Dr Sam Murray is a lecturer in music business and arts management at Middlesex University, which he joined at the end of 2019 following his work as a Policy & Research Officer for UK Music, the main campagining and lobbying group for the music industries in the UK.
He has previously been a research associate at Teesside University on the Creative Fuse North East project, and a research assistant at Cardiff University as part of Creative Cardiff.
He also previously worked for UK Music as a Policy & Research Officer working on their Music by Numbers Report as well as regional city reports exmaining music-making in Manchester and Sheffield. He also worked on policy research in support of reducing business rates for grassroots music venues, changes to the visa system to benefit musicians and improving support for the live music industry in Wales.
For over 10 years Sam has played Clarinet with the touring band Me and My Friends and has released three albums Beneath a Level Head (2012), Hide Your Way (2016) and Look Up! (2018) with the band. The band have performed on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends Programme, featured on french station Radio Nova's compilations NovaTunes 3.5 and 3.9 and have performed at many of the UK's biggest festivals including Greenman, Shambala and Kendall Calling.
BA in Popular and World Musics at University of Leeds
MA in Popular Music Studies at University of Liverpool
PhD on the Independent Music Scene in Portland, Oregon at Cardiff University
Sam's research has specialised in examining music policy, particularly within music cities. For his PhD he undertook extensive ethnographic research exploring the music scene in Portland, Oregon and exmaining the impact of local policy making. He also co-authored Mapping Cardiff's Creative Economy a report into the state of the creative industries in the Welsh capital. He project managed ground-breaking innovation pilots for Teesside University as part of Creative Fuse North East and worked on successful innovation projects such as Unfolding Theatre's Multiverse Arcade debuted at the Great Exhibition of the North in 2018.
His research has appeared in City, Culture & Society as well as the Green European Journal. He has also been part of the music education advisory group for the Senedd Culture, Welsh Language and Communications committee resulting in the Hitting the Right Note Inquiry into funding for and access to music education report and recently appeared before the committee to give evidence to their Live Music Inquiry.
Expert Advisor Live Music in Wales Inquiry, Committee for Culture, Welsh Language and Communications, National Assembly for Wales (2019-20)
Member of Advisory Committee, Funding for Access to Music Education Inquiry, Committee for Culture, Welsh Language and Communications, National Assembly for Wales (2018)
