MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry is on Billboard‘s annual list of America’s top music business schools for a seventh year, touted once again for its longevity and its renown for producing ready-to-work music industry pros.

In the article “Revealed: Billboard’s 2020 Top Music Business Schools,” the magazine acknowledges MTSU’s status as “one of the nation’s oldest and most highly regarded music business programs” as the department winds down its 46th academic year.

Its alphabetical listing of 28 U.S. schools in the April 25 print and April 27 online editions also adds index newcomer and Tennessee neighbor Rhodes College in Memphis alongside recognized programs at Berklee, New York University, the University of Southern California and Nashville’s Belmont University.

The magazine applauds MTSU this year for the convergence it offers its music business students across the College of Media and Entertainment thanks to “the expertise of faculty versed in video and film production, digital animation, journalism, photography and more.”

Matt Foglia, center, an audio production professor in MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry, demonstrates equipment in Studio A inside the Bragg Media and Entertainment Building for prospective students during the University Honors College Presidents Day Open House in February. The Department of Recording Industry has been included in Billboard’s annual list of America’s top music business schools for a seventh year. (MTSU file photo by Andy Heidt)

Billboard also mentions the program’s annual Grammy Week trip in February — its seventh — where students “cheer[ed] on alumni nominated for nine awards in multiple categories.” The students also joined faculty, staffers and alumni in networking, pre-show and backstage events during the Los Angeles trip.

One of those events earned a special note in Billboard’s MTSU item: alumna and former department chair Beverly Keel’s official industry introduction as the new media college dean at a special Americana Music Association tribute to Willie Nelson.

A PDF version of the Billboard article is available online here.

MTSU’s been a part of Billboard’s best music business schools lists since 2013, receiving recognition that first year for the recording industry program’s entrepreneurial turn.

The Department of Recording Industry at MTSU was founded in 1973 and presented its first Bachelor of Science degree in 1974. Undergrad majors can focus on audio production, commercial songwriting or music business, and MTSU’s Master of Fine Arts in Recording Arts and Technologies degree prepares graduate students for advanced work in audio production, recording and integrated electronic media.

Graduate students at MTSU also can choose a new MBA degree with a music business concentration, offering courses in accounting, economics, finance, information systems, management, marketing, and recording industry.

More than 1,200 students currently are recording industry majors at MTSU, broken down into about two-thirds audio production majors and a third music business or commercial songwriting majors.

The department opened its first campus recording studio in 1980, was the first program in the country to release a fully student-created CD in 1985, established the MFA in recording arts degree in 2005 and began a Commercial Songwriting Program in 2008.

It also collaborates with MTSU’s School of Music on a bachelor’s degree “music industry” concentration that allows students to minor in 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)

Singer-songwriter Rob Crosby, center, plays a potential chorus of their new song while Nate Tiuseco of Readyville, Tenn., left, a retired Marine and MTSU photography major, and commercial songwriting major Faith Cotto of Murfreesboro make notes during their writing session in this file photo from the 2019 Operation Song/MTSU “Songs and Stripes” event for military veterans, student and professional songwriters. MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry, which trains songwriters, audio production and music business majors, has been included in Billboard’s annual list of America’s top music business schools for a seventh year. (MTSU file photo by Andy Heidt)