BPMI and Primary Wave Music Release Holiday Music Video
Berklee vocalist Funder is featured in BPMI and Primary Wave's new video for “This Christmas.”
The Berklee Popular Music Institute (BPMI) has partnered with publishing company Primary Wave Music for a special holiday performance. Released on December 8, the song and video for Donny Hathaway’s iconic holiday hit "This Christmas" is the latest in a series of videos to come out of this collaboration, the first partnership between a college music business program and a major publishing company.
The video and recording of “This Christmas” were entirely produced by BPMI students throughout the United States and from various locations around the world, including India, Trinidad and Tobago, Italy, and Russia, using Zoom and iPhone technology. The class has previously released videos from Primary Wave artists such as WAR ("Why Can’t We Be Friends?"), Bob Marley ("Three Little Birds"), and Free ("All Right Now"), timed with various milestone anniversaries for their hit songs. So far, the four videos resulting from the collaboration have amassed over 500,000 views on Berklee’s YouTube channel.
“Partnering up with BPMI students to create a new version of "This Christmas" is a perfect way to honor the 50th anniversary of this timeless classic by putting a fresh spin on it,” said Robert Dippold, partner and president of digital strategy for Primary Wave Music Publishing. “The students went above and beyond to add their own creativity to the song and video while respecting Donny's vision for the tune. We couldn't be more thrilled with their passion for this song.”
“This opportunity with BPMI and Primary Wave is incredible,” said student vocalist Funder, who is featured in the song and video. “Putting together this video with a tremendously talented team of students resulted in a chance to learn about creativity and collaboration, even when we can’t work side by side.”
Watch BPMI and Primary Wave's video for “This Christmas”: