The Academy of Contemporary Music - ACM Speciality : Performing Arts
programme: Music Industry Practice

ACM was a great experience for a number of reasons, it was an amazing way to connect with other musicians, gain contacts (that I still keep in touch with to this day) and develop my craft in ways that I didn’t even think of before joining.

I was on the Music Industry Practice course and whilst I most certainly learnt a lot about the industry that I can now put into practice as an independent singer/songwriter, I often found that unless you already knew a lot about production (regardless your experience or interest in production despite not being on a production course) then it was quite difficult to pass certain parts of The Music Industry Practice course.

At the time I was a pop singer, however I found that the teachers at ACM weren’t really interested in the music unless it was very indie/rock based. This made me feel like I needed to change my sound just to be appreciated and recognised as a musician. I also found that communication and organisation was poor, at times I would turn up to class with no tutor. This was particularly frustrating as I had to drive from Southampton to Guildford for my classes and pay for parking but then would find out my classes were sometimes cancelled so would have to drive home.

Regardless of my experience, everyone’s is different and overall it was definitely unforgettable for both positive and unfortunately negative reasons. I would recommend coming here for the connections and uni life, but unfortunately feel there are probably more organised establishments out there.

My time at the Academy of Contemporary Music left me slightly wanting more. Although I was there for two years, the first was a year ravaged by COVID and the second felt somewhat underwhelming. However, the work and tasks I did at the Academy were very enjoyable, but on the other hand, the results of the work and the feedback I got often felt inconsistent and confusing and as a result, I have mixed feelings about my time at ACM.