MA Music Festival Industries (Full Time)

This master's course is designed for those who love music and want to expand their career opportunities and knowledge of the music festival and major live event industries.

It provides a mix of academic and vocational research, and emphasises the cultural, political, economic and managerial aspects of the sector.

You will learn about the range of organisations, roles and responsibilities which converge to make a successful event, and your project work is designed to enable you to focus on your particular areas of interest.Our pre-existing and developing links with the music festival sector offer you the opportunity to investigate and research an issue ‘in the field’ and/or undertake negotiated work experience at a professional music festival organisation in a real-world environment.

Industrial focus

The course team has developed close links with a number of music festivals, including unique working arrangements with Bestival/Camp Bestival and with the Association of Independent Festivals. Over the past six years, undergraduate students have gained work experience at Glade Festival, Blissfields, Sonisphere, Wakestock and Glastonbury, with over 250 placements undertaken in 2011.

These work experiences are managed by our own in-house organisation – Solent Music (Festivals) – and range from artist liaison and relationship management to stage management and the production of souvenir programmes and other media. We recognise that such work experience is invaluable to future employers and an excellent way to create professional contacts in the music festival industry.

The course team is actively involved in researching the sector and also produces its own event, called SMILE. This annual music industry conference and festival is based in a number of venues across Southampton and is managed with the assistance of our students. SMILE is now entering its fifth year in 2012 with a free open air event in the city’s cultural quarter.

Course content

You will take five core units and one option.

Core units

Professional Development and Research Skills: This unit will enhance your research skills, and provides the specific terms of reference for the successful completion of your major project. Emphasis is placed on research methods and techniques that can be used in the development of strategies for employment within the music and media industries.

Master's Project: You will design, execute and present an individually demanding piece of work that deploys a systematic and in-depth understanding of the skills and debates relevant to your particular discipline of study. You will be expected to present a project that critically synthesises approaches and methodologies within the discipline and demonstrates initiative and autonomy in its execution.

Advanced Issues in the Music Festival Industries: This core unit explores the key issues facing festival organisers and the industry in the twenty-first century, such as commercialisation, the impact of new technologies, and the economics of environmental sustainability initiatives. These issues will be linked into broader intellectual debates which help students to situate, understand and evaluate these issues in analytical depth.

Music Festival in Practice: This core unit investigates the structure, roles and responsibilities of various areas of the contemporary music festival industry, from event planning, branding, marketing to on-site event production elements, relationship management, sustainability and evaluation. In studying this unit, students will gain an in-depth insight into how successful festivals are created and sustained, with a focus on aspects of professional practice.

Option units

You’ll be able to choose one of the following options from across our MA Media courses:

• Music Festivals, Society and Culture
• Critical Issues in Popular Music
• Global Popular Music
• Popular Music and Performance
• Contemporary British Film and Television
• Contemporary Film and Culture
• Digital Studio
• Digital and Multi-platform Storytelling
• Documentary History, Form and Practice
• Experimental Film History, Form and Practice
• Producing Television
• Script to Screen.

Assessment

Assessment is through coursework in the form of individual projects, essays, professional reports, and seminar presentations. You will receive regular feedback through weekly seminars and tutorials with our teaching staff, which will support you in the successful management and completion of your research.

Key career skills

Problem solving, research and analysis techniques, written and oral communication, and managing projects from initial conception through to final presentation.

Projects/Work experience

We have extensive contacts with the music festival industries and are able to provide work experience at a range of summer music festivals and in a variety of employment roles. There will also be opportunities to develop and undertake research ‘in the field’ as part of your final major project.

Why choose Solent?

• Industry Links: The course benefits from unique working arrangements with Bestival/Camp Bestival and with the Association of Independent Festivals.
• Guest Lecturers: You will benefit from the expertise of guest speakers from various parts of the music festival industries. In addition to regular guest lectures, our annual SMILE event has seen guest talks from speakers such as Rob da Bank (Radio 1, Bestival) and Mark Cann (Glastonbury Festival).
• Staff expertise: Our highly qualified, research active tutors are committed to developing your academic and vocational skills and knowledge, and draw upon their individual and group research projects and publications to bring you up-to-date insights into the music festival industries. The tutors use their professional networks to attract other high profile academics and professionals to engage with the course, and you will benefit greatly from their academic expertise and professional experience.