Music Business

Sharpen your music business and management skills and gain the confidence to pursue your career goals with the MA Music Business. With topics including the live music industry, intellectual property and talent management, alongside other key business skills, this course provides you with an opportunity to develop your personal organisation skills, self-discipline, time management, and dedication to succeed in a competitive field.

Why study this subject? Combine your passion for music with your head for business and take on a role in the buzzing music industry.

The UK music industry contributed £5.8bn to the UK economy in 2019, (Music By Numbers UK Music) and employed an estimated 315,000 people in music, performing and visual arts (DCMS 2020) so the opportunities open to you are great.

If you are interested in a career in working for a record label, managing artists, music marketing and promotions or music publishing then a degree in Music Business could be for you.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University? BNU has been delivering courses in the music industry for over 25 years, and therefore we have a wealth of expertise from within our network of lecturing staff, guest speakers, and alumni, all with a track record of success in a wide variety of roles in the music business internationally.

The MA Music Business programme allows you to develop deep knowledge and advanced skills to enhance your career in the music industry, in both employed and self-employed capacities. You’ll be able to develop a detailed understanding of the professional environment of the music and media sectors and the entrepreneurial skills necessary to exploit current opportunities as well as instigate new lines of professional activity.

All our music degrees at Buckinghamshire New University come with membership of UK Music’s Music Academic Partnership (MAP), a ground-breaking collaboration between educational institutions and UK Music, designed to maximise the relationship between the industry and educational institutions in order to inform the next generation of industry professionals.

UK Music is the collective voice of the UK’s world-leading music industry. We represent all sectors of our industry – bringing them together to collaborate, campaign, and champion music. The members of UK Music are: AIM, BPI, FAC, The Ivors Academy, MMF, MPA, MPG, MU, PPL, PRS for Music. UK Music also has an informal association with LIVE (Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment).

What will I study? Depending on the modules you choose, you can study intellectual property, social media marketing, entrepreneurship, the live music industry, talent management, and artist and repertoire development, amongst other topics.

An exciting module titled Contemporary Industry Issues features guest speakers from the forefront of the music industry, as well as from academia, and addresses the most up-to-date issues and challenges facing the industry. You’ll also work on a 15000-word research project, supported by a master’s level research methods module, allowing you to study your chosen topic in-depth and tailored to your own career aspirations and interests.

You will learn how apply newly acquired knowledge and skills creatively in order to exploit current opportunities as well as instigate new lines of professional activity. Through developing conceptual understanding, you’ll be able to evaluate methodologies employed within related industries and critique them.

What are my career prospects? Graduates from this course pursue careers in numerous roles and areas of the music business, for example; artist management, artist and repertoire representative, music marketing executive, booking agent, music publishing executive, record company executive, the live music industry, music entrepreneurship, music business educator, music publisher, social media, tour manager, further postgraduate study or research.