BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is pleased to announce the creation of a new Bachelor of Science in Music Business degree program in partnership with the IU Kelley School of Business. The program will be available through Jacobs’ new Music Industry Department in fall 2025.
The B.S. in Music Business degree will allow students to leverage internationally acclaimed faculties from both the Jacobs School and the Kelley School to prepare for an expanding field of career opportunities at the intersection of music and business.
“We could not be happier to be able to develop this innovative program with our colleagues at Kelley, one of the highest ranked business schools in the country,” said Abra Bush, David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean. “Jacobs School of Music graduates can be found in every corner of the global music industry, and by uniting two of IU’s greatest strengths, we are able to provide a top-notch program offering the business skills necessary to be successful in today’s environment.”
The Music Business program was created for students who are interested in the breadth of music as a field: how it gets made and managed, who owns it and who it is for, how it is packaged and marketed and how it achieves financial success.
The program will offer proficiencies in music management, marketing, monetization, distribution, intellectual property and ethics. Through Jacobs and Kelley, the degree combines world-class resources and outstanding academic programs to uniquely prepare students for careers working with companies and small businesses across the globe that are shaping the production and consumption of music through expanding avenues of technology and commerce.
The Jacobs School has appointed Michael J. Sammis as professor of practice in music business and director of music business. He is helping perfect a state-of-the-art music business curriculum and, following its launch, will teach students in the program. Sammis has enjoyed a 40-plus-year career focused almost exclusively on music and entertainment. He was most recently president of Universal Production Music, an industry-leading global flagship brand that is part of Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the largest and most successful production music companies in the world.
“The Music Industry Department is proud to begin this collaboration with Kelley to serve a new group of students interested in the business of music,” said Michael Stucker, department chair.