Commercial music
Study

Postgraduate programmes
- Bachelor of Commercial Music (Honours)
- Master of Arts
- Master of Creative Enterprise
- Master of Design
- Master of Fine Arts
Doctorates
Research
The work of our researchers is groundbreaking; it has led to new approaches to making and recording music; the creation of new instruments; the development of novel ways of promoting and performing music; and the development of new understandings about what goes on when people play and listen to the sounds they love.
Careers in commercial music
Recent developments in digital technologies and online platforms offer new and exciting entrepreneurial and employment careers in the music industry. Musicians can compose for films, TV, games, apps and digital platforms, produce recordings, tour, and manage their artists and promote their brand.
Those working behind the scenes can find jobs in the recording and publishing industries such as artist and repertoire, marketing, or management. The live sector is also lucrative, and provides jobs in promotion, venue management and a range of other support roles.
Those interested in music technology can find entrepreneurial opportunities and employment careers in software and hardware development, sound engineering (live and in studios), as well as lighting design, and stage and production design.
Meet our students
In 2017 Elleana was awarded the Commercial Music Scholarship Award which gave her the opportunity to intern with J&A Productions, the event managers behind the annual Vodafone Music Awards. This enabled her to shadow the organisers backstage, adding invaluable experience to her portfolio. This was the perfect opportunity to launch her career in the field of live events and curation.
Elleana Dumper
Bachelor of Commercial Music
LUCI is the warped and electronic musical project of third year Massey practice student Luke Peterson.
Originally from Auckland, LUCI combines unusual and experimental processed sounds and genres – trap, hip-hop, folk with his unique soulful vocal style.
Luke Peterson (LUCI)
Bachelor of Commercial Music
Coming into the course, Tyrone had a passion for recording and producing music, having produced his own tracks via his laptop. In addition to developing his studio skills, he’s now building his own custom instruments and sound effects for his musical projects. He aspires to work with other artists, both producing their tracks, as well as developing new equipment that they can apply in exciting creative ways.
Tyrone Caveney
Bachelor of Commercial Music
Facilities
Dubbing theatre
Students can access highly spec’d facilities, including a dubbing theatre equipped with an Avid S6 48ch digital console, with 7.1 Dynaudio Acoustics Block monitoring. There is also a 5.1 dubbing studio using a 16ch Avid Icon console.
Electronics technology laboratory
Students can access a dedicated Technology Lab, that has specialist equipment for hardware development, software development, electronics, prototyping and 3D printing.
Recording studios
Designed by Munro Acoustics (London) and Athfield Architects (WGTN), Massey University has recently constructed world-class recording facilities at the Wellington Campus. The flagship studio features 300m2 of live-rooms controlled by two of the world’s most sought-after desks; a 72ch Neve, and a 48ch SSL Duality analogue console. Both control rooms have an impressive selection of outboard and monitoring is with Dynaudio Acoustics soffit mounted speakers in 5.1.
Rehearsal rooms
Students can access five acoustically treated rehearsal rooms with backline and vocal PA systems suitable for modern music. The production rehearsal room, which also doubles as a live venue, is equipped with PA and full professional lighting rig.