Dr William Bennett

Profile

I joined the School of Music in 2025, following a PhD in music at Harvard (2022) and a JD at Harvard Law School (2025). During my studies, I worked as a forensic musicologist, as an AI researcher at the World Bank, and in the Business and Legal Affairs department of Sony Music Entertainment. I also spent many hundreds of hours on pro bono clinical projects, from anti-SLAPP motions to animal advocacy.

At Leeds, I principally teach on popular music, philosophy and aesthetics, and intellectual property; I additionally contribute to music theory and music industry modules. In my spare time, I play guitar, start amateurish electronic music projects I never finish, and occasionally DJ.

Research interests

Grounded in experience across institutions, disciplines, and the academia-industry divide, my research asks what different domains of musical life might teach each other: what popular music and its listeners can illuminate about “art” repertoires, how vernacular philosophies of music and sound challenge their academic counterparts, or why culture industry realities disrupt musicological modes of thought.

Recent scholarly activity includes contributions to The Oxford Handbook of Forensic Musicology (forthcoming, 2027), articles on folk music and Messiaen, and conference presentations at the annual meetings of the American Musicological Society (2025, 2026), the Royal Musical Association (2026), and the Synthesizer Research Network (2025).

Qualifications

• PhD
• JD
• MA
• BMus