Music & Entertainment Management

Duration: Full-time one year; Part-time two years starting in September 2010 and January 2011

Entry requirements: Graduates with a good first degree
Industry professionals with at least three to four years experience within the music and entertainment industry
All applications are based on interview and previous experience

Fees for 2010-11
Home:
Full-time year 1 - £5,850
Part-time year 1 - £4,100 (includes residential fees)
Part-time year 2 - £1,750 

International:
Full-time year 1 - £8,850

Brief overview:

The course looks at key issues facing the music and entertainment industries, including Intellectual Property (IP), the digital revolution and its impact across the industry, changing business models and how content can be monetised. It also looks at global strategy and issues to do with leadership and management. The programme will include a number of keynote lectures on a range of other issues, including sustainability and the industry, and crowd and safety management.

The master’s programme will involve six areas of study plus a dissertation. Upon completion of these six areas participants will have completed the postgraduate diploma stage of the master’s programme.

It is also possible to attend just one of our modules as a short course for which you can receive credits towards a future postgraduate qualification.

Areas of study:

Intellectual Property Law for the Creative Industries
This module focuses on the legal issues, which specifically affect the music and entertainment industries. It will be taught by leading music industry lawyers and will ensure that you have the IP knowledge needed for a comprehensive understanding of rights protection and exploitation of music-related brands and products, in both online and physical environments, and across multiple media platforms.

Leadership & Management for the Music & Entertainment Industry
This module examines the increasing influence of leadership and management theories on board room practice and discusses whether leaders are born or made. Theories of leadership along with issues and dilemmas of power, influence, conflict and followership will also feature. Finally personal and behavioural factors such as personality type (MBTI), relationship creation and the so-called ‘soft’ skills of emotional intelligence will be examined.

Industry Issues 1: The Future of Recording & Publishing
This is the first of two modules, which will look at key issues affecting the music and entertainment industry now. Themes such as the continuing impact of digitisation, emerging business models and the impact on the traditional industry of the entrance of new players, such as mobile phone companies, social networking sites, games companies, and sponsoring companies will all be discussed.

International Intellectual Property Law for the Creative Industries
This module will address the application of Intellectual Property within the context of the entertainment sector, including copyright exploitation, the role of the collection societies and copyright infringement. The role of trade marks to reinforce the position of Intellectual Property law as the economic lynchpin of the creative sectors will be central as will the impact on the law of digitisation and the globalisation of the industry, including the internet, peer-to-peer file swapping, music sampling and new forms of digital piracy. Lastly we will focus on competition laws within the natural monopoly of Intellectual Property rights and within the entertainment industries, drawing on real life examples to explore the tension between the exploitation of copyright and rules of competition laws.

Industry Issues 2: The Future of the Live Music Sector
In this module the live sector of the music industry will be examined. Questions about the future and the sustainability of growth in the sector in the light of the current economic climate will be explored. A look at emerging business practices such as secondary ticketing, the changing nature of the festival scene and the continuing acquisition by a few giants of venues, ticketing and other peripheral businesses will all be examined. Sector related issues such as developments in production services, crowd safety, green issues and the impact of the latest legislation, such as noise legislation, will also be discussed.

Strategic Management for the Music & Entertainment Industry
New business models will inevitably mean that existing corporate strategies will need to be examined. The module considers and critically analyses the theories, institutions and working practises of the music and entertainment industries. Process, planning, entrepreneurism, organisational structure and the concepts of the learning organisation are just some of the theories and topics which will be covered.

Residential workshops:

There are six residential weekend workshops which begin at 9.30am and finish at 5.30pm.

The dates for the next workshops are as follows:

September 2010 start                                January 2011 start

24 - 25 September 2010                            28 – 29 January 2011
19 – 20 November 2010                            25 – 26 March 2011
21 – 22 January 2011                                20 – 21 May 2011
28 – 29 January 2011                                2 – 3 September 2011
25 – 26 March 2011                                  18 – 19 November 2011
20 – 21 May 2011                                     20 – 21 January 2012

The weekend residentials will be supported by resource packs provided through our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

All assessment will be in the form of coursework and presentations, with the focus being on work based issues.

A key feature of the work-based approach to the assessments is the ‘Action Learning Sets’ which will take place both during and between each workshop.

It is through the ‘Action Learning Sets’ that the topics for the main pieces of assessment will be negotiated with the tutor. This will allow for an individual learning contract to be created for each participant.

Online tutor support will be available throughout the programme.

If you wish to discuss this programme further please email advice@bucks.ac.uk.

For further information please call 0800 0565 660 or email Teresa Moore: Teresa.Moore@bucks.ac.uk to arrange an informal discussion or to ask any questions about this course.

Please click here for the course brochure.
Our Application form can be downloaded here.