Music Entrepreneurship Minor (B.Mus.) (18 credits)
Offered by: Music Research (Schulich School of Music)
Degree: Bachelor of Music
Program credit weight: 18
Program Description
This Minor is a collaboration between the Schulich School of Music and Desautels Faculty of Management. It is designed to provide music students with an understanding of how to conceptualize, develop, and manage successful new ventures; manage their careers as performers, music teachers and arts administrators; and develop skills in marketing, fundraising, publicizing, and financing. The program covers the essentials of management and is multidisciplinary and integrative.
This Minor is restricted to B.Mus. students who have completed one year of studies and have a minimum CGPA of 3.0. The minor has limited enrolment; interested students should contact the Music Research Department to apply for admission. Students in this Minor are not permitted to take the Desautels Minors in Management, Marketing, Finance or Operations Management (for Non-Management Students).
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (9 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| INTG 215 | Entrepreneurship Essentials for Non-Management Students. | 3 |
Entrepreneurship Essentials for Non-Management Students. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Fundamental concepts, theories, and practices of entrepreneurship. Focus on identifying opportunities, developing business ideas, and understanding key components of starting and managing a business. | ||
| MGPO 362 | Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship. | 3 |
Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Study of the key aspects involved in starting and managing a new venture: identifying opportunities and analyzing new venture ideas, identifying common causes of failure and strategies for success, understanding intellectual property systems, comparison of multiple modes of funding. Applies to for-profit and not-for-profit start-ups. | ||
| MUPD 350 | Applied Projects for Musicians. | 3 |
Applied Projects for Musicians. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Project-based course aimed at providing students with the skills required in the evolving music business, through analysis of case studies and developing projects focused around music entrepreneurship. Teams of three or four students will plan and implement a creative, collaborative project, synthesizing and putting into practice business and entrepreneurial skills. They will develop a pitch for their project, present their project, and write it up in a final paper. Students will also be required to write a reflection paper on process, teamwork, skill development, and outcomes. | ||
Complementary Courses (9 credits)
3 credits from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MGCR 211 | Introduction to Financial Accounting. | 3 |
Introduction to Financial Accounting. Terms offered: Summer 2025 The role of financial accounting in the reporting of the financial performance of a business. The principles, components and uses of financial accounting and reporting from a user's perspective, including the recording of accounting transactions and events, the examination of the elements of financial statements, the preparation of financial statements and the analysis of financial results. | ||
| MGCR 222 | Introduction to Organizational Behaviour. | 3 |
Introduction to Organizational Behaviour. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Individual motivation and communication style; group dynamics as related to problem solving and decision making, leadership style, work structuring and the larger environment. Interdependence of individual, group and organization task and structure. | ||
| MGCR 331 | Information Technology Management . | 3 |
Information Technology Management . Terms offered: Summer 2025 Introduction to principles and concepts of information systems in organizations. Topics include information technology, transaction processing systems, decision support systems, database and systems development. Students are required to have background preparation on basic micro computer skills including spreadsheet and word-processing. | ||
| MGCR 341 | Introduction to Finance. | 3 |
Introduction to Finance. Terms offered: Summer 2025 An introduction to the principles, issues, and institutions of Finance. Topics include valuation, risk, capital investment, financial structure, cost of capital, working capital management, financial markets, and securities. | ||
| MGCR 352 | Principles of Marketing. | 3 |
Principles of Marketing. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Introduction to marketing principles, focusing on problem solving and decision making. Topics include: the marketing concept; marketing strategies; buyer behaviour; Canadian demographics; internal and external constraints; product; promotion; distribution; price. Lectures, text material and case studies. | ||
| MGCR 372 | Operations Management. | 3 |
Operations Management. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Design, planning, establishment, control, and improvement of the activities/processes that create a firm's final products and/or services. The interaction of operations with other business areas will also be discussed. Topics include forecasting, product and process design, waiting lines, capacity planning, inventory management and total quality management. | ||
| MGCR 382 | International Business. | 3 |
International Business. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to the world of international business. Economic foundations of international trade and investment. The international trade, finance, and regulatory frameworks. Relations between international companies and nation-states, including costs and benefits of foreign investment and alternative controls and responses. Effects of local environmental characteristics on the operations of multi-national enterprises. | ||
