Music Business and Media BA(Hons)

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Top reasons to choose this course

• Graduate ready to take on a wide variety of roles across the music industry, from PR to A&R.
• The subject matter is a fascinating and ever-evolving mix – you will examine how the music and media industries intersect, investigating the social, cultural, economic, political and technological changes associated with their development.
• Excellent work placements organised by our dedicated placements team.
• Opportunities to work on live industry projects.
• Option modules in areas such as branding, journalism, public relations and sustainability, enabling you to tailor your degree to your specific career ambitions.
• Brighton is a fast-growing creative media hub and home to a thriving music scene.
• The course team are experts in their field who are passionate about sharing their knowledge with a new generation of media and music professionals.
• Develop valuable transferable skills including practical media skills, critical thinking and writing, independent research and analysis and excellent presentation, written and oral communication skills.

Year 1

In your first year you will study methods of understanding and theorising the media and music industries. You will also examine the social, cultural, economic, political and technological changes associated with their development.

Modules

Core modules

• Media and Popular Culture

  This module will introduce you to the concept of popular culture through the perspectives of media studies. You will critically engage with, explore and critique a range of popular cultural forms and practices. You will explore a range of current as well as historical examples of film, TV, music, and online popular culture through analysis of both the conditions of production - the entertainment industry - and audiences’ engagement with these texts.

• The Music Business

  This module introduces the character of the music industries and the activities associated with the music business, including recording, publishing, live performance, marketing and management. You'll explore and analyse popular music as both a cultural and industrial form., alongside considering popular music within the context of media industries, examining relationships between production, distribution and consumption.

• Popular Music: Histories and Contexts

  The module introduces the cultural contexts of popular music genres, styles, issues and debates – enabling you to place popular music within key historical developments. You'll explore the key formal debates of popular music studies and how they relate to popular music studies research.

• Critical Approaches to Media 1

  This module will introduce you to a range of critical academic approaches to media. It tackles the most cutting-edge topics in media studies and introduces canonical approaches used in their analysis. An introduction to these approaches will enable you to understand the workings of media audiences, industries and texts. The module will focus on media experiences that are relevant to your everyday life, ensuring that as well as academic development, the module will give you the tools to analyse your own engagement with, and consumption of, the media.

• Critical Approaches to Media 2

  This module introduces key media studies theories and concepts and applies them to the analysis of real-world issues. You will develop skills and techniques to critique media representations, showing the importance of media analysis in everyday life. By analysing media technologies, you will engage with the most innovative media content, forms and practices of the day. By questioning mediation, the module will bring to life the role of media in society and enable you to critique the media in terms of culture, politics, innovation and environment.

Options*

• Video Production 1

  This module will equip you with the essential skills and practical experience required to create short-form non-fictional audio-visual content, suitable in form to contemporary web-based - as well as more traditional - delivery platforms and audiences. It covers all three stages of video production: pre-production research and planning, production and post-production, including editing. It will introduce the fundamentals of video and sound-recording techniques as well as give you the skills required for successfully engaging with contributors/participants.

• Photographic Practice 1

  In this module you will explore the role and use of photography in visual media. You will engage with various aspects of the language and production of promotional and editorial photography. You will respond to set briefs and create your own website that includes an online portfolio as well as learn the core skills in which to consider, articulate and document reflections on your practice.

• Film Language and History

  This module introduces how the formal language of cinema – cinematography, editing, sound, shot composition, etc – contributes to establishing a film’s narrative. You’ll explore the history of mainstream Western cinema by looking at the key technical, institutional and economic developments of the medium. Areas covered include the emergence of the actuality genre, narrative theory, structure and the relationship between plot and story, and censorship and the cinema.

• Community Media for Social Action – Decolonising Media

  Tools, spaces and processes of community communications form the basis of inquiry into community media and social action. You will engage with theories of empowerment and voice as well as engaging in introductory practices of community media for social action. Your outputs from the practice component will be presented in class before being archived on the student learning space. You will also learn to reflect critically on your experiences and the processes of contextualised content generation through online communicative learning.

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

Year 2

In your second year of your Music Business and Media degree you’ll focus on an industry placement as well as looking at research methods for live projects which will equip you with the knowledge and skills to execute independent research.

