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Research Background Prior to the digital era, higher education’s role was to prepare graduates for the local and regional economies, but now with a click of a mouse, the local workforce has become global. While Higher Education music and creative industries courses are acknowledging the shifting requirements for graduates entering creative careers, there are few studies offering international, project-based learning, which addresses the gap for how to build international processes in the curriculum. Research contribution This project builds on the success of a QUT-funded project called the Indie 100 (2009-2015) – recording and promotion of independent artists in a week-long publicly visible event. For both QUT and Indian students, the project serves as an intensive ‘classroom’ for students and brings them in contact with the intensity of a commercial production environment. Over a two-week period, students curate four live shows featuring Australia-India musical collaborations. They coordinate and capture the Indie100 recording event, working in assistant recording-producer roles and as session musicians. Music business students are responsible for the promotion and digital release of the album. Research significance The project is founded on the belief that the future of music education in the H.E Sector relies on a system of experiential facilitations that lead to the development of sustainable communities of practice among teachers, students, local musicians and industry. The collaboration exposes musicians to new practices, new audiences and new knowledge, and the high intensity environment gives students a real-world experience that will hopefully make them work-ready, entrepreneurial and resilient.

Research Background. The opportunity to distribute music internationally without being signed to a major label is very attractive to many aspiring and established professionals. No doubt the music industry will face many more challenges as technologies continue to change, as global communication gets easier and faster, and as the challenges to copyright proliferate and change. These challenges cannot be successfully met on a single front. Research Contribution. This project builds on the success of a QUT-funded project held in Chennai and Brisbane during 2015. Students have the opportunity to work in event management, marketing and promotion, administration, recording, performance, and production. Like the 2015, 2016 and 2017 collaborations, this project also partners with Earthsync XChange. It enables QUT staff and students to travel to Chennai and participate in XChange. Partners, KM Music Conservatory and Earthsync are a hub of over 900 independent Indian artists and the directors have recognised that these artists have few opportunities to engage in education or pathways to commercial activity in the creative industries. The Indian independent music scene is seen by many to be the most promising emerging market in the region (Palling, 2014). Research significance. The research is significant because it centres on an Indian version of Indie 100, an intensive music recording program that produces 12 new songs over three days; focuses local, national, and international attention on the music of emerging artists; generates data about emerging online music markets; and feeds into entrepreneurial pedagogies.

Research Background. According to Goldstein et al. (2006) students are demanding study abroad that offers greater scope for exploring broader international career possibilities, while developing greater cultural awareness, personal growth, and intercultural communication skills. While Higher Education music and creative industries courses are acknowledging the shifting requirements for graduates entering creative careers, (the development of both professional and intercultural competencies), this project offers international, project-based learning, which addresses the gap for how to build international processes in the curriculum. Research Contribution. This project continues to build on the Indie100 India program since 2015, but the addition of New Colombo Plan funding has allowed for 12 Australian students to travel to India to work with students at the KM Music conservatory to coordinate and deliver the recording program, and promote the outputs internationally. Research significance. The research is significant because it centres on an Indian version of Indie 100, an intensive music recording program that produces 12 new songs over three days; focuses local, national, and international attention on the music of emerging artists; generates data about emerging online music markets; and feeds into entrepreneurial pedagogies.The project has also established ongoing links between the KM Music Conservatory (Chennai) and QUT Music to embed the project in the curricula of both institutions and facilitate ongoing exchanges. A successful articulation agreement between the two institutions will allow for Indian students to finish their degrees in Australia. Most importantly the project is producing global-ready graduates who are flexible, adaptive and interculturally competent.

The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New digital technologies have made the production, distribution, and promotion of recorded music accessible to anyone with a personal computer. People can now make high-quality digital copies of music and distribute them globally within minutes. Even bastions of the established industries, such as EMI and Columbia, are struggling to make sense of the new industry terrain. The whole employment picture has changed just as radically for people who wish to make a living from music. In Australia, many of the avenues that provided employment for musicians have either disappeared or dramatically shrunk. The advertising industry no longer provides the level of employment it used to prior to the Federal deregulation of the industry in 1992. In many places, new legislative pressures on inner-city and suburban venues have diminished the number of performance spaces that musicians can work in. Just as quickly, new sectors have opened to professional musicians: computer games, ringtones, sound-enabled toys and web advertising all present new opportunities to the enterprising musician. The opportunity to distribute music internationally without being signed to a major label is very attractive to many aspiring and established professionals. No doubt the music industry will face many more challenges as technologies continue to change, as global communication gets easier and faster, and as the challenges to copyright proliferate and change. These challenges cannot be successfully met on a single front. They require research and expertise from all sectors being affected, and this is why the independent music project (IMP) exists. This 2nd addition to the Indie 100 series identifies an emerging independent music scene in India. New partners, Earthsync are a hub of over 900 independent Indian artists and the directors have recognised that these artists have few opportunities to engage in educati

The traditions of music education are quite different between India and Australia. The West has an ostensibly ‘scientific’ approach to education since the turn of the 20th century and tends towards homogeneity, standardisation, and a deeply literate ‘mind’. India retains much of its oral past and is far less standardised and homogenised. While Australia has a strong conservatoire tradition in higher education, there is a comparable master-apprentice tradition that sits outside of mainstream higher education in India, these educational models lack industry engagement and don’t encourage an entrepreneurial approach, often leaving students ill-equipped for their future careers. It is no longer sufficient for music degrees to teach students virtuosity on their chosen instrument. The larger challenge is teaching students how to make their way in the world as professionals. They also need to think globally, connect globally, and be aware of opportunities on a global basis. This paper reports on a project that has been ongoing since 2015, between A.R. Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory (established in Chennai, India in 2008) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. The project aims to assist music students in equipping themselves for the global economy, through a collaborative initiative that aims to internationalise and entrepreneurialise music education, at both institutions. The project is also supported by industry partners, Earthsync (organisers of Chennai’s IndiEarth Xchange, a trade event for independent music, film and media) and QMusic (producers of the music trade event, BIGSOUND, held in Brisbane, Australia every September). The institutions presented the Indian version of QUT’s highly successful Indie100 program at IndiEarth XChange in November 2015 and 2016. The event involved staff and students from KM Music Conservatory and QUT, and high-profile Australian and Indian producers. Twelve bands were recorded and produced throughout the conferenc