Music Business - BA (Hons)

Bucks New University

The module aims to give you the knowledge to become self-employed in the music/events/entertainment industries. You'll study concepts and techniques relevant to content-driven businesses, such as marketing, promotion and potential income streams, to evaluate the success of contemporary small business practices. You'll also consider approaches to constructing and presenting a business proposal. There will be opportunities to engage in collaborative client-based live briefs.

You'll need to understand and analyse the processes for planning, managing & co-ordinating all aspects involved in the staging of a professional live event. The finished event will be evaluated in the context of the initial aims and objectives as well as design and creation of an experience using appropriate music business and management theories.

You'll study social and cultural theory in the context of the music & event industries and explore the links between audiences, media & industry in a societal context. You'll study how social & cultural theory gives a unique perspective on the relationship between fans, industry and media and look at theories of fandom, subcultures & audiences.

This module builds on the foundations of the Level 4 Introduction to Artist Development module, focusing now on concepts pertinent to contemporary artist management. Teaching sessions will be delivered by members of the academic team and, where appropriate, guest speakers from industry.

The aim of the module is to provide you with an introduction to research methods and the skills necessary for planning and conducting research and enquiry within their field of study, discipline or professional contexts.

This module will give you a thorough understanding of the fundamental topics needed to manage projects within a complex and ever-changing environment. You’ll develop a deeper understanding of both theoretical and practical aspects of project management and gain the essential skills necessary to plan, monitor, control and deliver successful projects.

You'll study the role of Artists & Repertoire Managers in content focused music business, including how they acquire, deliver, control and develop the content. You'll look at how these considerations are governed by the commerce vs creativity contradictions in commercial cultural industries and examine case studies of A&R across the music business.

You'll investigate, analyse and critically evaluate a range of social issues related to the production and consumption of music from a criminological, sociological, and cultural theoretic perspective. This module is updated each academic year so that present social issues affecting music are included.

You'll study digital marketing management in the context of the music, event & entertainment industries. You'll look at current and future challenges presented by new & emerging technologies as they apply to marketing management, and consider how to apply an integrated marketing approach to promotion in the music, event & entertainment industries.

This module introduces intellectual property law and how critical it is to the economic structure of the music and entertainment industries. Set against the framework of the legal system in the UK, you'll study copyright, trademarks, design rights and allied areas of intellectual property law, as well as the Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988 and Trade Marks Act 1994. This module also introduces contract law, actions for breach of contract and remedies for breach of contract. The second element of the teaching of the legal framework will be to focus on competition law and how this impacts on the monopolistic nature of copyright and other intellectual property rights as well as the regulatory impact on the different areas of music industry including the sound recording sector, music publishing and the live events sector.