BA Music and Arts Management Degree

Overview & facilities

If you're looking for a course that will provide an excellent overview of the music industry, and help you lay firm foundations for a career in the music business... then our BA Music and Arts Management Degree with Honours is the one for you!

You'll start by exploring arts organisations, including record companies, concert societies, festivals and venues, and evaluating the roles of agents, managers and administrators. From there you'll examine music criticism, promotion and the birth of the record industry, all geared towards helping you develop your skills in music marketing, fundraising, consultancy and studio composition or production. As you progress, you also gain an understanding of the growth of the e-music business in the creation, sharing and sale of music.

You'll study in a well equipped Music Centre and gain valuable experience from working with dedicated staff whose career backgrounds include record label management, intellectual property research, record production, and artistic direction.You also have the option to perform with various ensembles within the music department.

Content & modules

Modules

• Year 1

  Across the Culture Industry (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module enables students to gain a broader understanding of popular music and arts management through study of the cultural industries and music as a collaborative art. Working closely with other disciplines and art forms, students will also acquire the knowledge and skills needed to conduct a feasibility study into the organisation of a multi-disciplinary event.

  Introduction to Arts Administration and Management (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module aims to introduce arts administration and management studies through examination of the music and culture industries and their key organisations, e.g. record companies, publishers, agencies, diary services etc. The evaluation of various roles - managers, agents, administrators, promoters, impresarios etc. - seeks to develop students historical and contemporary awareness of the knowledge and skills needed to manage and administer music and arts projects.

  Perspectives in Music History 1 (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module aims to lay a firm foundation for further study of music through the study of a range of specific musical concepts, examined through 18th and 19th century repertoire and then moving to 20th century music in the second half of the module. It enables the student to develop: 1 Aesthetic knowledge and understanding, especially of 18th 19th century Western repertoire and early 20th century musical styles. 2 A knowledge of music history from these periods 3 An understanding of ideas of canon formation and related cultural concepts 4 An understanding of aesthetic and stylistic concepts of non-European and popular music.

  Writing about Music and Musicians (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  To introduce students to the various professional literatures which across genres musical events call to be produced; to enable students to appreciate such events in the broadest terms, from planning to journalistic and in-house reviews; to introduce musical aesthetics and to develop understanding of amateur and professional music-making in classical and non-classical music; to exemplify how, procedurally and critically, the production of literature in these contexts affects writers decisions.

• Year 2

  Consulting to Organisations (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module builds on learning achieved in both the level one by providing an opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge to organisation practise. This is achieved by students working in small teams on a real time consultancy project which takes place in a variety of public, private and voluntary sector organisations. It gives the student the responsibility of managing themselves, their time, their team relationships and their relationships with external clients to achieve outcomes of real significance to the client.

  Issues in e-music (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  Perspectives in Music History 2 (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module develops a specialised aesthetic and historical knowledge of music from the late eighteenth century up to the Second World War, and introduces students to trends in musicological research used in analysing such repertoire. This knowledge will be contextualised to equip students with the necessary conceptual and analytical tools to understand music as an art form conditioned by society and culture, both in its production and reception. Students will develop an awareness of issues related to ownership and authorship in music with implications for copyright, the role of technological innovations in shaping musical thought, and economic factors that have contributed to musical developments during the period.

  Promoting and Marketing Music (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  The module aims to study the specialist knowledge and skills needed in considering the function of marketing from a strategic standpoint by looking at the political, sociological and economic factors which affect people working in the music and the arts. It draws upon the literature and experience of practitioners to examine the wide range of principles and practices which can be used to attract and retain audiences and attendees.

• Year 3

  Advanced Popular Music Studies (30 Credits) - Optional

  This module provides an advanced study of popular music through a selective overview of songs, styles, genres and related concepts. Movements related to the birth of Modernism and rebirth of popular music in the twentieth century are examined in their relevant musical, cultural and philosophical contexts. The relationship between artistic creativity and music-industrial practices offers a further perspective from which students may acquire a detailed understanding of issues such as musical authorship, borrowing , post modernism and the internationalisation of popular music.

  Beethoven and the Nineteenth Century (30 Credits) - Optional

  This module aims to enable students to acquire: 1 Knowledge of representative works of Beethoven s middle and late periods and of central repertoire of nineteenth-century European music. 2 Understanding of the cultural and social trends which shaped musical developments and of the ways in which music was performed and listened to throughout the long Nineteenth Century. 3 Detailed understanding of the styles, genres, forms and compositional techniques of the Nineteenth Century.

  Event and Artist Management (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module aims to develop the organisational knowledge and skills needed in the areas of event and artist management; to draw them together in the context of problem-solving in real management projects conceptually, strategically and practically; and to consider political and socio-economic factors affecting those working commercially in the arts.

  Independent Project (30 Credits) - Optional

  This module develops further knowledge, understanding and skills in an area of study that particularly interests the student, whether arising from previous learning or enabling the student to pursue an interest not other otherwise catered for in taught modules. Because of the diversity of Independent Projects, their specific aims will vary according to the nature of the project and will be defined by the student in their proposal, subject to the approval of the Module Leader.

  Music Contracts and Copyrights (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module provides an advanced study of music contracts and copyrights in the music and cultural industries. Analysis of historical and contemporary conditions across various industry sectors, genres and territories offers students a detailed theoretical background upon which to develop specialist practical skills appropriate to recording, arts administration, management and agency.

Entry & applying

We normally make offers on 240 UCAS tariff points. A-level Music or Music Technology, or BTEC in Music, Music Technology or Performing Arts, or equivalent Foundation or Access to HE Music qualification, or equivalent qualification in which music and/or business studies plays a substantial partWe noramlly

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Qualifications accepted

For a comprehensive list of qualifications accepted by Middlesex, see further information under entry requirements

English language requirements

You must have competence in English language and we normally require Grade C GCSE or an equivalent qualification. The most common English Language requirements for international students are IELTS 6.0 (with minimum 5.5 in all four components) or TOEFL internet based 72 (with at least 17 in listening & writing, 20 in speaking and 18 in reading).

Middlesex also offers an Intensive Academic English course (Pre-Sessional) that ranges from 5-17 weeks depending on your level of English. Successful completion of this course would meet English language entry requirements. For more information on applying for the pre-sessional please email english@mdx.ac.uk. 

Entry into year two or three (transfer students)

If you have achieved a qualification such as a foundation degree or HND, or have gained credit at another university, you may be able to enter a Middlesex course in year two or three. For full details of how this works see transfer students

UK/EU applicants with existing higher education qualifications

If you have already been awarded a qualification at the same level as the course you are applying for, you may not be eligible for a tuition fee loan, see fees and funding for more information.

Applying

Applications for UK and EU students should be made to UCAS – the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. The institution code for Middlesex is M80, and the code name is MIDDX. You also need the code for the course you wish to apply for – this is found in the 'at a glance' box above.

International students from outside the EU can make a direct application.  We have a network of regional offices across the world to assist you with your application.  They have worked with people from your region coming to Middlesex before and can help. Read more on international applications

Fees & funding

The tuition fee for the 2012/2013 academic year for UK/EU students is £9,000.
The tuition fee for the 2012/2013 academic year for International students is £10,400.

Click here to find out more about fees, funding and our scholarships in 2012.

Careers & placements

As a graduate, you could become the manager of a band or venue, or a record producer, an administrator for record companies or copyright collection societies, or work within arts education, outreach and development teams.