BA (Hons) Music Management

Program Overview

The BA (Hons) Music Management program combines practical learning environments, lectures, and workshops to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the music industry. Through hands-on experiences such as running live events and working at the university's record label, students gain valuable industry experience and develop their portfolios. Graduates are well-prepared for careers in artist management, booking agencies, publishing, record labels, event and tour management, and collection societies. Dual accreditation from the Chartered Management Institute provides additional recognition and industry connections.

Program Outline

Set the stage for a rewarding career in the music business and be a part of a thrilling, fast-paced industry with global appeal. The BA (Hons) Music Management degree is one of the most practical, collaborative and industry-linked undergraduate courses on offer in Europe. The course begins with a focus on the UK business and the activities around live promotion and the delivery of recorded music release system. Alongside an understanding of copyright and entertainment law, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with students across a wide range of courses in club promotions using our onsite venue spaces. As you progress, you will examine specific sectors of the music business and put your knowledge into practice. You will assist in concert promotion, artist management, and work hands-on at our in-house record label London Noise Records, distributing through AWAL. All lecturers on the BA (Hons) Music Management course are practicing music business professionals. The degree uses a combination of simulated learning environments, lecture material and practical workshops to offer you a new pathway to realising your potential career. The degree establishes a core understanding of how and why the music business operates and builds on this knowledge with a strong focus on new and creative marketing concepts. BA (Hons) Music Management is uniquely situated to offer you practice-based learning opportunities through university-generated initiatives. To develop the mindset required to work in the music business that rewards pragmatically focused results we offer you the scope to direct your own learning and take risks. You will spend your first year gaining an understanding of the prerelease supply chain, the live music industry, and basic copyright/contract law. These subject areas provide the foundations for you to practice in the music business. After gaining a working knowledge of the business, you will be educated about the principles of music publishing as well as pre and post-release strategies. The degree focuses on the importance of visual media and branding to acknowledge the visual shift in the wider industry. As well as practical and student-driven learning, the course encourages you in academic and critical thinking. You will be equipped with the critical skills to operate in the music industry and to become a new generation of leaders that shape the music industry.

Level 4

• Compulsory modules:
• Live Music Industry:
The module is designed to give students an overview of the common practices and issues surrounding the live music industry in the UK. The module deals specifically with the relationships between booking agents, management and promoters in establishing good practice regarding concerts and touring. The roles of the booking agent and promoter will be explained in depth using case studies and workshops. Upon completion of the module, students will be capable of deconstructing relevant issues in the live music industry. They will also become proficient in establishing and communicating within professional live music conventions.
• Understanding Creative Industries: Understanding Creative Industries is designed to give you an appreciation and knowledge of the development of the fundamental structures of the global creative industry structures.
In doing this, you will obtain a comprehensive grounding in the key skills and knowledge appropriate to building, developing and maintaining a career in your chosen area of the industry. You will also receive a grounding in key figures within the industry and support organisations available to you to help in developing your professional careers.
• The Management Role: The Management Role is an introductory module for level 4 students.
The module provides students with the basic under-pinning, and historical grounding required to understand and navigate the UK music industry. By the end of the module students will have the knowledge necessary to begin investigation into specialised fields of advanced music management.
• Club Promotion and Roles: Club Roles and Promotion will build on the knowledge acquired from the Live Music Industry module (level 4 semester 1).
In this module, students will work in groups to develop the promotional and logistical strategies required to put on a live music concert. In their simulated learning environment, students will document decisions on booking acts and venues, risk assessments, promotion, ticket sales and other associated skill sets. At the end of this module students will have the required skills to design and perform their own concerts.
• Music Business Game: In this module students will form simulated management companies OR record labels.
Throughout the semester, student driven companies will compete weekly for fictional funding injections. Each week of the semester will be an investigation of a different music business related theme, the teams will be set scenarios based on the weekly theme. The presentations will be assessed by tutors with industry experience who will select the best performing company and provide immediate formative feedback. At the end of the semester, the student group with the most revenue wins. Upon completion of this module, students will have gained valuable group interpersonal skills and knowledge required to start a competitive music business venture.
• Contracts and Law: This module is a key foundation to understanding the principles and doctrines of UK Law that are commonplace in the media and music industry.
This will inform you how future business ideas can develop and provide long-term income. There will be an introduction to reading typical contracts and understanding their legal standing and limitations.

