The list, which factors curriculum, alumni success, experiential learning opportunities, and faculty pedigree, includes schools from across the globe, including UCLA, Berklee College of Music, and the Abbey Road Institute in London.

Billboard writes that this is definitive listing of schools for students who want to pursue careers in the music industry, and notes that among the highest-achieving young executives in the music business, as profiled in Billboard’s 2019 40 Under 40 feature, nearly 40% said they were graduates of a liberal arts program.

For more than three decades Music Business at CU Denver has led the nation in innovative programing. This is the third time CU Denver has been included on the listing, and this year Billboard examines specifically how it’s unique curriculum is shaping the industries future.

"At CU Denver’s College of Arts and Media, the new music cities course explores how local economies emerge and grow — and the role music plays in boosting economic growth. A music tourism class explores how venues, and local history, can be promoted to attract tourism and generate economic growth. These courses emerged out of the college’s partnership with Sound Diplomacy, an international consultancy that presents the Music Cities Conference."– Billboard’s Top Music Business Schools 2020

The music business program at CU Denver, is an international leader due to a winning combination of outstanding faculty––skilled in legal, licensing, marketing, technology, entrepreneurship, and representation­­––and talented students who find success in Hollywood music supervision, music publishing, venue and tour management, music and entertainment law, digital music marketing and distribution, and as independent entrepreneurs.

“Music Business, provides international intellectual and creative leadership, and places on pathways to exciting and relevant careers,” says Dean of CU Denver’s College of Arts & Media, Laurence Kaptain. “Graduates and alumni of this program are sought out, and in demand—as affirmed by this designation by Billboard as a 2020 Top Music Business School.”