Photo: Storm Gloor & 2026 Music Business Granduates | By Cathy Applefeld Olson, Thom Duffy | Storm Gloor: So proud that ours has been named one of the top Music Business programs by Billboard magazine! Big thanks to all of the students, alumni, faculty, and staff that have made this possible.
In the age of AI, who needs a college education?
An AI agent’s deft reply: “AI makes information cheap; it doesn’t replace judgment, deep expertise, mentorship, networks or credentials required in [many] fields. The real question is: What path best builds the skills, credibility and opportunities your goals require?”
For many targeting careers in the music business, their path will lead them to one of Billboard’s Top Music Schools.
For more than a decade, Billboard has been spotlighting schools that are educating the next generation of music industry leaders, as well as the artists and producers who recognize the importance of the business skills these schools teach.
Billboard selects its top music business schools based on industry recommendations, alumni information provided by honorees from our multiple power lists, years of reporting on educational options and on information requested from the schools themselves. We invite selected schools to tell us what makes their program unique, to boast about accomplished alumni and to describe specific courses, events and speakers.
Not surprisingly, students increasingly will be offered courses like Artificial Intelligence in the Entertainment Industry: Benefits, Risks and the Future, offered at American University in Washington, D.C., which explores the ways AI is transforming music creation, distribution and rights management.
Billboard does not rank the schools here; they are listed alphabetically, and areas of expertise range from performance to production to management. The U.S. Department of Education hosts a free online College Scorecard that provides quantitative information to complement the qualitative profiles here, including specific data on college costs, graduation rates, employment and student debt. Students also should review the Federal Student Aid Financial Responsibility Composite Scores, compiled by the Department of Education, to confirm the financial stability of schools they are considering.
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Some of the schools honored are Howard University, Tennessee State University, University of Hartford, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State University, Abbey Road Institute (London), Belmont University (Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business) (Nashville), Berklee College of Music (Boston) . . .
University of Colorado Denver (Music & Entertainment Industry Studies) Denver
CU Denver’s Music & Entertainment Industry Studies program recently reengineered its curriculum to cover networking, life design, personal branding and other educational skills for effective industry career planning. Its speaker circuit is evolving, too. This year Grammy–winning artist Bela Fleck, singer-songwriter Trevor Hall and electro-folk duo Moontricks conducted master classes. Off campus, the London Calling program enables students to spend two weeks meeting with music and entertainment professionals in the United Kingdom and a summer program in Prague places them in multiple recording/mix sessions and in front of music professionals. Recent courses include The Brand and Business of Billie Eilish, AI and the Future of Music and Women in Music.
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Go here to read about the multitude of Music Business schools available:
https://www.billboard.com/pro/top-music-business-schools-2026-list/
This story appears in the Oct. 3, 2026, issue of Billboard.
Photo: Storm Gloor and 2026 Graduates! (Courtesy of Storm Gloor)
