What is Music Business Management? A Critical Conversation on Music, Knowledge and Power in the University

Abstrak / Ringkasan

Why study Music Business? Universities have for some decades sought to provide aspiring music professionals with training and qualifications through an expanding array of vocational programmes, expressly designed around career development. The MA in Music Business Management (MBM) at the University of Westminster in London was among the first of its kind. Conceived as a hub of connection between academic and industry professionals, it aimed to bridge an apparent divide between skills training and critical thinking. Sally Anne Gross’s two-decade leadership of the course saw MA MBM mix the training of music professionals with feminist and anti-racist politics, cultural economics, management, and entrepreneurship theory, and a commitment to teaching and research as pathways to social change. In this chapter, we stage a critical conversation on the history, present and future of this Masters programme, using its institutional development to explore the very idea and purpose of vocational postgraduate training in this field. The conversation is structured across three parts. First, we explore the challenge of running a UK higher education programme in this field. We detail the development of MA MBM and the way in which courses like it have been viewed by industry professionals, students, university managers and academic critics. Within this, we try to articulate the particular value that the university brings, as a space to develop a critically reflective professional practice. Second, we look at what is involved in actually running such a programme. We detail some practical initiatives and behind-the-scenes interventions, alongside questions of classroom pedagogy. Finally, we look at future prospects and challenges of helping students navigate an insecure world of work and a rapidly changing global music economy. In all these respects, we hope to inspire debate and reflection on the practical use of the university to create critical space and enable music professionals to effect change in uncertain futures.

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