Itching to upskill? Webinars, workshops and courses for music creators

Tip Published Friday 5 June 2020

Many of the major music peak bodies have accessible webinars on many music industry topics

OpenUniversity offers free courses on recording, technology and music theory

Tafe offers free short courses on topics business, leadership and admin

Whether you're looking to dabble in a new musical practice or to lift your live stream game, or if you want to upskill on the business side of things, there's a lot of resources out there. A LOT. So many.

Where to start? Check out the below listings:

Online webinars, panels and masterclasses

APRA AMCOS: How to live stream with Olympia and Tim Shiel
Get tips from songwriter/performer Olympia and electronic musician/composer Tim Shiel on the visual, sound and technical aspects of a creating an engaging live stream.

APRA AMCOS NZ: How to approach storytelling through music
Don McGlashan, Hollie Fullbrook (Tiny Ruins), Tom Scott (Avantdale Bowling Club), and Ria Hall will be in conversation with Director of Member Services Victoria Kelly, chatting about their creative methods, how they tell their own stories through music, and how we might begin to tell the story of this surreal time we're living in.

APRA ANZ Masterclass #2: How to approach co-writing and producing Josh Fountain (Benee, Paige, Matthew Young, Leisure), Alex Hope (Troye Sivan, Tove Lo, Jack Antonoff), Joel Little (Lorde, Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons, Khalid), Kings, and Devin Abrams (Drax Project, Shapeshifter, Pacific Heights, The Adults) will be in conversation with Director of Member Services Victoria Kelly, chatting about their creative methods, what they've learned about co-writing, what producing really means, and how they're going to continue building international careers now that borders are closed.

AIR: Insights Into Being Independent
During this 1 hour webinar you hear updates from both AIR and PPCA; followed by a panel discussion between independent artist and label guests who have had great success doing it on their own terms in the independent sector. Panelists included: Arlo Enemark (Noisehive Music Distribution), Caiti Baker (Artist), Marcus Walkom (We Are Golden + Media Arts Lawyers), Mark Grose (Skinnyfish Music), Philip Stevens (Jarrah Records), Stella Donnelly (Artist)

MusicNSW: Sound Advice Panel on Music and Mental Health
The panel features Mel Cheng (One Louder), Parissa Tosif (Vallis Alps), Psychologist Amy Radford and Support Act CEO Clive Miller.

MusicSA: Our New Normal Webinar Series
This webinar series includes sessions on: Live Streaming, Mental Health and Public Relations, with speakers including Dom Alessio (Sounds Australia), Georgia Cooke (Remote Control Records) and Shannen Egan (Isol-Aid Festival / Turning Heads Agency)

QMusic Connect: Webinar Series
This webinar series includes sessions such as The Release cycle, Building Your Social Community and Getting Your Music Out There. Panellists include industry experts from Village Sounds, GYROStream, Believe Digital and Dew Process among many others.

Music Industry Inside Out
Online professional development resource for the Australian music industry. Putting 1200+ one-on-one videos with more than 90 of the music industry's leading figures at your fingertips for the price of about a coffee a week. (Membership site)

Music courses

Open Learn – Open University free courses

Recording music and sound
This free 8-hour course, provides an historical introduction to music and sound recording in the creative industries and offers some guidance about making your own recordings.

Sound for music technology: An introduction
In this free course, you will learn some of the basics of music technology, starting with what sound is, how it is created and how it travels.

An introduction to music theory
Gain an understanding of the basic building blocks of musical theory and notation.

Business Skills

Music NSW Best Practice Guides
From how to release music to DIY PR, Music NSW has a great bank of resources.

TAFE (NSW)
Fee-free online short courses in:

practical business skills
enhance your digital impact
improve leadership performance
develop administration skills
grow health and medical knowledge

TAFE Women in Business
Fully subsidized courses

TAFE Mature Age Workers
For 35 or older, looking for work and wanting to retrain or upgrade your skills?
You may be eligible for a fee-free place.

TAFE (VIC)
Fee-free course listings

UPSKILL MY BUSINESS (VIC)
From finance fundamentals to small business blueprints, the offerings are extensive.