Inside the business school rewriting the music industry

No regulations are set up to protect musicians from ‘abuse and misuse’, so Matt Errington decided to set up The School of Music Business. He talks to Martin Friel

It took nearly 15 years for Matt Errington and Dan Sayer to see their dream realised

The idea that the music industry is exploitative, idly devouring the hopes, dreams and incomes of vulnerable artists, is nothing new. From the first recordings, the industry has provided a steady supply of tales of exploitation, theft and abuse – and despite the digital revolution threatening to rip the whole structure apart, it seems little has changed.

In 2018, British singer and songwriter Rebecca Ferguson set up a petition calling for government regulation of the music industry to end what she described as the abuse and misuse of musicians.

Although that regulation has not materialised, the industry retains that reputation for exploitation. But both the perception and reality of how the industry operates may already have started to change as graduates from The School of Music Business (SMB) enter the fray.