Abstract:

Providing students with real-world industry experience continues to be a major challenge in music education. This is surprising, as the knowledge and skills amongst university music academics and the resources available at most universities are more than sufficient to record and produce commercial quality music releases. In addition, the abundance of talent amongst university music student cohorts is too often funnelled into purely assessment focussed activities. This paper discusses the conception and design of a staff-run record label within the University of Canberra Faculty of Arts and Design. “Songbud Recordings” will sign music students who demonstrate significant talent in music performance or song writing. Experienced academics and staff of the university will combine skills to identify and coach talented students, record and produce commercial standard music, and plan marketing strategies for label releases. After marketing and running costs (if any) are recouped, income derived from music releases will be given to students to incentivise creative output. 

It is expected that students, staff and the university will find mutual benefit in this form of industry level collaboration. Students will additionally benefit from the structure and external organisation that being part of a record label can bring to their careers, while staff gain abundant opportunities to engage in creative practice as professional development within an educational context. Plus, it just might lead to commercially successful music that benefits all involved.

Keywords:

Creativity, career-building, commercial, industry, wip, wil, creative industries, valuable resources, unused skills, engagement, peer-learning.