Summary
- Duration
- Full-time: 1 year
Part-time: 3 years
- Fees
- 2012/2013: £10,300 per year
2012/2013 (Part-time): £3,430 per year
Overview
Register now to attend our Postgraduate Open Day on Thursday 10 May 2012
Course duration: September start: 12 months full time or 36 months part time
The music industry is undergoing significant change. New ways of distributing and consuming music have challenged the standard models of this global business and transformed its place in our lives. This masters course will provide you with an in-depth understanding of music as a commercial and a cultural activity and the skills to respond effectively to these changes. The annual global revenue of the industry, estimated to be around US billion, means music is a significant employer which provides real opportunities for people with enterprising ideas.
The Birmingham School of Media music industry staff offer a breadth and depth of experience that will be essential to your study of music in a global digital world. The team is led by Andrew Dubber, Reader in Music Industry Innovation, and internationally renowned for his insightful analyses of this sector. You will also work with Tim Wall, Professor of Radio and Popular Music Studies, and Paul Long, Reader in Media and Cultural History, whose studies of music culture are key to university courses across the world, and with Oliver Carter and Jon Hickman, our highly regarded experts on online enterprise and innovation.
On this course you will master the theoretical work on music culture and the music business, applying these theories to real-world contemporary problems, and challenging accepted wisdom. You will work in a very practical way, utilising online collaborative tools; text, audio or audio-visual communication and other forms of online interaction, trying out ideas, and putting your new knowledge and skill into practice straightaway. Your entrepreneurial skills will be developed, and you will make strong professional contacts and build relationships within the music businesses. This really is the course for you if you aspire to lead at the forefront of innovation in music industry enterprise and scholarship.
Course Outline
Course Structure
You will start your studies in this masters degree in Music Industries with some solid foundations in the theoretical work on the cultural importance of music in people’s lives and on the way that the music business has been organised, and in the key skills of the entrepreneur. There will certainly be lots of key material to read; after all this is a rich area for academic and industry scholarship and research. At the same time, you will work through case studies drawn from work conducted by members of our Interactive Cultures research team, as well as other key industry challenges. Most importantly, we want you to start to develop your own music business ideas and put them into practice.
Lectures will be replaced with audio slide shows, recordings of a lecture, or live-streamed lectures which cover the same material. These will often be identical to those delivered to students with attendance.
Access to your tutors for tutorials will be via audio-visual communication technologies such as Skype and will be further supported by email.
We invite a wide range of relevant speakers from industry which will be made available through a range of online platforms, and we want you to get involved in the interesting research undertaken by members of the Interactive Cultures team, who are part of the school’s Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research. We keep in close contact with our music industry graduates, and there will be opportunities to connect with them and other companies from across the world on real projects.
Later in the course you will establish your own music enterprises, or develop your skills as a popular music academic. We encourage you to experiment, to try out innovative ideas, and to produce truly original work. Although we often draw upon insights from the past, we are always looking to the future, and we want you to develop projects or dissertations which really make a difference.
You can find out more details about the course modules below.
Modules
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Popular Music as Culture (30 credits)
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Online Enterprise and Innovation (30 credits)
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This theory module explores the debates within the music and media industries that inform our understanding of music as a cultural practice. We play particular attention to conflicts between the idea of music as culture and music as commerce.
You will produce some original research on popular music culture and its social role.
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This module delivers against the programme aims to provide applied theoretical and professional knowledge and work in interactive and online media professional environments by exploring the techniques, processes and practices of online innovation and enterprise. You will put ideas into practice, develop a strong sense of your own professional development needs, be involved in creating networks and refine an action-orientated approach.
By focusing on a spirit of entrepreneurship (or intrapreneurship) we will encourage you to take ownership of your own personal professional development. You will identify industry challenges appropriate to your award, and turn them into opportunities for you to enhance your independence, confidence, networking capacity and strategic thinking. This will encourage you to become a self-reflexive creative worker.
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Popular Music as Commerce (30 credits)
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Production Lab or Research Methods (30 credits)
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This theory into practice module explores the changing nature of the music industries and the implications of those changes for the commercial activities that are built around musical expression, performance, composition, distribution and promotion.
You will investigate practical ideas for music enterprises based upon an understanding of how music creates economic value and the commercial opportunities in developing technology.
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These modules prepare you for MA by Practice or MA by Dissertation, depending upon the focus of your studies.
Both draw upon other taught modules which either mapped out the current state of academic knowledge in the field, or established professional conventions and explored current industry challenges.
You will be provided with the opportunity to apply, experiment and innovate in a range of production skills and intellectual ideas appropriate to your award, supported by a systematic exploration of methods for research or production development.
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MA by Practice or MA by Dissertation (60 credits)
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Depending upon the focus of your studies you will complete your award with either an original contribution to scholarship in the MA by Dissertation or originate, execute and deliver an individual and extended practice-based professional project at the forefront of your field.
You will develop and consolidate your mastery of key skills, knowledge of and engagement with current opportunities in the field of production or academic enquiry. These modules encourage and test skills of initiative and independent practice and are conducted largely outside of the classroom with support from a tutor.
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After your studies
Further Studies
For anyone interested in taking their research interests forward into an MPhil or PhD speak to the course director about your particular area of expertise.
Employment Opportunities
This course is suitable for those wishing to extend their skills in the music industries, either in a major company or the independent sector, or alternatively within a community environment. The emphasis on using new media and developing new music industry strategies means that graduates will be well-placed to take up key posts in innovation, or establish their own music businesses.