Full Sail University

Grad Works with Reggae Artists Shaggy and Beres Hammond at VP Records

How a pandemic career pivot landed this Entertainment Business grad at one of the industry’s most popular reggae music labels.

A well-dressed man in a white t-shirt and black blazer posing in front of a worn-down building.

Raghav Dang had spent nearly 15 years in the reggae music industry as an artist, promoter, and event manager before the coronavirus pandemic changed the shape of the work he’d done nearly two decades. As live events ceased and the music industry retreated to life at home, Raghav decided he had the perfect opportunity to further his career by pursuing his master’s degree.

Having completed his undergraduate in Economics and Statistics in London and a recording arts program in India years prior, Raghav decided to return to his education now with a focus on the business side of the music industry. “[I was looking for] a master's degree I could do that could educate me more about the business side. [Full Sail's] Entertainment Business [master's program] sounded like a good course to kind of just get all my skills all together and see if I could do it.”

Going through the Entertainment Business master’s program, Raghav found an appreciation for the structure and discipline that came along with Full Sail’s accelerated degrees.

“I already had my own enterprises in India myself, but [at Full Sail] I learned to run them in an efficient way…. I got the knowledge of everything that is required in running a business, the various sides like legal, finance, marketing, project management, team management,” he says.

After graduating and working briefly as a project manager for Orlando-based internal auditing company IIA Global, Raghav was contacted by the iconic reggae label VP Records. Someone at the label had noticed his resume and thought he’d be a perfect fit for a project management role there. With a rich history of releasing music from the biggest artists in reggae, dancehall, and soca – by artists including Beenie Man, Gyptian, Sean Paul, and Wayne Wonder – VP was a perfect fit and dream job for the recent grad.

“As a project manager, it encompasses everything. Basically, my job is to make sure we're marketing the projects well, managing the budgets, the timelines, the campaigns, and just making sure the artist is also in the loop with everything.”

Currently, Raghav is managing upcoming releases for well-established artists Shaggy, Alborosie, and Beres Hammond, work he only dreamed about before his time at Full Sail.

“The job is amazing, it's definitely a dream job,” shares Raghav. “To be in a position where you're working with these artists ... like I just got off a one-hour conversation with Shaggy discussing his [upcoming] album. And then we're just talking and he tells me stories about so many iconic things he has done. It's definitely engaging, I love hearing stories from artists and coming up with creative ways to market a project.”

Raghav’s achievements didn’t come without hard work and diligence, an approach he recommends to anyone looking to pursue a similar career path. “I feel like you just can't give up. It's just being consistent and just being at a point where you're like, ‘I’m blocking out all that noise and all those distractions, and I already see the clear picture.’”