Popular Music

BA (Hons) Popular Music is designed for musicians and artists who want to refine their craft, define their artistic identity, and shape a sustainable career in the music industry. You will explore songwriting, live performance, and creative production in a dynamic and supportive environment, combining hands-on practice with critical reflection and cultural insight.

Collaboration and creativity are at the heart of this degree. You will take part in live projects, showcase your work in professional settings, and experiment with new approaches to composition, production, and performance. Alongside this, you will learn how to promote yourself as an artist through branding, digital presence, and audience engagement, ensuring your music reaches the people who matter most.

Taught by industry professionals and supported by a community of peers, mentors, and collaborators, this course gives you access to world-class facilities and the expertise to develop your authentic artistic voice. Whether your ambition is to perform, compose, produce, or innovate in new areas of music, this course will prepare you to thrive in a fast-changing creative world.

Key features

• Develop Your Unique Artistic Identity: Explore songwriting, performance, and production to shape a distinctive musical voice and build a professional portfolio that showcases your originality.

• Hands-On, Industry-Focused Learning: Work in world-class studios and take part in live projects, showcases, and collaborations with peers and industry professionals to gain real-world experience.

• Career-Ready Skills and Professional Development: Learn self-promotion, digital presence, audience engagement, and industry insight to confidently navigate the music business and creative industries.

• Supportive, Creative Community: Join a vibrant network of musicians, producers, composers, and mentors, collaborating across disciplines while receiving guidance and feedback to grow as an artist and professional.

Employability

A degree in Popular Music opens the door to a wide range of creative and professional opportunities. Graduates can go on to work as musicians, songwriters, composers, producers, live performers, recording artists, music directors, DJs, remixers, or sound designers.

Many also move into technical roles such as sound engineering, recording, mixing, mastering, live sound, music programming, or studio management. Others pursue the business and management side of the industry, taking on roles as music managers, promoters, booking agents, A&R representatives, publishers, tour managers, or marketing specialists.

The transferable skills you develop will also prepare you for work in education, media, and communication. Possible roles include music teaching, journalism, music therapy, podcasting, radio presenting, music criticism, social media management, and event production.

Whichever path you choose, you will graduate with a strong portfolio, a network of collaborators, and the confidence to carve your own space in the global music industry.

Facilities

Whether you’re a songwriter, performer, producer or someone who wants to get into the live events industry, you’ll study and learn in the heart of a world-class venue – Metronome on our City Campus.

With its unrivalled reputation for the quality of its sound and visuals, Metronome hosts a successful commercial programme of live events throughout the year – and it’s here where you’ll learn from the best and gain real work experience.

This world-class venue is home to some amazing facilities, jam-packed with recording studios, rehearsal rooms, performances spaces, and a 400-capacity venue.

Year 1

• Popular Music in Context (20 credit points)
• Performance and Musicianship (20 credit points)
• Introduction to Songwriting (20 credit points)
• Professional Pathways in Popular Music (20 credit points)
• Creative Collaborative Practice (20 credit points)
• DAW Skills (20 credit points)

Year 2

• Your Sound and Music Industry (20 credit points)
• Co Lab: Research, Exploration and Risk-taking (20 credit points)
• Songwriting Development (20 credit points)
• Performance Development (20 credit points)
• Production for Songwriters and Musicians (20 credit points)
  Optional modules - Choose one:
• Creative Live Event Production
• Digital Marketing and Communication
• Music Video
• Podcast Production For Beginners
• Introduction to Live Sound Technologies
• Festival and Music Events Management
• Sound Design for Visual Media
• Journalism for the Creative Industries

Optional Placement Year
All students have the opportunity to undertake a placement year which you will be supported in sourcing, and you can decide whether this is right for you once you have completed years 1 and 2 of the course. This time spent working in industry provides our students with crucial work experience, which is highly prized and much sought after by employers upon graduation. If you are successful in securing a placement you will have the chance to gain an additional Certificate or Diploma in Professional Practice, dependent on duration.

Final Year

• Industry Briefs (20 credit points)
• Dynamic Stagecraft (20 credit points)
• Future Pathways (20 credit points)
• Final Capstone Project: Preproduction (20 credit points)
• Final Capstone Project (40 credit points)