Trojan connection leads grad from music industry to USC Marshall

By the time Grant Bozigian started at the USC Marshall School of Business in August 2023, he already had nearly a decade of experience in the music industry. When most of his USC classmates were entering high school, Bozigian was running a music festival. When they were getting ready for prom, he was working with the some of the biggest names in the industry.

“I applied to USC Marshall because I figured I’d spent all this time honing my tech skills and doing music stuff, so why not do something that I haven’t really practiced,” he said.

USC was a second chance for Bozigian. Coming out of high school in nearby Rolling Hills Estates in 2013, he wasn’t initially accepted to his top choices for college: USC, UCLA and the University of California, Berkeley. But he was accepted to Chapman University in Orange, where he stayed for two years. As someone who had developed a passion and talent for audio and video production, he admits that he didn’t share the same interest in college itself at that time.

“I didn’t really understand what I was doing at school — why I was there,” said Bozigian, who is now 30 years old.

Through a familial connection, he was introduced to USC alum, music producer and industry veteran KamranV, who helped Bozigian launch a career in the music industry that would take him around the country and put him in rooms with well-known artists like FINNEAS and Benny Blanco.

“Perfect opportunities aligned at the right times,” Bozigian recalled. “I do think that what you aspire to and what you think about defines where you end up.”

Although Bozigian had the perfect job for a young music lover, USC remained a dream deferred for several years into his career. So, with a newfound educational purpose — and a little influence from a USC alumnus — Bozigian decided to try once again for USC.

Now, as the excitement of his USC Marshall commencement subsides, Bozigian reflects on how his prior work experience influenced his collegiate career, and how his collegiate career will in turn shape his work in the music industry.

“USC was the obvious choice for me,” he said. “I wouldn’t have had any of those opportunities in music if it weren’t for that connection to USC to begin.”

Reevaluation and early opportunities

Bozigian said a lack of direction in his studies influenced his decision to leave Chapman. Originally a business major, Bozigian changed his major multiple times in his two years there. He began developing audio and video production and editing skills in high school and continued honing his talents while at Chapman. When he left the university, those skills were noticed by the right people, including USC alumnus KamranV.

A 2000 graduate of the USC Thornton School of Music, KamranV worked at Interscope Records before launching his own music business ventures, and has produced for artists like Nine Inch Nails, Sting and Beck.

“I was immediately struck by the breadth of [Bozigian’s] interests,” KamranV said. “He brought an artistic viewpoint to everything he touched, with an incredible eye for detail.”

KamranV offered Bozigian a position at Bedrock.LA, a music space the producer co-founded in Echo Park. Shortly after that, KamranV asked Bozigian if he’d help run the audio and video production team at a music and technology festival he’d taken over a few years prior called Moogfest, sponsored by the synthesizer company Moog. Bozigian eventually became the full-time festival coordinator.

“It was the coolest thing ever for me, because it was all about experimental music and tech and just all different types of media in general,” Bozigian said.

For KamranV, he said that it wasn’t just Bozigian’s passion for music that stood out, but his cool demeanor and ability to juggle multiple projects at once made him the ideal collaborator. He soon offered Bozigian work with his Echo Park-based production company, CyKiK.

Path to USC and once-in-a-lifetime experiences

For Bozigian, USC was always on his radar: His father, Greg Bozigian, has worked at USC for more than a decade. Grant Bozigian knew that he would need to improve his grades before reapplying — especially after a five-year gap. To that end, Bozigian enrolled at El Camino College in Torrance in 2022 before transferring to USC the following year, a move that was especially exciting for his mentor.

“I was thrilled to learn that Grant decided to go to USC to complete his studies,” KamranV said. “Not only because of my own positive experience there, but also because I recognize the immense value of a USC education and knew it would be an excellent fit for his diverse interests.”

Prior to his time at El Camino, Bozigian freelanced and took on other projects for KamranV, which is how he got the opportunity to work with a music education program called Mix with the Masters. The video series brings in the biggest music producers in the industry today to give tutorials in the art and science of making records.

“The Mix with the Masters gig is for sure the coolest thing I’ve had the chance to do,” Bozigian said. “I feel like my whole career has led me to the point where I’m prepared to go into these big-time studios with these big artists and producers.”

From his four years working with Mix with the Masters, Bozigian has been able to collaborate with major producers like Dan Nigro and Stargate, as well as award-winning composers like Hans Zimmer and Ludwig Göransson — the latter of whom is a fellow USC alumnus.

“I didn’t even know that he went to USC until maybe a couple days before the shoot,” Bozigian said with a laugh. “I talked to him about it for a second and let him know that I was a fellow Trojan, and he said that he loves USC, so it was definitely a cool connection.”

Full circle

Ten years after deciding that college wasn’t right for him, Bozigian walked out of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum last month as an official graduate of USC Marshall. It’s something that he said a younger version of himself would have never believed possible.

“You have to believe that when it’s the right time, you’re going to be totally capable of doing it,” Bozigian said. “Things happen at your pace — the path isn’t always linear.”