An MTSU music business student is fast becoming a veteran of the business while watching her new music video make its debut on the CMT network — just a week after her trip to the Grammys with the university.

Jordyn Stoddard

Jordyn Stoddard, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, and a senior in the Department of Recording Industry, co-wrote “Easier Said Than Done” with commercial songwriting senior Sara Strum and former MTSU student (and “American Idol” contestant) Tristan McIntosh.

The video, featuring Stoddard performing alone at a piano, premiered Feb. 3 on CMT. It’s available above.

“Every single video I’ve done I always have my vision, and then it turns out to be a million times better than I could ever imagine,” Stoddard told CMT.com. “I want people to walk away feeling as these words speak to their own circumstances. It’s the beauty of songwriting and why I love music.”

Stoddard’s been playing piano and guitar and singing since childhood. She released her debut album, “Southern Tide,” in 2015, when she was 17, then moved to Tennessee for school and continued her music while delving into its business aspects.

That album landed in the top 10 of Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums the first week and quickly reached Apple Music’s Country Music Daily top 40. Her single from it, “Like Me ’Til You Love Me,” was co-written by MTSU alumnus Eric Paslay and earned international airplay.

Since then, Stoddard’s been working on her craft, opening for artists including The Band Perry, Lee Brice, Montgomery Gentry and Easton Corbin and her MTSU connections Brett Eldredge and Chris Young, and releasing a single and video, “Bad Baby,” last summer.

She was part of a group of MTSU students joining faculty and administrators for the university’s seventh annual trip to Los Angeles for January’s “Grammy Weekend,” too. The contingent honored alumni and former students and learned firsthand about the 62nd annual awards in both backstage and pre-show events.

MTSU senior music business major Jordyn Stoddard, standing second from right, is shown among a College of Media and Entertainment delegation of faculty and staff during pre-event activities and outreach before the 62nd annual Grammy Awards set for Sunday, Jan. 26, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. (MTSU file photo by Andrew Oppmann)

“The fact that I can apply the knowledge I am learning to my day-to-day life has been so helpful,” she told TheCountryNote.com. “I don’t think I would have retained this much information if I wasn’t applying it to my career. It has taught me to carefully think about decisions I make every day.”

In 2019, MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry made Billboard’s annual list of America’s top music business schools for a sixth year, joining its counterparts across the country once again as top producers of ready-to-work music industry pros.

More information about Stoddard, including her performance schedule, is available at http://jordynstoddard.com.

For more information about the Department of Recording Industry in MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment, visit http://mtsu.edu/recording-industry.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)

MTSU senior music business major Jordyn Stoddard performs her original song, “Easier Said Than Done,” in a video that premiered Feb. 3 on the CMT network. The Jacksonville, Fla., native, who has been playing piano and guitar and singing since childhood, released her debut album in 2015. (image courtesy of CMT)