Entrepreneurship and Popular Music

Develop your creative and performance skills with a course underpinned by investigation into the aesthetic, analytical, sociological and historical dimensions of music. Pair this with an entrepreneurship curriculum that is leading-edge, vocationally relevant, challenging and reflects the complex nature of contemporary business.

We’ll help to prepare you for a career in a global business environment that is rapidly changing, and you’ll be supported to become more agile, innovative and resilient. You’ll also develop self-learning and team-working skills, both crucial to success in the professional sphere.

Gold standard facilities

You’ll discover a superb range of music making facilities at our Markeaton Street site, including state-of-the-art recording studios, rehearsal space, music technology labs and three post-production rooms equipped with the latest software. The facilities you’ll learn in match the specifications of professional studios in the UK and overseas.

We offer a wide range of instruments, amplifiers and outboard gear on which you can develop your skills, together with a classic 48 channel Neve recording console.

We’re one of the leading universities conducting research into surround-sound technologies and all our control rooms accommodate 5.1 speaker arrays. We also have a surround-sound research lab which has a 40-speaker ambisonics surround speaker array allowing height and depth parameters.

Our new Business School opened in 2025. There you’ll study alongside start-ups and small businesses, giving you the opportunity to network, learn from and inspire local business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Boost your employability with a placement year

Take an optional placement year to put your skills into practice in a real-world setting. We’ll support you in finding a placement and throughout your time in industry. It’s a great way to gain valuable experience for your CV, build contacts, and explore career options before you graduate.

Boost your employability with a placement year

Take an optional placement year to put your skills into practice in a real-world setting. We’ll support you in finding a placement and throughout your time in industry. It’s a great way to gain valuable experience for your CV, build contacts, and explore career options before you graduate.

What is a Joint Honours degree?

A Joint Honours degree offers students the opportunity to study two subjects.

A Joint Honours degree is a great option if:

• You want to study two subjects you’re passionate about
• You’ve got a specific career in mind and want to create a tailored degree to prepare you for the future
• You want to study a new subject alongside one you’re already familiar with

The modules below indicate the range of modules you may study as part of this combination, however prescribed and optional modules will vary depending on whether you choose to study both subjects equally, or choose to major or minor in a subject. To find out exactly which modules you would study as part of your chosen combination please contact StudentHub@derby.ac.uk.

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

Your Popular Music modules will be taught through a range of methods including:

• lectures
• composition
• tutorials and practical workshops
• group discussion

On your Entrepreneurship modules you will learn through methods such as:

• formal lectures which will at times include expert speakers
• Seminars which can be tutor-led or student-led and can include discussions, critical analysis of reading, presentations, group work, debates and general problem solving, interaction with real businesses, case study analysis, computer lab work, practical analysis and formative assessment
• tutorials which are one-to-one sessions with a tutor to discuss the development of assignments
• work experience projects
• self-directed study

How you are assessed

For Popular Music modules, you’ll be assessed by either coursework only or a combination of coursework, portfolios, assignments, case studies, oral and graphic presentations, collaborative and interdisciplinary teamwork projects, computer testing and examinations, so providing a flexible and effective means of assessing your progress.

For Entrepreneurship modules, we mostly assess you through practical coursework assignments — the sort of tasks you might undertake in a workplace. Sometimes these will be individual tasks and at other times, you will need to work in a group.

Assignments could include:

• business reports
• research and consultancy projects
• presentations
• design of digital materials such as videos, blogs or augmented reality posters and computer-based assessments

You’ll develop a broad spectrum of intellectual, cognitive, technical and contextual skills which will enhance your knowledge of popular music in professional and economic terms. You’ll also gain transferable business skills which open up a wide range of graduate careers within the modern commercial music sector such as performers, composers, producers, educators, promoters, publishers, academics, recording studio engineers and entrepreneurial freelance musicians.

The entrepreneurship skills you gain on this course will also stand you in good stead if you want to launch a business, develop a social enterprise, go self-employed or work on a consultancy basis. If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, we offer a comprehensive range of services, from incubation units to professional mentoring, to help you realise your business ambitions once you’ve graduated.

Contextual offers may apply to students who meet certain criteria.

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to

Additional information about your studies

You will typically study your two subjects equally at stage one, before choosing whether you want to major in one subject at stages two and three.

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Course updates

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.