M.A. in Media & Entertainment Industries

The program

Belmont's Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business launched the Master of Arts in Media & Entertainment Industries in fall 2025. I helped create and launch it, and I'm one of the faculty interviewed in the program video.

The design problem was the one that has shaped most of my teaching career: how do you give a working professional a real graduate education without asking them to quit their job? The answer here is a thirty-credit program delivered primarily online, with two on-campus weekend residencies in Nashville. Students keep their commitments and still get the room and the network.

There are two concentrations. Content creation covers data visualization, podcasting and video production, with access to the Adobe Suite and Avid Media Composer. Music business covers artist management, music licensing, contracts and strategic management. Both sit on core coursework in media theory, digital branding, marketing, leadership and media law.

It is aimed at two groups at once: people upskilling inside a role they already hold, and people coming in from an adjacent field — English, communications, business, the creative arts — who need industry exposure they can't get on their own.