Music business education and entrepreneurship: Preparing budding musicologists for the music industry

Abstract

Nigeria has a very vibrant popular music industry that reflects her cultural richness, and has translated into international recognition. Based on her musical and cultural output, Nigeria has once been described as 'the musical heartbeat of Africa' while being perceived as a stronghold for African popular music. It is believed that the Nigerian music industry can be a major player within the global music scene, and a viable revenue earner for the country outside crude oil. However, it is observed that the entrepreneurship aspect of the music sector is hardly harnessed by musicologists who find themselves in the endless cue of the labour market, due to bad economic policy by the federal government which has led to the closure of major companies and massive unemployment in the country. Entrepreneurship seems to be the major option, as some of the youths tend to follow entrepreneurial part by rendering some form of services to survive while some unguided youths have resorted to crime to make ends meet. Nonetheless, the researcher believes that introducing music business education into the educational curricula could help prepare budding musicologists for the music industry. This paper seeks to advance how music business education could help prepare musicologists for the opportunities inherent in the music industry in Nigeria, using a study of Music students at the University of Port Harcourt.