A North Texas university renowned for its music program is set to offer a new degree. It will combine the art and business of making commercial contemporary music. Noelle Walker has the story.
On Thursday morning, students in the University of North Texas Commercial Music class sat in a semi-circle, listening and giving input on their classmates' songwriting compositions.
"We got it sounding really good production-wise," sophomore Commercial Music major Micah Beasley said. "But we still need lyrics for the verses."
The Commercial Music class is about to expand into a full-blown Bachelor of Arts degree. In the fall of 2024, UNT will 'soft launch' the degree program.
"We want to aim for excellence, but also for them to be music entrepreneurs," UNT Assistant Professor and Commercial Music Program Director Federico Llach said.
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The program will focus on the business and production of commercial contemporary music.
"UNT is known for those programs; jazz, classical," Llach said. "This is a new area and I think this is a win-win for everybody."
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"Because a lot of production is production work that you're doing for other people," Beasley said. "You know, as much as we love to focus on the art of it, we do live in a world where you have to sustain yourself."
Llach said we need to change the idea that making money on creating music is 'selling out'.
'Yeah, I think of it as kind of selling up," Music Composition masters student Alden Bostwick said. "It's really allowed me to market myself differently, not stay in academia. I'm able to transition out of it into the industry and it just widens my opportunities."
"Modern musicians today, we not only have to be skilled with our craft musically," Jazz Studies senior Victoria Ricalde said. "We have to be our own promoters. We have to be our own social media marketers."
The BA in Commercial Music degree will have 4 tracks; general, music production, music business, and music for media, and will include composing for TV, film, and video games.
"I think a lot of great artists...tell me your favorite, you can think of them...they've also been able to be successful financially," Llach said.
UNT's Bachelor of Arts in Commercial Music is open for admissions for fall 2025.
