Digital Skills in the Music industry
About the Project
The After Lab will be working with BIMM Institute Manchester to review the foundational and specialist digital literacies and competencies currently required for graduates within the music industry. The process will include delivering a series of consultation and development workshops with students and industry experts from the Music Business and Event Management departments to collaboratively generate a digital skills requirement report and action plan.
The UK is currently facing a crisis with employability challenges and ability to compete on an international level due to its deficit in digital skills. 69% of UK businesses believe their organisation is currently facing a digital skills gap and the creative sector is no outlier to this issue. A recent report from Nesta highlights that music industry organisations in particular are more likely than the rest of the creative sector to consider digital as essential for its business and operations, so it is vital that we prepare graduates with the right digital skill sets for this industry.
One of the core values of The After Lab is that we believe that digital skills should be accessible to all. We are proud to be working with BIMM Institute given its track record of outreach, Spotify scholarship programme and efforts in the areas of access and participation. It is Europe’s largest, most connected music institute with eight locations based in cities across the UK and Europe.
What is Digital Literacy & Competency?
Within education and training it is important to focus equally on comprehension and critical thinking abilities in addition to practical skill sets, so we will be giving literacy and competency equal consideration within this project.
But what do these things mean? In summary, digital literacy is defined as the capacity to comprehend and utilise information in a range of formats from a variety of sources when delivered through computers, with a focus on critical thinking rather than information and communication technology abilities. Digital competency can be defined as the ability and skills required to use information and communication technologies . When these technologies and digital media are used to perform tasks, solve problems, communicate, manage information, collaborate, create share content, and build knowledge.
When we talk about foundational skills, we are looking at the basics, from utilising Power Point and Excel to email management. When we look at the specialist areas within the music industry this could include things such as interpreting information on platforms like Chartmetric, utilising industry standards in tour management software, developing more enhanced schedules and project management systems in Excel, and proficiency in navigating platforms like the PRS Foundation Portal.
If you are interested in learning more about this project or would like to commission a workshop or report for your organisation then please reach out via our contact page.
