BTEC Music Past Papers & Mark Schemes

Music industry questions in Unit 1 frequently ask about how streaming has changed the economics of recorded music. Understand the distinction between mechanical royalties (earned when a song is reproduced — covered in the UK by MCPS), performing rights (earned when music is played publicly or broadcast — administered by PRS for Music), and neighbouring rights (earned by performers and labels for broadcast of recordings — administered by PPL). Streaming platforms pay different rates per stream, and these split between labels, publishers, and artists according to contractual agreements. Harmonic analysis questions in Unit 3 ask you to identify chords by their Roman numeral function within a key. Know the standard tonal progressions: I–IV–V–I (perfect cadence), I–IV–V–VI (deceptive cadence), V–I (authentic cadence), IV–I (plagal cadence), and I or II–V (half cadence). Recognise secondary dominants (V of V, V of IV) and borrowed chords (modal mixture). Composition questions reward students who can explain their structural and harmonic choices. When analysing your own work or a given extract, use precise musical vocabulary: 'the consequent phrase begins with an anacrusis on beat 4, and the sequential treatment of the opening motif creates a sense of inevitability before resolving onto the tonic at bar 8'.