Media Contact: Javier Rojas, Javier.rojas@csun.edu, (818) 677-2130
For the fifth consecutive year, California State University, Northridge has earned a place among the nation’s top music business programs, according to Billboard magazine.
Billboard recognized CSUN’s music program in its annual list of the world’s leading music business schools. The publication chose its top music business schools, unranked, based on industry recommendations, alumni information by honorees on its power lists, years of reporting on educational options and information requested from the schools themselves.
“We work hard to ensure that our students are in the room with the people who run this industry,” said Seven Bailey, the Mike Curb Endowed Chair of Music Industry Studies. “I am proud of what our students and faculty have built here. Every year we watch our graduates walk straight from a Los Angeles classroom into the labels, publishers and management companies that make up this business. Billboard naming CSUN to its ‘2026 Top0 Music Business Schools’ list confirms what our alumni have shown for three decades; pairing real music training with real industry experience is what actually prepares people for this work.”
“We are incredibly proud that Billboard has once again recognized CSUN among the top music business schools in the world,” said music industry studies professor Andrew Surmani. “This honor is a tribute to both our undergraduate Music Industry Studies program and our graduate Master of Arts in Music Industry Administration program, and especially to the outstanding faculty, students, alumni and industry professionals who make these programs so successful.
“Together, our undergraduate and graduate programs provide students with a comprehensive, industry-connected education and experiential learning, such as a student-run record label in the undergraduate program and a consulting project in the graduate program, that prepares students to lead and innovate in the rapidly evolving global music business,” he continued. “We are honored to be included alongside so many of the world’s most respected music business programs.”
CSUN’s Department of Music, housed in the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication, offers students a dynamic range of programs that bridge artistry and industry. In addition to its nationally recognized music industry studies and performance majors, the department provides pathways such as composition, commercial media writing, music education, music therapy and the Master of Art in Music Industry Administration (MIA), which features faculty and curriculum from the award-winning David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. The Curb College also offers a Master of Arts in Entertainment Industry Management (EIM) degree.
