Eastman School of Music Makes Billboard's Top Music Business Schools List for the Fourth Year Running

Rochester has been sending musicians into the world for more than a hundred years. The Eastman School of Music just got its fourth consecutive confirmation that the industry is still paying attention — named a Top Music Business School worldwide by Billboard for 2026.

What the Billboard Recognition Actually Means

What the Billboard Recognition Actually Means

Billboard's list isn't a ranking. There's no number one, no score, no weighted index. According to Billboard's stated selection criteria, the list draws on industry recommendations, alumni connections from Billboard's own power lists, years of reporting on music education, and information submitted by the schools themselves. Getting named means working professionals in the music industry consistently point to your graduates.

Eastman has been named four years in a row. The 2026 selection cited two distinct programs: the Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media, and the Institute for Music Leadership. Not one program under one umbrella — two separate programs, both recognized in the same cycle.

The Beal Institute and the Music Creation and Technology Degree

The Beal Institute and the Music Creation and Technology Degree

The Beal Institute's newest program is the Music Creation and Technology Bachelor of Music, and the person leading it has a resume that fits the subject. Dennis DeSantis is an Eastman alumnus (DMA '05) who spent years at Ableton as Head of Music Learning, where he led the creation of Ableton's Learning Music and Learning Synths interactive platforms. He returned to Eastman as Associate Professor of Music and Technology — an Eastman graduate recruited back from one of the most widely used production environments in the world.

"Students will make music using modern tools while learning to think critically about those tools and create new ones."

— Dennis DeSantis, Associate Professor of Music and Technology

The program is housed in SoundSpace, a newly constructed 6,000-square-foot collaborative center that Eastman shares with the University of Rochester's Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Labs, creative spaces, teaching studios, and a recording facility — purpose-built for the work. Applications open September 1, 2026, with a December 1 deadline. Teaching begins Autumn 2027.

The Institute for Music Leadership's Career-First Approach

The Institute for Music Leadership's Career-First Approach

The IML's model is built on a straightforward premise: musicians who understand how the industry works outlast those who don't. Coursework covers entrepreneurship, leadership strategy, and the practical economics of building a career — and it reaches students across Eastman's programs rather than sitting inside a single department. Career development at Eastman isn't a separate track. It's a layer that sits alongside every degree.

Four consecutive Billboard selections, with the IML cited in 2026, reflect a long-standing institutional bet that keeps getting validated by the industry.

What This Signals for Rochester

What This Signals for Rochester

The Music Creation and Technology BM is the most concrete sign of Eastman's direction — not away from what it has always done, but toward a wider definition of what a working musician in 2027 needs to know. electronic music production, sound design, and music technology are not supplementary skills. For a large share of the working industry, they are the job. DeSantis comes from inside that world. The SoundSpace facility, purpose-built and shared with the engineering school, makes the institutional investment tangible in square footage and concrete.

Applications for the Music Creation and Technology BM open September 1, 2026.