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MA Music Business

The MA Music Business provides you with an opportunity to develop your personal organisation skills, self-discipline, time management, and dedication to succeed in a competitive field. You will enhance your team-working skills, demonstrating to employers the ability to devise creative solutions and work effectively with others.

You will hone your communication skills to form concise, compelling, and coherent arguments.

Why study this subject?

The MA Music Business is a challenging postgraduate degree that prepares students seeking to work in the music business. Students complete modules on intellectual property, social media marketing, entrepreneurship, the live music industry, talent management, and artist and repertoire development.

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.

The 15000-word research project, supported by a master’s level research methods module, allows students to study their chosen topic in-depth and tailored to their own career aspirations and interests. The programme allows students to develop deep knowledge and advanced skills to enhance their career in the music industry, in both employed and self-employed capacities.

The opportunity to learn from a very experienced faculty was really attractive, the lecturers are all industry professionals with over a hundred years of experiences between them. The small class sizes also means sessions are more interactive. The cultural diversity, music culture, fantastic Students’ Union, and the closeness to London made BNU the clear choice to me.

Chubiyojo Justice Ujah

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.

All our music degrees at Buckinghamshire New University come with membership of UK Music’s Music Academic Partnership (MAP).

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).

MAP is a ground-breaking collaboration between educational institutions and UK Music, and is designed to maximise the relationship between the industry and educational institutions in order to inform the next generation of industry professionals.

MAP does this by nurturing collaborative projects, such as research and careers events, panel events, various education and skills work, policy work, and career opportunities. Fundamentally MAP provides extra opportunities to individuals who want to build careers out of their passion for music. This helps to future-proof the music industry by ensuring new entrants have the right mix of experience and skills.

What will I study?

This programme has been developed to enable you gain a deep understanding of the music and media sectors. 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 be able to evaluate methodologies employed within related industries and critique them.

How will I be taught and assessed?

Summative and formative assessments are used in all modules and the following types of assessment activity may be used on this programme subject to the pathway chosen. These include:

practical assignment
report
essay
portfolio
reflective commentary
research proposal
dissertation
practical project.

Useful Information

MA Music Business Programme Specification

What are the course entry requirements?

A typical applicant will hold a 2:1 and have an interest in pursuing a career in music, or have several years’ experience in the industry at an appropriate level.

Modules

This provides a guide of the modules that make up your course. You can find more information about how your course is structured on our Academic Advice section.

Year 1 Modules

Contemporary Industry Issues

Intellectual Property for Music Professionals

Managing Talent

Music Business Entrepreneurship

Year 2 Modules

Artist & Repertoire Development

Research Methods

Research Project

Social Media Marketing

The Live Music Industry

What are the tuition fees

Home

Home, Academic Year 2022 - 2023

£5,250 per year

The University is unable to accept any new applications from students who require sponsorship for a student visa to start in September 2022. This is due to the overwhelming popularity of our courses and visa processing timeframes. Applications are still being taken from students who are already in the UK and hold the right to study.

From September 2022, those students living in the UK or Republic of Ireland, and EU nationals with settled status in the UK, will be considered Home students.

Most courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees.

You could benefit from financial support through a bursary or scholarship during your time as a student. For more details visit our financial support, bursaries and scholarships section.

What are my career prospects?

Graduates from this course pursue careers in numerous areas of the music business. The course caters to the following career pathways: artist management, music marketing executive, music publishing executive, record company executive, the live music industry, music entrepreneurship, music business educator, further postgraduate study or research.