Digital Culture (Music), BA

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Do you wish you could immerse yourself in exciting, innovative technologies and media while using practices of humanities and global thinking? Whether you enjoy crafting technology from scratch or designing new ways to imagine technological futures, you will create, develop and engage the technological world around you.

The School of Arts, Media and Engineering educates the next generation of learners and empowers them with technofluency --- its development, application and implications. The School of Arts, Media and Engineering prepares students to be socially aware, critically thinking global citizens who strive to bring about positive change in a society that will be increasingly shaped by new technologies.

The BA program in digital culture equips students with the knowledge, abilities and technical skills they need for creating computational media.

Students learn to create computational media, which is computation combined with objects, sound, video, time, space, culture and bodies; breathe behavior into media, objects or systems by programming; think critically about how computation impacts lives and how culture makes a difference in how people experience computational media, a critical skill in this dynamic age.

Armed with skills and reasoned judgment, graduates work in cultural communication, marketing, design, social media, health, education, entertainment and creative arts, and all areas in which culture is shaped by technology and computational media. All students gain techniques to change the world and communicate using contemporary computational media, a vital power in the 21st century. Some go on to invent fresh techniques.

Graduates interested in continuing their education are well prepared to apply for the top interdisciplinary new media programs in the nation.

Digital Culture - Music Concentration

In the digital culture program with a concentration in music, students complement their knowledge of digital culture with discipline-specific courses in the School of Music. These courses focus on understanding the foundations and historical and theoretical structures of commercial and popular music and the principles of electronic music composition and digital sound.

At A Glance

Digital Culture (Music), BA

Required Courses

A major map outlines a major's critical requirements, courses, and optimal course sequence and aids students in remaining on track to graduation.

While circumstances vary between students and their paths towards graduation (utilizing placement testing to fulfill required math or foreign language courses, fulfilling multiple General Studies requirements with one course, etc.), completing the courses listed in a major map fulfills all of the requirements for graduation.

Application requirements

All students are required to meet general university admission requirements:

Affording college

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Financial Aid
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Career outlook

Graduates of digital culture have a wide array of career opportunities in new media to choose from, in fields such as:

  • communications (CISCO, Google, Facebook)
  • computing (Apple, Microsoft)
  • gaming and entertainment (Industrial Light and Magic, Electronic Arts, Pixar)
  • media arts (engineering multimedia shows, video and sound production)

The digital culture curriculum also prepares students for roles in the development of modern media systems that address complex sociotechnical problems, such as:

  • diagnostic, monitoring, and assistive cyber-physical tools and systems that can be used by health care providers
  • new systems for collaborative, participatory content creation and sharing
  • social networking and reflection tools for promoting sustainability
  • systems for interactive, adaptive learning and computational assessment in educational organizations

Graduates who are interested in continuing their higher education are well prepared to apply for admission to the top interdisciplinary new media programs in the nation, including the graduate programs through the School of Arts, Media and Engineering at ASU.

Digital culture alumni have received job opportunities in:

  • 3D modeling and fabrication
  • audio and video
  • engineering
  • graphic design
  • illustration
  • iOS development
  • journalism
  • programming
  • software engineering
  • special effects
  • visual media

Example careers

Students who complete this degree program may be prepared for the following careers. Advanced degrees or certifications may be required for academic or clinical positions. Career examples include but are not limited to:


Career*growth*median salary
Broadcast Technicians-3.2%$39,060
Computer Network Support Specialists8.3%$62,340
Computer Systems Analysts9.1%$88,270
Web Administrators9.3%$88,510
Music Composers and Arrangers5.7%$50,590
Music Directors5.7%$50,590
Artists and Related Workers, All Other5.5%$63,540
Media and Communication Workers, All Other 9.9%$47,900
Sound Engineering Technicians6.3%$55,810
Video Game Designers9.3%$88,510

* Data obtained from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) under sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA).

  • Bright Outlook
  • Green Occupation