Newcastle Uni, BMG partners to give students real-world music industry experience

The University of Newcastle’s School of Creative Industries in the Faculty of Education and Arts (Australia) has announced a partnership with BMG Australia, a full-service music company.

This new partnership, the first of its kind in the country will provide an opportunity for students at the university to work with some of the world’s biggest and best-established artists and music industry professionals.

It will also provide the opportunity for selected students to work with some of the biggest names in the music industry signed under this label.

This partnership focuses on offering real-world experiences for the next generation of creative artists. It also allows knowledge transfer to take place as students will work alongside industry professionals to conduct research on the challenges within the industry.

Through this partnership, BMG will also facilitate mentoring and collaboration activities with students by providing free studio time and giving access to recording facilities.

BMG Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Heath Johns said that through this partnership, the university has made a strong commitment to the field of creative industries.

“The University of Newcastle has positioned itself as an institution with a sense of ambition and imagination, their willingness and flexibility to engage with BMG in such an exciting way opens up a world of creative opportunity for students and artists alike,” said Johns.

Johns added that BMG sees great value in connecting its artist roster with the university’s students across all creative arts disciplines, as this creates a growing and evolving stream of compelling multi-media content.

This partnership follows several projects that have already taken place between students and BMG artists since 2019.

Some of the early collaboration projects involved animation students from the university who were given the opportunity to work with ARIA number one rock band, The Living End.

This collaboration enabled the students to create and execute the official music video for the band’s single ‘Not Like The Other Boys’.

Another notable collaboration involves a student from the School of Creative Industries, Reid McManus, who worked with Dune Rats, a chart-topping rock band.

Through this partnership, McManus worked with the band to develop an animated music video that is due for release later this year.

McManus is currently transitioning from his honours project into paid freelance work with BMG. He states that the opportunity to work with some of Australia’s top artists was an invaluable learning experience to students.

Another student, Daniel Cooper also had the opportunity to work with Wolfmother, a Grammy award-winning Australian hard rock band.

Cooper was involved in creating a new music video for one of the new tracks from the band.

The university and BMG are also embarking on new projects with several artists such as Hockey Dad and Dope Lemon.

Head of the School of Creative Industries, Professor Paul Egglestone said that the new partnership will allow the university to offer unrivaled opportunities to current and future students.

“The projects we have seen so far are just the beginning and offer a window into the kind of opportunities that such a partnership will bring,” said Egglestone.

Egglestone said that these initiatives prove there has never been a better time to study for a career in the creative industries.