BBC Maestro Review

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Is BBC Maestro worth it for musicians and music artists?

In this review we’ll help you decide if a subscription to the website (or buying a one off course) is a good idea – what’s included, the quality of the platform and more.

Quick note, the marketing team working with BBC Maestro reached out and asked for me to review the site and offered free access to facilitate that. And this post DOES contain affiliate links.

But my thoughts below are my honest take on the classes I’ve watched so far.

Let’s get right into it.

Quick Review of BBC Maestro

BBC Maestro is what you could think of as the British Broadcasting Corporation’s version of the “Masterclass” platform – various classes taught by some of the biggest names in each field.

The library of courses isn’t as extensive as that of Masterclass, but the classes they do offer are pretty damn compelling…

Mark Ronson teaching music production, Alan Moore teaching storytelling…

In short, similar to my take on Masterclass, BBC Maestro features some REALLY interesting people who’s brains you’d love the chance to pick.

And so I do recommend the platform overall, but not necessarily for everyone.

Read on to find out who I think would benefit most from the classes.

Our Rating:

6.8/10 Stars Overall

Key Decision Making Factors

• Pricing – 7.5/10 – yearly subscription for all-access or purchase lifetime access to individual courses
• Amount of Content – 6/10 – a decent amount of classes overall, but not a ton for musicians specifically (only 4 potentially relevant ones)
• Class/Lesson/Instructor Quality – 8/10 – great content, world-class instructors, well shot video
• Platform Quality – 6/10 – not a ton of bells and whistles, each class has a downloadable supplementary PDF
• Value – 6.5/10 – worth it for music producers, singers and songwriters.

What I Liked and Disliked

Overall I do really like the platform and the classes on offer.

So far I’ve gone through 3 of the 4 music classes (the fourth being about musical theatre).

I really loved the music production class, but was less impressed by the songwriting and singing classes.

I do think they’re still good, useful courses, but I just didn’t enjoy them as much as I did the production class taught by Mark Ronson.

The website was great overall, except for some minor technical glitches I’ll touch on later.

My main problem, however, is the lack of music related content. It isn’t a huge deal because there are a bunch of other classes I’d still like to watch (like I mentioned, Alan Moore on storytelling should be fantastic).

But if you’re in it just for the music content, know that you’ll run through it relatively quickly.

My General Recommendation

So should you get a subscription?

Depends…

I think producers, songwriters and singers will benefit most from BBC Maestro

BUT…

Not if you’re a complete beginner, or looking for a lot of different types of music-based content.

I’m sure the class library will continue to grow, but if you want more music related stuff NOW, then Masterclass does currently have a more varied offering.

And the classes are great for people who are novices and up. If you’re literally just starting out and looking for the absolute basics, however, I suggest you get your feet wet with free online tutorials and start creating first.

That way you can use these classes for what they’re intended – inspiration first, and tips/techniques second.

Finally, if you’re not interested in production, songwriting or singing specifically, then I’d say sit this one out…

If, on the other hand, you’re looking to get a peak inside the minds of some of the greatest in the world to ever do it, you’ll be pretty happy with your purchase.

BBC Maestro Cost / Price:

• 1 Year All-Access – $120/year
• Lifetime Access to a SINGLE (1) Course – $89

Service Overview

• Yearly subscription based video lesson platform for creatives
• 30 Day Money Back Guarantee for all-access or 14 Day Money Back for single course (Try it Risk Free)
• 40 classes across 8 different categories (at time of writing)
  • Writing
  • Food and Drink
  • Wellness
  • Film, TV and the Stage
  • Business
  • Art & Design
  • Music
  • Home and Lifestyle
• Streaming based video lessons w/ downloadable supplemental material
• Mix of “high level” tips/techniques/inspiration and some novice/beginner concepts
• Classes range from 2.5 – 14 hours in length (but not exactly… more later)
• All classes taught by some of the best in the world, in their respective fields

Pros

1. Offer unique instructors versus their competitors – not the BIGGEST names in popular culture, but elite-level nonetheless.
2. Clean, easy-to-use website and video streaming platform
3. Absolutely incredible for getting/feeling inspired about your craft.
4. Well shot, professional videos – really feels “high end” with good production value

Cons

1. Only offer a yearly subscription – no monthly option available
2. Single class purchases are not worth the price (yearly subscription is better value)
3. A much smaller library of classes compared to competitors
4. Minor technical glitches on site/media player are mildly annoying

Who It’s Best For

• Both pro and hobbyist/aspiring music producers, songwriters and singers
• Fans who would love to hear legendary creatives speak about their craft and breakdown their “hits”
• Anyone looking for creative inspiration to get out of a rut

Is BBC Maestro Worth it For YOU?

