MA Popular Music and Culture

Be part of a lively popular-music research community that embraces everything from metal music to film scores and work alongside performers, composers, and studio producers. You will join peers with backgrounds in cultural studies, sociology, music, and the creative arts to explore today's local live music scene and its connection to the broader industry. From researching gigs and events to composing scores for film and television, you will discover how various communities fuse to create this vibrant and expanding scene. Whether developing your songwriting and music editing techniques in our studios or organizing events and liaising with artists at Leeds Festival, you will gain the hands-on experience employers seek while gathering evidence to carry into your major research project.

Applicants should either have a second-class honours degree in the cognate subjects of Popular Music Studies or a second-class honours degree in a non-cognate subject supported by evidence of an aptitude for the subject applied for or have equivalent experience or training, usually from within the work environment. All applications should be supported by a reference, either academic or professional; you can download our reference template for completion. All applicants should satisfy our University's English language requirements.

20 hours of work permit weekly for international students.