‘We Need to Standardise the Entry Point’: Oxford Creative Academy Launches New Music Diploma

Sydney’s Oxford Creative Academy (OCA) is expanding its music industry education offering with a new Diploma of Music focused on entrepreneurship. 

Launching in 2027, the Diploma of Music – For Entrepreneurs in the Music Industry is designed as a year-long accelerator, with students developing their own music businesses and projects while studying.

Speaking to The Music Network, OCA Founder and CEO Matt O’Connor said the Diploma builds on the academy’s existing Certificate IV program, but places students in more senior and entrepreneurial roles.

“The Diploma course is also covering those same five sectors,” O’Connor said, referring to the areas he sees as fundamental to the music business: creators, distribution, publishing, management and events.

“It’s more of an entrepreneurial start-up, the business side of it. And what students do, they learn more of a leadership role, so they start working with, overseeing other students, running events, it’s their curated events, and moving to more of a leadership role.”

The qualification will operate under a “flipped classroom” model combining online sessions, live-streamed classes, specialist mentorship and industry panels with practical projects. Its four major streams span entrepreneurship, live events, artist development and commercial releases. Students will establish a music business and professional portfolio, deliver a live event, work on the development and launch of an artist, and build strategies around distribution, publishing, copyright and monetisation.

O’Connor said that practical experience is central to the academy’s approach. “If you’re running an event, it’s the same. If you’re in AMG Studios and you’re producing an artist, or you’re getting produced, or you’re doing artist development, or you’re recording, it’s the same,” he told TMN.

“If you’re releasing music through Gallery Bar Records, it’s the same as releasing music through Gyro or another distribution company. It’s all about industry context for me. And so practical.”

O’Connor established OCA with Oxford Art Factory owners Simon and Barry Tilley in 2016, initially running non-accredited courses before spending several years developing its accredited offering. The academy began delivering its current courses in 2023. It now has around 60 students, with its Certificate IV designed to give participants experience across the five core areas. 

O’Connor believes there is a broader need for the music and education sectors to work more closely together, arguing for a clearer professional pathway into an industry where many workers have traditionally learned on the job.

“To build a sustainable industry, I believe education [has] to be an entry point, a standard,” he said. “I’m not an education provider teaching industry, I’m industry providing education. Big difference in that."

He himself entered the industry without formal training, teaching himself both the creative and commercial sides of music. But he said the disruption experienced across the creative industries over the past two decades had strengthened his view that education could provide emerging professionals with a more sustainable foundation.

“I had no formal training. I taught myself and I saw and I divvied it up into those five sectors and that’s how I’ve worked sometimes across all five at once,” he said. “Disruption to the creative industry has been enormous over the last 20 years. So until we standardise an entry point in education, I think it's still going to end up a hot mess."

Alongside the new Diploma, OCA has promoted Nicholas J. Rodwell to RTO Manager. Rodwell has more than 13 years’ experience across the sector, including roles with 4ZZZ and The A&R Dept, as well as running strategic operations incubator Notochord.

Recent OCA graduate Eshaan Malhotra has also joined in Community & Content, bringing previous experience across social media, PR and branding with Sweat It Out, Paper Planes PR and Achieved Music, as well as his work with creative agency Rough Cut. 

OCA has also expanded its student support offering, with Mia-Marcus Clarke providing individual study plans, neurodivergent learning strategies and counselling services.

O’Connor told TMN the support was introduced after the academy recognised the different learning needs among its students. “We’re very flexible with our students,” he said, adding that OCA offers a combination of face-to-face, online and one-on-one learning.

“We really had to kind of go, hang on, this is something new to me here… setting up ways for, best for them to learn for their strategies.”

The academy is also continuing its Industry Access Series, which gives students closed-door access to music executives. Following sessions with Luke Byatt and Sarah Hamilton, upcoming masterclasses will feature former ABC Head of Music Emily Copeland and Spotify ANZ Head of Artist & Label Partnerships Leah Harris.

The expansion follows OCA’s involvement in this year’s King Street Crawl, where it partnered with Future Proof Music and Inner West Council to present the All-Ages Stage at St George’s Hall for a second year.

Expressions of interest for the Diploma of Music – For Entrepreneurs in the Music Industry are now open, with flexible quarterly intakes planned throughout 2027. See here for details.