build careers in the music industry, the experience and networking available through completing internships are paramount to success.

University of Florida student Danielle Gray – who lost her own internship – launched the Quarantine Marketing Battle to help her and her peers build portfolio pieces that would showcase how they've spent their time in quarantine.

The opportunity to create a competition that could connect Music Business and Marketing students from around the country came after Danielle and some friends created a challenge among themselves to develop and pitch mock marketing plans to music industry professionals for feedback.

"I kept hearing people's internships were being canceled," she says. "Everything was already happening virtually, so I figured, why not open this up to the rest of the country?"

Ten Full Sail students from the Music Business, Public Relations, and Graphic Design degree programs entered the competition alongside more than 100 students from other schools, including New York University, University of Southern California, and Loyola University New Orleans. Participants collaborated remotely over the course of six weeks to build marketing plans to present to industry professionals from Warner Music, The Shalizi Group, and Primary Wave Group.

Full Sail Public Relations master's student Sable Myers teamed up with peers enrolled at UCLA and Berklee College of Music to build and present their plan.

"Working with people who you don't have much contact with other than Zoom and the phone, it was interesting to see how well we worked together," she says.

Full Sail's Music Business program director, Jackie Otero, encouraged her students to participate in the competition.

"The pandemic has forced all of us to alter the way we collaborate and communicate," says Jackie. "This was a great way for students to network and get exposure to potential industry employers…and industry professionals are more available since we are all at home!"