MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Tennessee placed five colleges on a 2026 national list of the top schools for students who want careers on the business side of the music industry, a showing few states can match.
The honorees are Middle Tennessee State University, Belmont University and Tennessee State University in the Nashville area, plus Rhodes College and the University of Memphis on the western end of the state. The list does not rank schools; it presents them alphabetically, with selections drawn from industry recommendations, alumni achievements, reporting on programs and material supplied by the schools.
For MTSU, this marks a 12th consecutive year on the list. Its media and entertainment college now carries the name of Big Machine Label Group founder Scott Borchetta after a $15 million gift. New offerings there include an entertainment law track inside the legal studies master’s program, a live entertainment minor for undergraduates in any major, and a film and television fine arts master’s that works alongside the recording arts program. The college hosted upward of 65 guest speakers in 2025-26, and students have helped stream concerts from the Bonnaroo festival.
Belmont’s Curb College sits a block from Music Row, offers six specialized study tracks, and has students run production for six major concerts and four writers’ rounds each year. Tennessee State, one of the historically Black universities on the list, highlights its Commercial Music Program and courses on music law and artificial intelligence.
In Memphis, the Rhodes College music institute named for Mike Curb is marking its 20th year and funds student fellowships with local studios and music organizations. The University of Memphis is a first-time honoree, with students in an entrepreneurship course pitching music business plans to the campus entrepreneurship center.
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