BA Honours, 3 year full-time
Commercial Music
BA Honours, 3 year full-time
To be a leader in providing education and training in innovative music creation and business practice. The BA(Hons) Commercial Music programme to be the world leader in music industry education and to be at the centre of a globally extended network of music industry organisations.
This course covers music production, music business and the study of music as culture. The first of its kind in the UK, it operates in the heart of the London’s music industry, offering musicians and aspiring music business professionals the chance to learn, practise and experiment. It has strong links with major record labels, as well as a wide range of independent music and multimedia companies. Graduates continue to make a significant impact in all sectors of the business. The course has educational links to Rock Academie, Tilburg, Netherlands, Pop Akademie, Mannheim, Germany and ICOM, Malaysia.
The course has three main areas of study: music production, music business and music sociology. Students may specialise in either music production or music business (including music business law), or choose a mixture of both.
Music production: covers live and recorded production, songwriting, composition, arranging, performance, music technology, film and multi-media production. Culminates in the third year with an individual, large-scale production-based project.
Music business:covers music industry structure and sector roles, copyright and music business law; strategies in the music business; repertoire management; international markets and entrepreneurship. Students have a wide choice of work experience opportunities within the industry as well as marketing product generated by the music production students. Culminates in a music business major project covering a range of options from working with established businesses to company start-ups.
Music sociology: covers the cultural and social roles of commercial music with a focus on how music has developed as a force in popular culture and the mass media. Includes an active research project in music ethnography. Culminates in the third year with an extended thesis in which students research and investigate an historical and/or critical subject related to music.