Modules

Core modules

• Media Placement

  This module involves a series of guided practical workshops covering research skills, CV/cover letter writing and portfolio development, followed by a four-week placement at an organisation or a work-related research project. You will reflect on your experience to consider the links between the course material and the professional activities which take place a media-related environment.

• Music, Technology and Everyday Life

  This module blends cultural, critical media and technology studies to explore ways in which people engage with popular music, focusing specifically on how they relate to music technologies and popular music texts – music, lyrics, performers and representations – in their daily lives. Topics covered include everyday life and music technologies, Walkmans, iPods and walking in the city, record collecting, gender and domesticity and popular music and subcultures.

• Research Methods and Methodology

  To prepare you for your final year dissertation, this module covers a range of academic topics related to the theory, practice and design of research in the area of media studies. You will explore and gain an understanding of the research process, including the selection of methods, theories and analysis techniques appropriate for a media studies project and undertake a literature review on a chosen topic.

• The British Music Industry

  In this module you will develop an understanding of the British music industry landscape – the recording industry, live music and publishing – and critique its complexities and changes. You will analyse and discuss key areas and theoretical concepts concerning the industry as well as gain skills and techniques, such as running a record label and organising live events.

Options*

• Community Radio – Empowering Voices for Inclusion

  This module combines theory and practice to explore the ways in which community radio informs and connects people and impacts local communities. You will learn about the research, production and packaging stages of preparing audio content for broadcast, explore the day-to-day challenges facing community radio stations and expand your experience of collaborative work and learning.

• Specialist Portfolio

  In this module you will produce your own journalism in a subject area of your choice, using a range of forms and styles. You will create and populate an online publication platform, using audience development strategies (including social media and analytics) to build a following and employing professional techniques. You will also publish your work in a collaborative journalism project.

• Video Production 2

  During this module you will develop your video production skills and learn the concepts, theories and practice of documentary making. You will explore the three main stages of documentary production: pre-production (research and planning); production; and post-production, including editing techniques using professional video-editing software. Particular emphasis is given to creating an engaging narrative and focusing on the target audience.

• Media Project Management

  This module introduces you to key theories and approaches in project management, focusing on media projects. You will put these into practice by developing project plans as well as critiquing and reflecting on project management approaches and techniques, and on the purpose of project management within the creative industries. You will also gain a theoretical foundation for your final year live project.

• Photographic Practice 2

  Photographic Practice 2 explores contemporary, historical, critical and creative approaches to digital photography in a global context. You will investigate photography’s power to communicate and use your practice to challenge and highlight issues faced by society. Employing a range of lens-based media and digital platforms, you will share your work-in-progress in a mid-term presentation and produce a digital portfolio comprised of a photobook, research diary and web presence.

• Social Media for Activist and Community Groups

  In this module you will learn how social networking offers new possibilities for activist and non-profit groups. You will devise a social media strategy for a partner organisation and develop graphic and/or audiovisual material to accompany this. You’ll present your work to the organisation and critically reflect on social media practices across different platforms, focusing on the potential and limitations of using this technology for social good.

• Brands and Public Relations

  In this module you will examine the relationship between branding and public relations from a media perspective. It presents a practical and theoretical introduction to brand creation and the role public relations plays in the process of brand management, including industry perspectives. As well as studying the beginnings of public relations and issues including politics and corporate social responsibility, you will also take part in a brand development project.

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Placement 

In your second year you will complete a placement in an external organisation. You will receive guidance and support from a dedicated placement team. Placements are usually around four weeks and are academically assessed. 

The placement enables you to:

• apply your learning to real-life situations and challenges
• make confident and informed decisions about the direction of your media career
• get an insight in to how businesses and organisations  function
• develop your existing skills and discover new ones
• explore career options    
• make professional contacts, create an effective CV and digital media presence
• build confidence and organisational skills.

Read about media students’ experiences on placement.

