Creative Music Business
(Cert HE)

The Cert HE in Creative Music Business offers you the opportunity to apply your academic study of business to your own business ideas, entrepreneurial ambitions or creative talents, taught by professionals directly from the music industry at the heart of industry at Sony Music. This programme takes you through the process of bringing a business idea to life, from ideation (inventing and innovation new business ideas) to launch, where you’ll take your idea to a professional audience. You will be taught through weekly workshops that are aimed at developing your ideas within a framework of the core business skills you need, from product design, to organizational and business structures and finally going to market by working industry-experts and informed by a range of dynamic music business experiences at labels, with professional masterclasses to inspire you along the way. You can also make this programme bespoke to your particular interests, developmental needs and business ideas through every practical formative and summative assignment, by directing your lecturers and tutors to focus their feedback on the elements of your work you’d like to develop further.

Just as the programme is a blend of music industry knowledge, alongside the development of professional business skills, you will be taught by both academics and specialist industry practitioners directly at the heart of the industry. Notting Hill Academy of Music seeks to give you an immersive music industry experience and get your creative business ideas exposure in the right circles. All your lecturers are working industry professionals and will teach the specialist subject relevant to their own career. Your assignments have been developed to reflect the real world of working within the industry, ensuring that you develop the skills you’ll need to succeed in the professional world. Central to the ethos of this programme is the aim to get you ready for industry by giving you access to it from the start. This programme also gives you access to learning and professionals at Sony, to ensure a real-world context to your learning and the chance to build a professional portfolio of work through this connection.

Depending on your progression choices after Level 4, as a graduate, you will be able to enter a range of music industry professions, equipped with the industry knowledge, academic and industry skills that companies require. Notting Hill Academy of Music alumni have gone on to start their own labels, manage artists and also work for major record labels.

BUSINESS DESIGN (Term One)

You will have arrived at NHAM full of business ideas, perhaps you already have a business idea of your own. This module starts you on your journey, at the heart of industry working closely with Sony Music professionals to design a viable business, product or service.

Business Design will help you see how to bring your ideas to life and scope them out as the start of your very own business and entrepreneurial journey.

You’ll take part in workshops with outstanding music industry professionals that will allow you to design and build a concept for your own business, as well as, most crucially, debating and interrogating your own and others’ ideas. The aim here is to ensure that you gain a broad portfolio of skills and tools to allow you to continue to refine and design business ideas, products and services for the future. An indicative lecture programme relating to the module will comprise:

1. Development of the Music Industry
Music industry history – how did we get here?
Structure of the music industry – then and now
Current creative industry trends, critical perspectives, digitisation & AI.

2. Ideating (inventing and innovating new products and services)
Debating your big idea for a business, product or service in today’s industry
From idea to MVP (minimum viable proposition)
Product and service design: value propositions, understanding customer segments, market size and opportunity size, business model canvas, lean canvas and agile approaches.

3. Designing and refining a business idea
Apply some of the techniques above relevant to your business. Product or service idea. How will you scope this and what evidence will you use to underpin your idea and most importantly, convince others of its viability?

This module aims to:

• Introduce you to the history, landscape, critical and cultural theories relevant to the music and creative industries.
• Support you to ideate, design and refine your own business, product or service idea.
• Develop fundamental business skills through the use of practical tools and frameworks relevant to the development of contemporary business ideas, products and services.
• Develop skills of critical analysis, constructive debate and feedback on business concepts and ideas.

BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS (Term Two)

Having designed, scoped and refined your business/product/service in Business Design, in this module you will begin to practically build it. Every business needs an organisational structure, financial model, products/services and a strategy. This module will teach you the fundamental skills of building a business structure and strategy so that you’re moving into the next phase of your business development, ready to launch to market in your final module.

An indicative lecture programme relating to the module will comprise:

1. Develop and Build your product/service
Product Design and value propositions
Product Management Principles
Piloting, testing, product market fit and pricing

2. Choosing a structure for your business
Different types of company structures
Registering and setting up your company

3. Business Operations
Organisational design and structure
Vision, mission and values
Company roadmap
Building a team

4. Funding and financials
Funding your idea
Understanding budgeting
Key company financial statements

5. Writing your strategy
Write and structure a business strategy document with impact

This module aims to:

• Develop products or services relevant to your business idea, ready for market.
• Introduce the fundamentals of business structures, incorporation and registration.
• Produce early financial planning statements for your business.
• Structure your organization, understanding the resources you need.
• Develop a 3-year strategy for your business.

LAUNCHPAD (Term Three)

By now, your business, product or service should have been designed, built and have the foundations that can make it viable and successful in the market. CMB403 is about taking your business to market and launching it to a professional audience for feedback. Who knows, your business might just take off, it’s happened before to students from NHAM!

To launch a successful business you need to understand your customer, the market and get your message out there. You also need to attract investment and supporters, so the ability to professionally present, launch and market your company is the final stage in seeing your business idea come to life.

An indicative lecture programme relating to the module will comprise:

1. Understanding your customer
Customer personas
Segmenting the market
Reaching your customer

2. Marketing, PR and Sales strategy
Your marketing strategy
Communications and Public Relations
Building a sales pipeline
Sales vs retention
Sales and marketing plans

3. Seeking investment and pitching your business
Why should somebody invest in you and your business? This is your chance to persuade them. You will be developing skills of: Business communications, pitching your financials to investors, actively seeking peer feedback from professionals, lecturers and your cohort in order to refine, develop and rehearse your pitch to make this the best it can be.

4. Planning a launch
Plan and deliver your business idea professionally in a final pitch at Sony.