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The School of Music and Theatre Professions at �������� once again ranks as one of the top music business schools in the world, taking its place among some of the finest collegiate music programs for the third year running.

Billboard named Loyola to its annual list of Top Music Business schools for 2023 this week, announcing its selections in the Oct. 7 issue. The school is one of several highly acclaimed music programs earning this honor, including the Berklee College of Music, New York University, UCLA, the Abbey Road Institute and the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts.

“This continued recognition is an incredible honor but really a testament to the work we've been doing for more than three decades in our acclaimed music industry program,” said Kate Duncan, director of the School of Music and Theatre Professions and the Conrad N. Hilton Chair in Music Industry at Loyola.

Students at Loyola live and work in one of America’s most exciting music cities. Opportunities for professional development abound, as students have the chance to play and produce music at the city’s countless festivals, drawing tens of thousands of attendees. And within the school’s music industry program, students attend conferences including NAMM, Americana and Mondo, and learn the business directly from professors who work in the industry.  

“We have a deeply passionate faculty, built of working industry pros, dedicated to helping students build a profession out of their creative passions,” Duncan said. “Our success comes from the credo that we weave entrepreneurial skills throughout every course deliverable, ensuring that our students are walking out not only with the degree, but more important, the skills necessary to think outside the box and build the life they want.”

The success of the Music Industry Studies program at Loyola led to the recent creation of two contemporary, commercial music performance degrees – Popular and Commercial Music, and Hip Hop and R&B, the latter of which is the only degree program of its kind in the world.

Students pursuing a bachelor’s in Hip Hop and R&B have the opportunity to attend established music business and songwriter camps, and in the past year worked alongside Grammy-winning producer D’Mile, Pulse Music Group songwriter Ricki Rich, and rapper and singer Benji. of Spillage Village.  

“We want more students around the world to know there is a place you can come and hone your craft,” said Raney Antoine Jr., Professor of Practice, Hip Hop and R&B, and who made his producer-artist debut in 2018 with the singles “Lovestruck” and “The Man.” “We’re at a point now where we have industry-level professors bringing real-world industry experiences to our students. Parents say you have to go to college. You can come here and get a degree in what you’re really interested in.” 

Aspiring performers and songwriters interested in studying Popular and Commercial Music receive training within the most popular genres of contemporary music, including pop, hip-hop, R&B, rock, country and singer/songwriter. In addition to learning about the best practices of the music industry, students develop their performance and technical skills with instruction on style, recording techniques, theory, audio production and more.  

The school counts among its alumni Gerald “G-Eazy” Gillum ’11, who made Forbes and ��ǰ��ٳܲԱ�’s Top 100 lists, and Carter Lang ’04, who produced “Sunflower” for Post Malone – one of the most downloaded songs in the world. In addition, four recent graduates made Billboard’s 40-Under-40 list.