Why study this course?
This cutting-edge Music Business BA (Hons) degree will give you knowledge and contacts required for a successful career in the music and entertainment industry. During the course you’ll organise your own live event, work with real clients in the music industry and gain up-to-date knowledge of music management.
This undergraduate course was reinvented to offer a great level of subject specialism from your first year, based on research and input from industry connections. You’ll study unique, advanced modules co-delivered with prominent industry partners and gain hands-on experience in the field.
More about this course
The course focuses on building the skills and knowledge you’ll need to succeed in the music business. In your first year you’ll complete both individual and group tasks, researching industry practice and developing your personal leadership aims. This will help you to reflect on the importance of research and problem solving within the music industry.
Our approach covers every business sector of music, from digital streaming and artist management to merchandising and innovative business operations. You’ll explore crucial topics such as music publishing and copyright in the digital age, focusing on the management of important music rights. Supported by the latest practice and industry commentary, you’ll consider how the future is being shaped by technology and consumer trends.
The course has a unique focus on innovation through business strategies in live, digital, publishing, media and interactive marketing contexts. Our aim is to enable you to commercially apply the understanding of corporate, enterprising and creative contexts of music. Exploring how money is made from music related content, with a special focus on music streaming platforms and various media, you’ll aim to predict the ‘how and why’ of the next major music business shift.
You’ll be taught by experts in the field who have published industry research that has been praised by Forbes. This will help prepare you for a career within a start-up environment, which is an expanding business approach within the music and technology industry.
We will provide industry contexts throughout your degree and have a good track record of guest talks, student showcases and team projects, think-tank industry panels and networking events with leaders, innovators and our successful alumni. We will help you develop the skills to succeed in the industry, whether that’s running your own business or inventing new approaches to licensing, marketing and promotion of music. In your first year you’ll learn about the sectors of music publishing, events and publicity, and in your second year you’ll organise your own live events, physical or virtual.
This course teaches more than leadership and decision making. You’ll also learn how to negotiate and draft with key legal aspects of a music deal. We will help you understand commercial processes in the industry including investment, rights payments and catalogue value. Marketing is also a key aspect that you’ll explore by designing online marketing and PR strategies.
Accreditation of Prior Learning
Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course.
Modular structure
The modules listed below are for the academic year 2022/23 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.
Year 1 modules include:
Business Law and Ethics (core, 15 credits)
Event Planning and Management (core, 15 credits)
Learning Through Organisations (Professional Practice 1) in Events and Music Business (core, 15 credits)
Managing People in Organisations (core, 15 credits)
Media Culture and Society (core, 15 credits)
Music Publishing (core, 15 credits)
Principles of Marketing (core, 15 credits)
Understanding the Business and Economic Environment: The Business of Music (core, 15 credits)
Year 2 modules include:
Artist Management (core, 15 credits)
Digital Marketing (core, 15 credits)
Live Events Practice (core, 15 credits)
Music Industry Contracts and Negotiation (core, 15 credits)
The Practice of Consultancy (core, 15 credits)
Creating a Winning Business 1 (alternative core, 15 credits)
Learning through Work (alternative core, 15 credits)
Developing Inclusive Organisations (option, 15 credits)
Field Trip (option, 15 credits)
Fundamentals of Project Management (option, 15 credits)
Professional Experience Year Placement (option, 30 credits)
Sustainability, Business and Responsibility (option, 15 credits)
The Event Experience (option, 15 credits)
Year 3 modules include:
Artist and Repertoire (core, 15 credits)
Consultancy Project (core, 30 credits)
Creative Media Practice and Music Business Models (core, 15 credits)
Financial Decision Making for Managers (core, 15 credits)
Leading Innovation (core, 15 credits)
Music Media Marketing Lab (core, 15 credits)
Creative Artists Rights and Legal Disputes (Option) (option, 15 credits)
Event Sponsorship and Fundraising (option, 15 credits)
Service Excellence for Creative industries (option, 15 credits)
Social Marketing (option, 15 credits)
Where this course can take you
This is an exciting time to enter the music industry, as it transforms into an ever more multifaceted field of practice that utilises digital platforms and new business models. This degree is designed to greatly increase your employment prospects and opportunities in music business.
The course will equip you with the skills required for entrepreneurial practice and management. On graduation you’ll be equipped to follow in the footsteps of our successful students, such as our 2018 graduate who secured a job with a fin-tech start-up within a month of graduating. He later used his experience of working in a start-up and the skills he gained on our course to set up his own digital business.
Our alumni take on a variety of roles in the music industry, from record label managers and live event promoters to digital publishers and professionals in indie label associations such as Association of Independent Music (AIM) and Worldwide Independent Network (WIN). Other career opportunities include, but are not restricted to, record company executives, positions in digital music platforms and services, digital marketing and distribution roles, publishing managers, tour managers, artist managers, strategy advisers, marketing and public relations consultants.
