MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry is back on Billboard‘s semi-annual list of the nation’s top music business schools, once again joining its counterparts at Berklee, UCLA and New York University as the standouts in educating the next generation of music industry pros.

The 2018 alphabetical listing of 17 schools, included in the magazine’s June 30 online and print editions, also adds newcomers like Georgia’s Kennesaw State University and Pennsylvania’s Drexel University alongside stalwarts like the programs at New York University, Syracuse University, the University of Miami and UCLA and Nashville neighbor Belmont University.

MTSU’s program, which is currently celebrating its 45th year, earned special acclaim in its fourth consecutive mention from the music industry magazine for its ongoing “learning experiences for the institution’s recording-industry-program students” at the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in nearby Manchester, Tennessee.

You can see the full story and 2018 list here.

Department chair Beverly Keel made note in the article of the opportunities for recording industry students to interact with their peers inside and outside the College of Media and Entertainment, “‘with those from TV and film production, digital animation, journalism, public relations, theater” and other fields,'” as well as the college’s new virtual-reality production courses.

MTSU has been a part of Billboard’s semi-annual music business schools listing since 2014, when it was first mentioned in “Music Business 101: Schools Where You Can Learn About the Industry.” The magazine premiered its list in 2011 and featured music-business education rankings in 2016 and 2017, both of which also included MTSU.

The department also was part of The Hollywood Reporter‘s international top 25 list of acclaimed music business schools 2014-2016.

The new Billboard article also points to MTSU’s successful music industry alumni, noting that “Billboard’s recent Country Power Players reception in Nashville could have been an MTSU homecoming.” The June 5 event celebrated “Power Players” honorees and MTSU grads Brad Belanger of Red Light Management, Martha Earls of EFG Management, Kent Earls of Universal Music Publishing Group, Academy of Country Music CEO Pete Fisher and attorney Mike Milom.

Department of Recording Industry professor Matt Foglia works with students in his audio production class inside Ezell Studio D, one of the fully equipped music recording and production studios in MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment. (MTSU file photo by Andy Heidt)

Recording industry undergrad majors in the College of Media and Entertainment at MTSU can focus on audio production, commercial songwriting or music business. A Master of Fine Arts degree in recording arts and technologies prepares MTSU graduate students for advanced work in audio production, recording and integrated electronic media.

The university also recently added a new MBA degree with a music business concentration, allowing graduate students to take courses in accounting, economics, finance, information systems, management, marketing, and recording industry to cover every facet of the business end of music.

The recording industry department, which is regularly included in top-program listings around the world, also collaborates with MTSU’s School of Music on a “music industry” minor concentration that allows students to minor in music-industry entrepreneurship or recording industry.

You can learn more about MTSU’s recording industry program at www.mtsu.edu/recording-industry.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)