| MGCR 423 | Strategic Management. | 3 |
Strategic Management. Terms offered: Summer 2025 An integrative and interdisciplinary introduction to strategy formation and execution. Concepts, tools, and practical application to understand how firms leverage resources and capabilities to gain competitive advantage in dynamic, contemporary industries. Strategic positioning, organizational design, and managerial action for the long-term success of businesses and positive social and ecological outcomes. | ||
| MGCR 460 | Social Context of Business. | 3 |
Social Context of Business. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Examination of how business interacts with the larger society. Exploration of the development of modern capitalist society, and the dilemmas that organizations face in acting in a socially responsible manner. Examination of these issues with reference to sustainable development, business ethics, globalization and developing countries, and political activity. | ||
3-6 credits chosen from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MUMT 301 | Music and the Internet. | 3 |
Music and the Internet. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A brief history of Internet technologies (protocols, web servers, web browsers) and their relationship to music and musicians (physical vs. virtual music distribution, digital music formats, streaming services). Locating, retrieving, and working with online music information through Web APIs and coding exercises. Basic static website creation for musicians (HTML/CSS/JavaScript). Technology-enhanced music creation. | ||
| MUPD 200 | Introduction to Music Marketing. | 3 |
Introduction to Music Marketing. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Business models for monetizing music effectively in the digital era; music marketing fundamentals; music value chain; traditional and new marketing tools; publicity, advertising and promotion; the e-press kit; touring and merchandising; online distribution; social network marketing strategies; rebirth of video content; viral marketing; marketing for subscriptions, wireless; global perspectives. | ||
| MUPD 201 | Business Fundamentals for Musicians. | 3 |
Business Fundamentals for Musicians. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Topics pertaining to the music industry and developing a career in music, including: business models, budgeting and financial planning, accounting and taxation, agents, representatives and consultants, contracts and agreements, licensing, rights and rights management, managing human resources, building and working with teams. | ||
| MUPD 475 | Special Project: Professional Development 3. 1 | 3 |
Special Project: Professional Development 3. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Special project in professional development. | ||
| MUSR 200 | Audio Recording Essentials. | 3 |
Audio Recording Essentials. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A basic overview of audio recording. Topics include fundamentals of audio; a historical overview of recorded sound; analog and digital signal flow; listening environment design; listening and analysis; simple recording; connecting audio to a video camera; and audio on the web. | ||
| MUSR 201 | Audio Production Essentials. | 3 |
Audio Production Essentials. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to common practices in digital audio production. A survey of music production styles and audio production techniques: basic editing, arranging and mixing music on a computer using a combination of natural and sampled sounds; sound design for television, film and video games. The course design is centered on classroom presentations and discussion, including in-class demonstrations without the need for a studio or lab component. | ||
- 1
To be counted towards the Minor in Music Entrepreneurship, the internship placement or project must be approved as having an entrepreneurial focus.
0-3 credits chosen from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| BUSA 465 | Technological Entrepreneurship. | 3 |
Technological Entrepreneurship. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Concentrating on entrepreneurship and enterprise development, particular attention is given to the start-up, purchasing and management of small to medium-sized industrial firms. The focal point is in understanding the dilemmas faced by entrepreneurs, resolving them, developing a business plan and the maximum utilization of the financial, marketing and human resources that make for a successful operation. | ||
| MGPO 364 | Entrepreneurship in Practice. | 3 |
Entrepreneurship in Practice. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Provides hands-on experience with the development of an entrepreneurial venture or a contribution to an existing entrepreneurial venture. Involves the creation of a venture development or business plan. Applicable to many kinds of new ventures, both private companies and social enterprises. | ||
| MGPO 438 | Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation. | 3 |
Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Explores key concepts associated with social entrepreneurship and social innovation – the application of principles of entrepreneurship and innovation to solve social problems through social ventures, enterprises and not-for-profit organizations. Focuses on the social economy, including how the market system can be leveraged to create social value. | ||
| PSYC 471 | Human Motivation. | 3 |
Human Motivation. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The course is designed to explore questions such as "Why do people often fail to reach their personal goals?" Current goal-based and need-based theories of human motivation will be reviewed. The instructor will highlight the relevance of motivation research to the domains of education, sports and management. | ||