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Samuel Murray

Samuel Murray

  • Position: Lecturer in Music Management
  • Areas of expertise: Music policy; music and place; music cities; performer-audience interaction; music industry studies; song writing practice; music and bisexuality
  • Email: S.G.Murray@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: 2.11 School of Music

Profile

I joined the school of Music in June 2024 as a lecturer in Music Management. I have previously lectured in Music Industry studies at the University of Liverpool and Middlesex University where I also lead a course on Profesisonal Arts Practice. I also previously worked at Teesside and Cardiff Universities in various research roles.  My PhD examined the music scene in Portland, Oregon with a focus on music policy. In 2019 I worked as a policy and research officer at UK Music and also briefly assisted the Council of Music Makers in a secretariat role. 

I am also a clarinettist in the group me and My Friends for over 12 years with whom I have released several albums and EPs as well as touring Euorpe and festivals such as Shambala, Green Man, Kendall Calling and others. Our music has bene played by likes of Gilles Peterson, Cerys Matthews, and Quantic on stations including BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2, FiP, Radio Nova, RAI and other broadcasters. Music form the band has also been used in TV shwos including The Lincoln Lawyer, Better Things and Bull.  

Responsibilities

  • Programme Manager BA Music with Enterprise
  • Employability Lead

Research interests

My research focuses on music cities and the connection between music and place. Working with the Creative Cardiff I helped produce the Mapping Cardiff’s Creative Economy report and subsequent publications working looking at how such exercises can help support the idea of the Civic University. I also worked on the Creative Fuse North East innovation pilot projects support organisations such as Unfolding Theatre with their Multiverse Arcade performance. Whilst working at UK Music I co-authored reports into Manchester and Sheffield’s musical economies and helped produce the national Music By Numbers report in 2019. 

More recently I have examined performer/audience interactions through the music of Céline Dion exploring The Viral Hermeneutics of her Las Vegas show and explore the one hit wonder Louie Louie by the Kingsmen for a Bloomsbury edited collection. I have also written for the Green European journal on Euorpean Artist Status and cultural projects linked to migration. 

Currently I am working with Jenna Doyle (Middlesex University) to explore the commercial opportunities of writing for the Eurovision Song Contest and with Leonieke Bolderman (Groningen University) on producing an edited collection about the future of music cities. I am also developing research around Bisexuality in Musical Performance examining the works of artists such as Janelle Monae and Loreen as well as reflecting on personal practice. 

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Qualifications

  • PhD (Cardiff University, 2019)
  • MA Popular Music Studies (University of Liverpool, 2012)
  • BA Popular and World Musics (University of Leeds, 2011)
  • PG Cert HE (Middlesex University, 2022)

Professional memberships

  • International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM)
  • Advance HE - Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Student education

I primarily contribute to the Music and Management MA programme – including teaching on modules, and supervising final projects. I also supervise a range of undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations, and I make other contributions to both undergraduate and postgraduate music programmes across a range of modules.