MTSU’S Department of Recording Industry has once again earned national acclaim for its music business education program with its inclusion in a Billboard.com article listing the dozen U.S. schools making the greatest impact on the recording industry.

In the article, “12 Elite Music Business Schools Shaping the Industry’s Future,” the authors include MTSU in an alphabetical list that also features two programs at New York University and three at different University of California sites.

“It’s wonderful that MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry has once again made Billboard’s list of top music business programs nationally,” said department director Beverly Keel.

“We have so many exciting things going on here, from establishing a new MBA program to hosting nationally known speakers, and this latest accolade is an indication that our efforts are making a difference in our students’ lives.”

The complete list is available here.

MTSU’s recording industry program also has been singled out by The Hollywood Reporter for inclusion in its “Top 25 Music Schools” listings for 2014 and 2015.

Beverly Keel

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 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.

More than 20 MTSU alumni or former students and faculty from around the university have been nominated for Grammy Awards in the last decade, and nine have won Grammys so far. The annual Country Music Association Awards regularly include nominations for MTSU-trained professionals, including several repeat contenders.

The Department of Recording Industry also is the first program in the country to exclusively use the PhantomFocus System of studio monitoring equipment. Seven PhantomFocus Systems are now in use in studios in the Bragg Media Building to give undergrad and graduate students more control over their audio mixes.

You can learn more about MTSU’s recording industry program, part of the College of Media and Entertainment, at www.mtsu.edu/recording-industry.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)