Should you use BBC Maestro: YES, overall, I think you should try it out.

Most people interested in making music would probably benefit from it, but it’s definitely most relevant to producers/singers/songwriters at the moment.

Having said that, regardless of whether you’re a producer/singer/songwriter, if you’d pay to spend 3-6 hours to go see someone you admire speaking about their craft – BBC Maestro is WELL WORTH THE MONEY.

You get an insight into workflow, tools/techniques and they break down their biggest hits – which can be very valuable from a high level creativity point-of-view.

But if you’re looking for some sort of step-by-step blueprint to making a hit, or a complete beginner walkthrough of producing, singing or songwriting YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED.

That’s not what this platform is for. At least for their music classes. I’ll get into details about each music class I’ve taken below.

The Overall Learning Experience

Very similar to Masterclass, when you first sign up you’re taken through a quick survey asking what you’re most interested in learning.

You can then choose any class from the library to watch (or the class you bought if you don’t have all-access) and immediately jump into the class trailer and first lesson.

The video player will automatically progress through each lesson and the platform will remember where you leave off – it tracks your progress, making it easier to break up your learning sessions over time.

The video player itself is a bit glitchy (not unusable by any means).

For instance, when you are watching full-screen and go to the next lesson, the video player exits full screen. Mildly annoying.

And every now and then, if you click the “next lesson” button to skip the automatic loading, the video can start to play twice, slightly delayed and you’ll have to refresh the browser window to get back to normal.

And sometimes, the “lesson tracker” would not mark a lesson as watched even though it would still remember the correct place you left off.

Again, only mild annoyances and not even close to making the experience unusable or unwatchable.

All classes have a PDF workbook you can download with the most important notes from the class in them.

For something like the course Sing Like the Stars with Eric Vetro, you also have a section full of vocal exercises for various voice types.

What Are the Music Classes Included With BBC Maestro?

At the time of writing (October 2024) there are 4 BBC Maestro courses related to music.

They are:

• Sing Like the Stars with Eric Vetro
• Writing and Performing Musical Theatre with Sir Tim Rice
• Songwriting with Gary Barlow
• Music Production with Mark Ronson

Let’s go through each of the ones I’ve personally watched:

Music Production with Mark Ronson

I’m going to start with my absolute favorite course… And I genuinely mean that.

When I say my favorite course, I mean of ANY “masterclass” style course I’ve watched, regardless of platform. The course is 6 hours long in total across 18 different lessons.

I felt SO inspired watching this course that I could physically feel the electricity after some of the videos. This is truly the most inspiring masterclass for musicians I’ve ever watched.

Mark Ronson is the producer behind Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black album – an absolutely classic and timeless record. I’m a fan-boy, so needless to say I was stoked to watch it.

Seeing Ronson work with his samplers, drum and tape machines and synths was dope as hell. I could feel the wheels turning in my head as I watched.

Sure he gives some beginner information on things like chopping samples and whatnot, but this class is more about the insights into his creative process that makes it stand out.

You also get to see his workflow/process in the studio when working with an artist (in this case, singer Jon Bellion). It was truly a joy to watch such talent work.

Mark also broke down a couple of his songs from Amy Winehouse and Yebba, two singers I absolutely adore.

As I mentioned earlier, for me at least, this one course would’ve been worth the entire cost of the subscription.

Absolutely loved it, highly recommended, 10/10. For real. (But remember, I’m kinda biased here… YMMV)

Songwriting with Gary Barlow

The next class I watched was from Gary Barlow, of Take That fame (a British boy band from the 90s). Barlow is an award-winning songwriter and it’s quite clear why when watching the class.

It’s a 3.5 hour class over 29 different lessons, but I’ll be honest… it did not hold my attention as well as Mark Ronson’s class.

