If you're going to have to get a degree to work behind the counter in a bloody wine shop why not get one in a subject you love - and one which throws up opportunities to do what you love even if it doesn't work out?

Slight thread digression here, but one which puts Allan's wry comment in a different light. Majestic wine merchants, alongside other wine merchant retail outlets, employ mainly graduates in the wine trade, i.e. those who have done, are engaged in, a degree course in Wine Studies. For those who might have a cynical view of such a degree, I can tell you with complete certainty that it can be very technical, very business and/or science-based, and very complex.

The reason that "bloody wine shops" and large retail warehouses (like Majestic) prefer to employ someone with qualifications in the trade is that the wine-buying public is often very knowledgeable, and more often very ignorant. They need to be helped to make a good purchase in a multi-million retail industry. Assistants and store managers need to be able to describe and recommend wines in such a way that the customer can understand, and often need to suggest a range of purchases from a single bottle to large consignments for restaurants and private parties. France has been doing this for donkeys years.

Apply the same principle to music. How much better for the customer in a "bloody music shop" to be helped by a knowledgeable and experienced musician...