7 Non-Musical College Majors That Can Help Your Music Career

Much like with various other creative careers, becoming a musician has never required aspiring artists to get a degree in music. In fact, many renowned musicians either didn’t have any formal training in music or didn’t go on to pursue a college degree at all. Some of them simply chose to major in a different field – and that definitely didn’t prevent them from pursuing their dreams and becoming musicians.

But what could be even more useful is getting a degree in a field that could benefit your music career in some way. This way, you always have the backup plan of having a regular job in the respective field while still being able to use your knowledge in the field of music. Hence, here are the seven non-musical college majors that can help your music career.

#1 Business

Business is often regarded as a pretty general major that can be applied in virtually any industry or niche. Most of the time, aspiring entrepreneurs choose to major in business, but as a musician, studying this subject will help you get started in the music industry both as an artist and as a business pro. While studying business, you can also narrow down your focus to management, marketing, or communications or study business specific to the music industry.

#2 Writing

Another interesting major to consider is writing. There are different types of writing majors you can choose from (such as creative writing, non-fiction writing, journalism, etc.), but almost any of them will be quite handy when it comes to writing your own music. As Anthony Clarke from the writing service reviews site Topwritingreviews says, “Having good writing skills can help you out both in a professional sense and in day-to-day activities.”

#3 Law

Just like with business, studying law doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t deal with music at all. On the contrary, you can choose to focus on entertainment law or even law that is specific to the music industry. Law is quite a versatile degree, much like business, and can help you get started in a “regular” job before you decide to pursue music professionally rather than just as a hobby.

#4 Communications

As mentioned earlier, communications can be studied in the context of business. However, you can also opt to major in communications as a completely separate degree (or maybe even one in the context of social sciences which is when you would be studying communications along with sociology and political science, for instance). Like writing, communications can help you get essential skills, but it can also help you better understand the history of music and the “science” behind PR.

#5 Foreign Languages/Linguistics

In a way, studying foreign languages or linguistics is very connected to writing and communications degrees, but there are still huge differences between these majors. As Emilia Evans, an expert from the college paper writing service reviews site, puts it, “Knowing different languages can help you expand your audience as a musical artist while also helping you become a better songwriter.”

#6 Accounting

Similarly to law and business, accounting can have a focus that will correspond to your desired career in the music industry. But what’s even more important is the role accounting plays in any musician’s professional life. In other words, those who aren’t in the know could struggle with accounting and could end up getting into a lot of trouble which is why accounting could be so useful as a degree.

#7 Marketing

Last but not least, marketing can be studied as a part of your business degree, but you can also focus on marketing specifically. Like communications, a major like this can help you a lot in promoting yourself and your art as it helps you get started with PR. In addition to that, marketing allows you to take up more business-related positions in the music industry and help other musicians like yourself achieve success.

Final Thoughts

To sum up, there are definitely quite a few options you can choose from when it comes to picking your college major. You can find the perfect non-musical major that will not only give you a great degree with numerous opportunities but will also help you advance your career in music.