It may be because I’m a Mark Ronson fanboy, but it could also have to do with the fact it was much slower paced and a bit more generic in nature (at least it felt like it).

Pretty soon after starting, I had to switch to 2x speed on this one (except for when Gary was writing a song from scratch).

Don’t get me wrong, the class contains some good insight and some useful tips for songwriters, but it just wasn’t as “wow” as the first class I watched.

Gary’s an amazing songwriter, though, and seeing him break down his process and watching him work at a piano to create a song from scratch was pretty cool.

I do think I got something positive out of the class – Gary offers up some gems for aspiring songwriters.

It wasn’t a typical pop songwriting masterclass, though. It was more traditional in that Gary was searching for and refining song hooks, and experimenting with chord changes – something you don’t see in modern pop much anymore.

And it’s always great to see how pro’s think and approach their craft. It’s never useless or not worth it.

But unfortunately, it was just much less inspiring for me personally. Still worth taking a look at if you decide to subscribe to BBC Maestro.

Sing Like the Stars with Eric Vetro

Eric Vetro is the vocal coach to the stars, having worked with artists like Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter and many others. In fact, Sabrina Carpenter makes a guest appearance in one of the course’s videos.

The course is a bit strange in that it’s a combination of a “singing workshop” with various singers, a guide to vocal warm ups, and then tips on specific issue areas for most singers.

There’s one warm-up video where Eric goes through several unique vocal warm-ups that I haven’t seen done in other courses (though they effectively achieve similar things). The supplementary content has a section where you can access the warm-ups alone for various voice types, allowing you to practice on your own.

You then get to sit in on an actual vocal workshop Eric does with several different types of singers. It’s useful in that he helps the singers work through things a lot of singers struggle with, but it’s not exactly a set of “singing lesson” videos where he’s teaching you specifically.

These workshop videos are then interspersed with additional “tips” videos where Eric is talking directly to the camera. He touches on things like performance, pitch and more.

The course is billed at 8 hours, but that’s a bit misleading. It’s probably closer to HALF that time, with the remaining time going to the various vocal exercises (but keep in mind each vocal exercise has several “versions” depending on your voice type and skill level).

Overall a pretty good set of videos for aspiring singers, but in true masterclass form this isn’t exactly a structured set of singing lessons for beginners wanting to learn how to sing better.

Compared to Competitors

There are a few similar platforms out there that offer various classes taught by different prominent instructors.

So let’s take a look at them and compare them to BBC Maestro.

Masterclass.com

Masterclass is a very similar platform – it’s the same basic idea, but with a more American focus. Whereas most of the BBC instructors are British stars, most of the Masterclass instructors are American stars.

The main difference between the two platforms (other than the instructors themselves) is the amount of content.

— Read our Full Masterclass Review —

Maestro has 40 total classes with 5 more coming soon at the time of this writing (October 2024).

Masterclass on the other hand has hundreds of classes across many more categories.

And they’ve got much bigger names in pop culture – Timbaland, Nas, Christina Aguilera, etc.

But as I mentioned above (at least in the case of the Mark Ronson class) I enjoyed BBC Maestro more.

Another difference is that Masterclass doesn’t allow one-off purchases of single courses.

The subscription price, however, is essentially the same between the two platforms.

Studio.com

Studio.com has a lot of great one-off masterclasses, but they don’t offer an all-access subscription.

You have to purchase each individual class, and boy they are not cheap… especially the ones with big name instructors like H.E.R., Charlie Puth, Louis Bell, etc.

It’s a great site with a TON of great courses – some taught by big named celebrities and others taught by not-so-big names. I’ve personally taken a few classes at Studio.com and loved them.

So far, I’ve taken:

1. Music Production with Louis Bell
2. Songwriting with Charlie Puth
3. Songwriting with H.E.R
4. Singing Better with Stevie Mackey
5. The Art of Hit Making with Ryan Tedder

Beyond the pricing structure, the biggest difference between Studio and Maestro is the range and number of music-related classes. Studio has TONS. But that’s because they initially started off as a exclusively music-focused platform.

But they have a lot more classes on a variety of topics as well.

The cost is much, much higher, but I guess the upside is you get access to the classes for life.

And during the class, there is a community of people also taking the class that you can interact with.

Class with Studio.com range in price from $100-$300 USD.

Frequently Asked Questions