Associate Degree of Music (Music Business)

The Associate Degree of Music (Music Business) is a two-year qualification for people who want to work on the business side of music: managing artists, putting on shows, releasing records, running a label, or building an audience for a creative project. You study music the way an industry professional needs to understand it, how songs are made, how rights work, how money moves through the sector, alongside the practical business skills that keep those things running.

As an Australian associate degree, the course sits at AQF level 6 and is normally delivered over two years of full-time study across semesters or trimesters. You enrol in units of study, each carrying a set number of credit points, and you need to pass the required units and accumulate the required credit points to graduate. Expect a mix of core units in music business and industry studies with electives that let you follow your interests, and a final capstone or industry project where you pull everything together. Australian institutions often build work-integrated learning into music business qualifications, placements or projects with venues, promoters, labels, management companies or festivals, because that is how the industry hires. Confirm the exact unit list, credit point rules and placement arrangements on the official course page.

What you actually learn is the day-to-day of the job. How a tour is budgeted and booked. How royalties are collected and split. How a release is planned across streaming, radio and social media. How contracts, copyright and licensing work in an Australian context. How to pitch an artist, a sponsor or a grant. You also keep making music or working with people who do, so you understand what you are selling. Skills you come out with include project management, budgeting, marketing and audience development, contract literacy, and the ability to talk credibly to artists, managers, venues and rights organisations.

This degree suits school leavers who love music but do not want to be the one on stage, and it suits musicians who want to understand the business around their own work. It also works for people already in the industry, venue staff, booking assistants, label juniors, who want a formal qualification behind their experience. International students can apply with IELTS Academic 6.0–6.5 overall or an accepted equivalent such as TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic or Cambridge C1 Advanced; the Department of Home Affairs sets its own separate English threshold for the Student visa. While studying, a student visa generally allows work of up to 48 hours per fortnight, and graduates may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream. The tuition amount is published on the CRICOS register under course code 111593B, check there and on the official page for current fees, intakes and entry requirements.

• Artist manager or assistant manager
• Booking agent or live music coordinator
• Label assistant, A&R coordinator or release coordinator
• Music marketing and social media coordinator
• Tour or event production assistant
• Royalties, publishing or rights administration assistant
• Venue programming or operations staff
• Publicist or promotions assistant

Australian employers in these roles include record labels, music publishers, artist management companies, booking agencies, live music venues, festivals and major events, streaming and digital platform teams, radio and media organisations, and the collecting societies and rights bodies that handle royalties. Some graduates go on to run their own management or events business.