Point Blank’s global network of music production schools inspires students to create music at the highest level, using expert lecturers and state-of-the-art facilities to demonstrate the professional process of music production. Many graduates from Point Blank’s various institutions have enjoyed successful careers in music including Claude VonStroke, Goldie, Nicole Moudaber, Leona Lewis, Patrick Topping, Monki, and Felix Jaehn. The school is proud to maintain the highest standards of quality, being named the Best Independent HE at the WhatUni Awards as well as gaining TEF Silver recognition from OfS. Point Blank has also enjoyed consistent high scores for overall satisfaction from its students in the NSS.
Point Blank was founded in 1994 as a commercial recording studio, just as London was exploding with the DIY music production revolution and clubland was thriving. Clients booking the studio began to ask how the equipment worked and CEO/Founder Rob Cowan wrote a weekend crash course in music production as a response.
Following carefully planned and controlled development over the succeeding years, Point Blank Music School has become a specialist leader in its subject area, teaching music production, sound engineering, DJ skills, music business, singing, performance, radio broadcasting and music management.
Working closely with our students and those at the forefront of the sector empowers our graduates to lead positive change and find success in a highly competitive industry. This is the heart of our mission.
In keeping with this mission, we encourage open-minded innovation, fostering creativity with personalised constructive critique. Students from diverse backgrounds are prepared for a successful career in the music industry, utilising Point Blank’s extensive network of music industry contacts and partners.
We have the strong belief that any student with the potential should be able to progress to, and succeed in, higher education irrespective of their background. Point Blank is therefore committed to working with underrepresented students to support them through their journey. Point Blank also believes that music, and the arts and society in general, benefit positively from having an inclusive and diverse student body.
As a Collegiate Partner of Middlesex University, London, we are aligned with the strategic objectives in their Strategic Plan, “Transforming Potential into Success” (2017). In harmony with Middlesex University, Point Blank is committed to providing students with transformational journeys and empowering them with the tools, attributes, and opportunities to turn potential into success.
Our commitment to providing highly engaging, employability-focused courses, informed through our close links with national and international leaders in the creative industries, has been proven to be effective. Our students have historically achieved high success rates of progression into highly skilled employment or further study.
Point Blank has always had very strong links with industry, built on a foundation of employing staff that are actively working in the music industry and connecting with key stakeholders across the music business world.
We have long-established partnerships with industry manufacturers (Pioneer DJ, Ableton, Native Instruments, Adam Audio, SSL, Apple) enabling us to provide exclusive artistic associations and collaborative opportunities for students in a wide variety of settings, as well as facilities unmatched by other institutions.
In 2020, Point Blank launched Point Blank Recordings, a record label which already had an international audience in the millions thanks to Point Blank’s extensive social media reach and Schools in countries all around the world. The label aims to promote talent from within Point Blank’s various Schools and link new artists and producers with established industry figures such as and Kathy Sledge, Kym Mazelle and Ultra Nate. The label is A&R’d in-house by Kwame Kwaten. established artist and manager and trustee for The Brit Trust. Kwame provides regular mentoring sessions with students, who are given opportunities to release music and provide remixes for the label. The second release on PBR achieved 1 million streams on Spotify within three months of release cementing Point Blank’s reputation as truly connecting its students with the music industry.