PhD Studentship – Innovating Music Rights: Intellectual Property, Metadata and the Future of the Music Industry

MusicFutures is an AHRC-funded programme hosted by the University of Liverpool. It brings together academics, music-sector organisations and creative industry partners to support inclusive, sustainable and R&D-led innovation and business development in the Liverpool City Region. Operating from a hub at the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool (LEX campus), it empowers SMEs and entrepreneurs to innovate, attract investment, scale up and adopt inclusive and sustainable practices.

Music rights data is an important practical, legal and policy issue within the digital music ecosystem. The UK Intellectual Property Office’s Music Streaming Metadata Mapping Report (2026) identifies ongoing difficulties in the creation, exchange and use of music metadata across the supply chain, including incomplete or inconsistent information to connect recordings, musical woks and contributors. These problems can affect attribution, licensing, discoverability and remuneration with particular consequences for independent creators and SMEs.

This studentship invites applicants to propose an original PhD project that examines the relationship between intellectual property law, rights information and innovation in the music sector. Applicants are encouraged to define a focused research question and methodological approach that aligns with the broad themes of music rights data, ownership, attribution, transparency, governance, remuneration, creative labour and technological change. Possible areas of inquiry might include:

• The legal character, control and governance of music rights data and identifiers.
• The role and limitations of copyright, performers’ rights, moral rights, contract and data governance in supporting accurate attribution and payment.
• The legal and policy implications of voluntary metadata standards, industry coordination and technical infrastructure.
• Rights data challenges arising from collaborative, platform-based or AI-assisted music creation.
• Comparative approaches to music metadata, collective rights management and digital rights infrastructure.
• The distributional effects of deficient rights information for independent, under-represented or less-resourced creators.
• The relationship between rights-data literacy, business capability and participation in the digital music economy.

The project may adopt doctrinal, socio-legal, comparative, empirical or interdisciplinary methods. Depending on the candidate’s research design, it may involve engagement with creators, right-holders, collective management organisations, distributors, labels, platforms, policymakers or other relevant stakeholders. The successful candidate will be supported to develop an independent programme of research that makes an original contribution to legal scholarship and offers practical insights for the music sector.

Alongside their doctoral research, the candidate will work with the MusicFutures team and partners to design, pilot and evaluate a certificated metadata competency scheme for music businesses with the Intellectual Property Office. This will be modelled on safety and cyber-security passports already familiar with employers, as recommended in the IPO’s report. The candidate will draw on their research to contribute to sector-facing materials and knowledge-exchange activities.

In year one, the candidate will undertake doctoral training through the School of Law and Social Justice (e.g. legal, empirical and qualitative methods, ethics and data management). They will refine their research question, complete a literature review, develop their methodology and secure relevant ethical approval, while becoming embedded in the MusicFutures Clinic and Lab. Year two centres on the candidate’s independent research, where relevant, fieldwork, analysis and collaboration on the competency scheme. Year three will focus on thesis completion, evaluation of the competency scheme alongside academic, policy and sector-facing outputs. The PhD will be jointly supervised by Dr Sabine Jacques and Dr Georgia Jenkins.

You’ll typically need to hold both of the following:

• A UK undergraduate degree (BA or LLB) at 2:1 or above, or overseas equivalent, in a relevant subject
• A UK master’s degree, or overseas equivalent, preferably in Law (LLM).

You’ll need to demonstrate competence in the use of English language, unless you’re from a majority English speaking country.

Open to international applicants but will be funded at the Home Fee level.

1. Contact supervisors

Email application documents to slsjpgr@liverpool.ac.uk by the deadline 15^th October for submission of application (5pm); Interviews to take place week commencing 02^nd November 2026.

2. Prepare your application documents

• • A research proposal (this should cover the research you’d like to undertake)
  • University transcripts and degree certificates to date
  • Passport details
  • English language certificates (international applicants only)
  • A personal statement
  • A curriculum vitae (CV)
  • Names and contact details of two referees.
  • Confirmation that you would be willing and available to receive training and supervision at the University of Liverpool according to the needs of the project.
  • A 2000-word paper (including a 300-word abstract) considering what legal obligations, if any, apply to businesses handling music rights metadata, and whether voluntary certification could meaningfully improve compliance.

3. Apply

Finally, register and apply online. You’ll receive an email acknowledgment once you’ve submitted your application. We’ll be in touch with further details about what happens next.

Please apply by sending the required documents to slsjpgr@liverpool.ac.uk in an email titled ‘Music Futures Studentship Application’. Please do NOT apply via the online portal until you are shortlisted and instructed to do so.

This PhD studentship will sit within the MusicFutures projects which is externally funded by the AHRC and will run through to February 2030.

The funding for the PhD studentship is provided by the School of Law and Social Justice, it will cover fees (at UK home rate) and an annual stipend (at UKRI rate) and will be awarded to the applicants selected by the interview panel, subject to successfully completing the formal UoL PhD application process. Successful applicants will also have access to an annual personal conference allowance, in line with other Law PhD candidates within the department.

Successful applicants must meet the eligibility criteria as set out in section titled ‘Who is this degree for?’ which is above, in addition they must also complete the formal PhD application process, if selected.

Have a question about this research opportunity or studying a PhD with us? Please get in touch with us, using the contact details below, and we’ll be happy to assist you.

Sabine.jacques@liverpool.ac.uk