Music Management BA (Hons)

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.

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. At the end of this module students become eligible for working within the university record label.

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.

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.

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.

This module is designed to develop the students’ understanding of music publishing, and the surrounding infrastructure that supports this important music revenue stream. 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.

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 realise 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

The dominance of streaming insights platforms such as Spotify For Artists has changed the way music is assessed and marketed. 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.

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.

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.

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.