BA in Music Business

Do you want to create music media content, plan, promote and manage live music events, create your own music enterprise, develop project management skills, understand music promotion and PR, or have an interest in music as relating to wider creative and cultural industries? Then our BA (Hons) Music Business degree is the ideal course for you. We will support you in developing innovative and creative entrepreneurial skills and approaches needed not just to work in, but to shape the exciting and dynamic, multi-platform music industries.

Studying in our industry-standard media centre in the heart of Birmingham, you will be taught in a friendly, supportive learning community, by an academic team of music business professionals and researchers who have industry experience. You will benefit from cutting-edge knowledge and research from our active popular music and music industries research community, who not only produce internationally recognised research and publications but also contribute their expertise to the course.

What's covered in this course?

With the advent of digitalisation and the rapid rise of social media networks, the music industries have been radically transformed during the past 15 years. Driving this transformation is the demand for music media content as evolving services and features that let fans and audiences interact and play with music rather than just play music. You will develop music business and music media content production skills through a combination of hands-on learning, supported by a critical investigation into the local, national, and international music industries, creative music cultures, and music business issues, which will underpin the importance of research and creative problem solving needed to work within the UK’s world-leading music industries. It will help you to position yourself at the forefront of creating and developing innovative ideas and exploring niche markets within the music industry.

Using Birmingham’s vibrant and dynamic music scenes and cultures as your learning environment, you will have the opportunity to apply these skills and knowledge by designing and developing your own projects that speak to your interests, strengths, and future career aspirations in the music industry. While studying with us, you’ll have the opportunity to set up a record label, promote artists or organise a music event for a paying audience, as well as explore music entrepreneurship, music online, music promotion and PR, music video, music programming and podcast production. In your final year of study, you will complete a final major project, drawing together the strands of knowledge, skills, and experience that you gained during your time with us. The course provides opportunities to collaborate with local and national music businesses and stakeholders, alongside work placements with key organisations within the UK music industries.

Professional placement year

This course offers a professional placement year. This allows you to spend a whole year with an employer, between the second and third years of your degree and is a great way to find out more about your chosen career. Some students even return to the same employers after completing their studies.

The University will draw on its extensive network of local, regional and national employers to support you in finding a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. If you do not find a suitable placement, you will be automatically transferred back to the standard, non-placement version of the course.

Please note that fees are payable during your placement year, equivalent to 20% of the total full-time course fee for that year (£1,850 for UK students).

Why choose us?

1. As a BA (Hons) Music Business student you will benefit from our membership of UK Music’s Music Academic Partnership.
2. 97% of students are satisfied with the teaching of this course (National Student Survey 2022).
3. You will be taught by staff with extensive experience in both industry and education. You will also have access to a well-established research culture based on music industries and popular music. The Popular Music Studies research group within the School of Media promotes new and innovative approaches to the study of popular music that are relevant to academics and practitioners, as well as anyone interested in popular music.
4. We provide specialised, sophisticated equipment for every area in our £62 million home, The Parkside Building, including six radio studios, four TV studios, one of the largest free-standing green screens in Europe, editing suites, music production studios, a new media suite, a newsroom and photography studios (including a half and a full infinity cove).
5. You will have the opportunity to expand your professional network through a range of relevant field trips and industry conferences. In recent years our students have attended We Are Robots in London, Liverpool Sound City, and Off the Record Manchester.
6. You will have the opportunity to gain real-world experience and develop industry contacts and experience through work placements and collaborative projects with our industry partners in Birmingham’s expanding music sector.

Year one

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 120 credits):

• Live Production 1
• Creating Music Media Content
• Valuing Music
• Global and Community Impact
• Introduction to Media Contexts and Practice – Music Industries Landscapes

Year two

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 80 credits):

• Live Production 2 - Music Industries
• Music Industries Ecologies
• Popular Music Narratives

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete at least 40 credits from the following indicative list of optional modules.

• Faculty optional module
• School of Media optional module

Core modules are guaranteed to run. Optional modules will vary from year to year and the published list is indicative only.

Year three

In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following core modules (totalling 120 credits):

• Major Project
• Music Industries Innovation
• Critical Music Futures
• Professional Academic Development

Enhancing your employability skills

Previous students have gone on to a number of roles within the music industry including work with music collection agencies, industry support bodies, live music promoters, record labels, and within music journalism and music media broadcasting.

Organisations include: NEC Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Group, Nuclear Blast Records, Punch Records, Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham Symphony Hall, O2 Arena, Birmingham International Jazz festival, Shambala Festival, Supersonic Festival, Swingamajig, British Phonograph Industry, Sony Music, PPL PRS Ltd, Radio 1, Radio 1 Xtra.

As well as gaining course-specific skills, you could also gain broader tools through our Graduate+ programme, which will help enhance your employment options by helping with career development, employability activities, volunteering and part-time work experience.

Allied with these course-specific experiences, you will also have access to a range of support staff and services from the University’s Careers Service, who can help with:

• Reviewing CVs, covering letters and application forms
• Career planning and decision making
• Preparing for interviews and assessment centres
• Developing portfolios
• Networking with employers
• Advice about self-employment and entrepreneurship

Links to Industry

As a BA (Hons) Music Business student you will benefit from our membership of UK Music’s Music Academic Partnership. As one of only 17 institutions nationally, our MAP status is designed to maximise the employability of students; and future-proof the music industry by ensuring new entrants have the right mix of experience and skills most needed. As a MAP member, our curriculum is shaped and informed by the needs and wants of the industry itself, to ensure that you are developing the right skills, knowledge, and experience for a career in music. Through our membership, you will gain access to masterclasses from leading industry professionals, opportunities to get involved in industry research, networking and information events and input and support into your future career.

Birmingham Music Coalition

We play a key role within the Birmingham Music Coalition (BMC), a music industries lobbying group made up of, and linked to, a number of influential local, regional and national music industry organisations. We also have an industry advisory panel whose membership includes international music industry professionals from Warner Music UK and Kobalt Music Group. They advise and inform us of current music industry developments and practices, to ensure our students are developing the skills, knowledge and experiences that are sought by industry employers.

Placements

Placements and work experience are a core part of BA (Hons) Music Business, and the ethos of the Birmingham School of Media more broadly. As a student on the course, you will be required to source and undertake relevant placements (supported and guided by our tutors and professional networks) and to draw upon these experiences in the work that you are producing within your taught modules.

In recent years our students have secured work placements with a range of key music industries organisations including:

• Sony Music Group
• Universal Music Group
• Warner Music UK
• O2 Academy
• BPI
• Ticketmaster
• Association of Independent Festivals
• NEC

As well as innovative and exciting local businesses such as:

• Punch Records
• Supersonic Festival
• Birmingham International Jazz
• Blues Festival
• Birmingham Music Archive
• Home of Metal