MUS8030 - The Recording Industry, IP and AI

• Offered for Year: 2025/26

• Module Leader(s): Dr Adam Behr

• Owning School: The School of Arts and Cultures
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

• Capacity limit: 100

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

The Recording Industry, Intellectual Property and AI is an examination of the industrial and policy frameworks that surround, and shape, the production, distribution, and consumption of recorded music. It provides students with the conceptual and critical tools to assess the regulatory and business mechanisms by which music becomes a ‘property’ that is managed, promoted, and exploited through technological evolutions.

Drawing on leading research, alongside industry and policy outputs and perspectives, it enhances students’ understandings of the varied and intersecting cultural, national and trans-national contexts through which music exists simultaneously as both a cultural activity and a financial asset. An exploration of the recurring patterns in subsequent waves of technological change frames a series of contemporary case studies in different global contexts to deepen understanding of the range of legal, policy and industrial factors that feed into recorded music as a creative endeavour.

In short, the primary aim of this module is to enhance students capacity to respond to present and future to developments in this dynamic field.

Outline Of Syllabus

The topics covered include:

• Music as Intellectual Property: The history and evolution of music copyright
• The politics of IP: Variation and challenge in global contexts
• The organisational infrastructure of music IP – rights and collection agencies
• The ethics and aesthetics of music production technology
• Patterns of change and repetition in music technology
• ‘Hits and writs’: The politics and legal challenges of musical copying.
• Sampling, interpolating and musical ownership
• AI and questions of authorship
• Labels, publishers and platforms
• Music in/as other media (synchronisation and synergies)
• The uses and abuses of music as ‘data’

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Asynchronous materials, alongside tailored readings, serve as an introduction to each session topic, providing a foundation for both overarching and specific topics (K1, K2, K3, K4). These are contextualised at present-in-person lectures, where academic and practical aspects of the topics are developed.

In-person seminars are used to further explore specific examples from the preparatory and lecture materials, with an emphasis on assessing potential responses to industry debates (K4) and reflecting on their cultural and political variety (K2). Small group sessions also allow for exploring different cultural contexts and experiences of consumption and business practice related to IP, and foster a collaborative consideration of how geographical and social orientations affect them (K3, K4).

The opening first three session-blocks focus on providing an organisational and conceptual framework for music as IP (K1, K2), which subsequent sessions develop case-studies provided on VLE (K2, K3, K4) that fit into this, and unpack historical, present-day and future-facing trends in IP’s relationship to music and society (K3, K4).

Drop-in surgeries support this work through opportunities for feedback and feed-forward from module staff, allowing students to articulate and reflect on their ideas and learning, to develop these ideas into focused responses to the learning materials (K1, K2, K3, K4), and to plan and allocate their time and resources effectively in completion of the summative work.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessments:

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The formative assessment encourages students to engage with a range of case-studies and explore their various relationships to the industrial and policy frameworks set-out in lectures, preparatory materials and seminars (S1,S2). It facilitates this by structured provision on the VLE of different examples for students to examine and choose from.

The oral format is geared towards fostering participation from students from a range of geographical (and social) backgrounds, allowing them to develop their ideas – and receive feedback and feed-forward – in preparation for the related written submission. (S1, S3).

Summative Assessment (100%):
The written report allows for a degree of flexibility in presentational style to support different cultural and academic backgrounds while developing capacity in professional communication (K4, S3). It builds on the case-study chosen for the formative assessment, developing the initial discussion into a more systematic, analytical and in-depth response to the topic while maintaining continuity of key ideas from the formative work. Key assessment criteria align with knowledge and skills outcomes as follows:

• Evidence of research and incorporation of a range of relevant academic and industry or policy sources (K1, K3, K4, S2)
• Demonstration of an understanding of key underpinning theoretical issues related to the chosen case-study (K1, S1)
• Identification of key actors and interests in the chosen case-study being reported on, and how these related to, and affect, the sources used (K1, S1, S2)
• Coherent structure and organisation of materials appropriate to postgraduate study (S2, S3) and
  presentation and tonal style suitable for advanced academic or professional readers (K1, K4, S1, S3).

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/