Level 5

• Compulsory modules:
• Career Strategies:
Career Strategies is a module that encourages students to evaluate and understand their potential career in the music industry. Students will attend lectures and workshops to evaluate the multiple opportunities available to them when they complete their degree. The module aims to calibrate their career goals at an early stage in their professional development. At the end of this module students will have a clear idea of how to maximise the rest of their degree to aim for a career specific to their skillsets.
• Record Labels and Distribution: The Record Label and Distribution module is a simulated work environment focused on genre specific release strategies for the digital and physical musical distribution.
Teaching focuses on industry standard pre-release tools and the range of distribution supply chains currently used to release recorded music. Students will run departments within a simulated record label. These departments will be split into artists and repertoire, marketing, accounting and legal. At the end of the module students will have the ability to contribute to the creation of assets needed for a successful digital release. This module is particularly innovative using self-generated real time data insights.
• Tour Management and Production: This module examines the planning, pre-production and implementation of successful music concert tours.
Lecture sessions are structured to mirror the real-world tour planning process, with a focus on industry best-practice. Students will learn about the various personnel involved in touring, and how to successfully negotiate between the various sectors in the live music industry. Sessions contain examples and case studies of touring at the local, national and international level. Students will engage with content through a combination of lectures and workshops, with the chance for reflexive feedback to assess and accelerate their learning. At the end of this module, students be capable of designing and evaluating tours throughout the UK and Europe.
• Brand Development: The module will consider a variety of current approaches to visual based marketing campaigns.
It will educate students in the visual aspects of social media activities, examining the various perspectives drawn from a combination of theoretical research and practical engagement. Students will simulate the role of a digital marketer; they will plan campaigns using a mix of creative approaches suitable for the contemporary music industry. Completing this module will equip students with vital digital content creation and marketing skills applicable to the current creative marketing environment.
• Research Methods for Music Management: This module aims to get students thinking about research: How can they understand the practices of music management on a deeper theoretical level?
Students engage in the processes of collecting and analysing data and reflect on theoretical approaches to the study of the subject area. Students then conduct a review of academic literature in their field, which is relevant to their chosen topic. These activities are used to think about ways that students can improve their theoretical approaches to professional practice. Developing these research skills will form the basis for designing a major project at level 6. Such associated infrastructure includes, collection societies, advertising agencies, and other musical trade bodies. It will investigate their membership, their roles, and their primary function within the industry of licensing songs and recordings, as well as, distributing income to intellectual property rights holders. At the end of this module, students will have a fundamental understanding of this often-invisible income stream.

Level 6

• Compulsory modules:
• Music Management Project:
The music management project is a self-directed module that allows students to showcase the skills and abilities developed during the previous years of study. The module spans the whole academic year and provides the opportunity to investigate an area that is of particular research interest to the student. It is expected that the research topic is clearly related to the content of your course, but it can also encompass a broader perspective that considers your intended career path. The students are paired with a personal tutor, who will assist them to build a cohesive plan for their project. Students will be expected to:
• Devise a project idea and successfully realize its goals within the allocated timeframe
• Develop a systematic understanding of selected aspects of the principal area of study
• Acquire and convey detailed, coherent and informed knowledge of the research topic
• Self-manage the processes of research including effective planning, time-management and practical organisation
• Source and define appropriate research methodologies
• Analyse, synthesise and draw from academic literature and related research material to develop a conceptual understanding of the research topic
• Critically evaluate scholarly ideas, arguments and aesthetic concepts to frame ideas or make judgements
• Engage in discussion and dialogue in structured tutorial sessions
This module will equip students with conceptual and practical tools to navigate analytical systems utilised by streaming services and advertising platforms. Students will engage in guided workshops, using current case studies to highlight different advertising approaches to the way that music is marketed and consumed in the contemporary industry. At the end of this module students will be capable of planning and constructing targeted digital marketing campaigns designed to optimise audience engagement.
• Digital Marketing: In this module students will take their previously acquired industry knowledge and further their skills using applied scenarios.
The module is broken into two parts that will cover both theoretical underpinnings and applied learning scenarios. In the first section, students will engage with broad theoretical concepts that underpin digital marketing and will apply these to current market exemplars. The second section will focus on the demonstration of previously acquired knowledge and skill sets in an applied learning scenario. At the end of this module students will be capable of assembling teams and developing complex marketing campaigns for industry leading acts.
• Festival Studies: This module aims to investigate the business models and culture of festivals within the arts in the UK.
Students will study the planning and logistical factors that occur when organising festivals across a broad section of genres. From the initial planning stages of the creation of the event, through the negotiation of key factors such as health and safety, security and site planning. Students will assess the production of a festival from the initial pitch, through the numerous legalities, applications, and compliances, to the delivery of the event. To facilitate this will require a broad range of practical skills and knowledge of the festival industry. This will include time management, negotiation skills, problem-solving, and entrepreneurial skills, combined with a clear comprehension of logistics, health and safety, copyright and moral rights ownership. At the end of this module students will have a clear idea of how to approach festival design and execution.
• Portfolio Development: This module focuses on the development of your portfolio career.
Increasingly, the successful modern freelancer requires a diverse range of skill sets in:
• Writing styles
• Technique
• Arrangement
• Production
• The ability to expand your client base and income streams.
Workflow demands will be examined in a time managed ethos to allow best practice. The module also explores creative outlets, future facing opportunities and residual income streams to allow you to pursue a career as a music professional whilst developing your portfolio.

Teaching:

All lecturers on the BA (Hons) Music Management course are practicing music business professionals.

Careers:

Once you graduate you could go on to work in:

• Artist management
• Booking agencies
• PR and press
• Publishing
• Record labels
• Event and tour managing
Allowing you to develop your CV and gain experience prior to graduating. All BA(Hons) Music Management students will have access to digital distribution with no upfront cost for their musical endeavors during their studies to promote student-led entrepreneurship and a strong creative community via the university record label. This programme is dual accredited by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Students who successfully complete and pass all mapped modules will be eligible for a L5 Certificate in Management and Leadership. Students will also graduate as a 'foundation' Chartered Manager (fCMgr), a springboard to full Chartered status, and have affiliate membership of CMI for the life of their degree. This provides a wealth of management resources and support including:
• Access to CMI's management and leadership community with regular industry updates and invites to events and webinars
• Access to ManagementDirect, CMI's management and leadership library of resources
• Access to CMI’s Career Development Centre and Employability Skills Diagnostic Tool
• Mentoring.

UK: £9,250 per year International: £16,250 per year