Our media students have been on placements with organisations including:

• Ricochet
• Creative Assembly
• BBC Good Food and Olive Magazine
• Absolute Radio
• Brighton & Hove Green Party
• Lowkey Films
• Drop4Drop
• Integrity Music Europe
• YDN Radio
• Life Water
• Electric Square
• ITV Potato
• Renewable World
• Deluxe
• ILOVEDUST
• Bauer Media
• Brighton Dome
• Brighton Fringe.

Final year

You will work in creative partnership with music innovation labs and gain practical understanding of digital media marketing as well as conceptual knowledge of the celebrity economy. With the university’s support you will undertake a live project, go into industry and complete an independent research project.

Modules

Core modules

• Music Innovation: Design and Development

  Music Innovation: Design and Development explores music innovation in a rapidly changing world. It is organised around two main themes: the blurring of boundaries between music and other fields like film, art and health; and the impact of technology such as blockchain on the music/artistic landscape. At the end of the module, you will undertake a collaborative project informed by the debates you have been introduced to.

• Digital Media Marketing and Innovation

  This module introduces you to key practical aspects of digital media marketing within the context of the technological and business innovations that are driving change across the digital landscape. It will provide you with an understanding of search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing and an appreciation of how digital innovations are shaping the marketing sector.

• Live Project

  This module will support you in preparing, conducting and evaluating a live project within the media industry. You will develop a working brief for an entrepreneurial live project or a project within a specific organisation or your own start-up and create an online portfolio to showcase your work. You will give a mid-project presentation to critically discuss the experience of running it and write a 5,000-word dissertation exploring aspects of the project in the light of media theories and concepts.

Options*

• Global Challenges

  Drawing on UNESCO’s concept that culture is a fundamental part of sustainable development, this module looks at the way in which creative industries contribute to economic and cultural development, social stability and equity, and environmental protection. You will explore how media works to define the ways that societies, cultures and individuals interact on local, national and global levels, and look at how your own creative practices might address global challenges.

• Television Production

  This module explores the practical and theoretical approaches to producing a studio programme for television broadcast. You will develop critical, technical and interpersonal skills for working collaboratively in a multi-camera television studio and produce your own television programme based around a popular genre, such as a chat show, documentary, magazine programme or local news programme.

• Sustainability and Innovation in Digital Culture

  This module will look at the ways in which sustainability, innovation and digital media are interconnected. You will explore relevant case studies both from a technological and social/cultural perspective and critically evaluate theoretical frameworks of innovation and sustainability and how they relate to digital media. Topics will include concepts of sustainability (social, political, economic and environmental), smart cities, big data, drivers of innovation, and the business case for sustainable innovation.

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Facilities 

• Digital and analogue stills equipment, including DSLRs and a range of lenses, plus an offsite darkroom
• Video recording equipment – from Canon DSLRs to Blackmagic cameras – in a dedicated TV studio
• Audio recording kit and facilities, including bookable sound/radio booths 
• Dedicated video editing suites including Mac and PC computers with specialist software

Meet the team

Staff who teach on the course include:

Iestyn George (course leader) lectures in media studies and is a journalist who previously worked as an editor at NME, GQ and Golf Punk. He was marketing manager of the Manic Street Preachers between 1999 and 2003. 

Podcast: listen to Iestyn talk about his work in journalism and marketing, why he believes media is the most important subject to study at university and the future of magazines.

Dr Shara Rambarran is a musicologist who worked (performing, composing, production and music PR) in London before returning to academia to specialise in popular musicology. Shara has extensive experience in delivering programmes in popular music, music history, music industry/business and cultural studies at various universities. She co-runs the Art of Record Production conferences and serves on the editorial boards for the Journal on the Art of Record Production, Journal of Popular Music Education and the British Pop Archive. Shara is also the musicologist for Spotify’s Decode music podcast series and author of Virtual Music: Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era (Bloomsbury).

Dr Eleftherios Zenerian studied political and social sciences at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (BA, MSc) and the University of Sussex (MSc, PhD). He has taught sociology, politics and media, and cultural studies in the University of Sussex and University of Portsmouth. His research interests encompass creative labour, popular music cultures, and social and cultural theory. He currently researches fan creativity and the materiality of popular music.

Summer shows 2024

Course fees

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

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• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• Read our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf) for more on University of Brighton tuition fees.

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