Tennessee State University's Commercial Music program's recently concluded "Maymester" Music Accelerator Program partnership with the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), Music Makes Us, and the Recording Industry Association of America has yielded more immediate placements for its students than the program's previous two years.
Continued access to leadership, mentorship, and career resources to help them break into the music industry has yielded impressive results for 2024's class of two dozen TSU students, including the following:
- In partnership with BMAC, Live Nation Urban will allow this year's class to produce, book, market and handle ticketing for a live concert to benefit the Music Accelerator Program.
- While learning about talent buying and event promotion, students participated in a music festival planning competition. The winners received an all-expense-paid VIP trip to Rolling Loud Miami.
- The class will attend rapper, singer, and songwriter Gunna's upcoming concert in Nashville and June's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.
"Over the course of the Accelerator, I've watched these students immerse themselves into a wide range of disciplines in the music industry and engage with some of the most powerful players in the game. BMAC is proud to serve as the pipeline for opportunities, resources and mentors for the next generation of Black artists and music industry executives," said Willie "Prophet" Stiggers, BMAC co-founder, president & CEO.
Among the 2025 program's mentors included TSU's Aristocrat of Bands- assistant director and Grammy-winning professor Larry Jenkins Jr., Tariq Cherif (Co-Founder/Co-CEO, Rolling Loud), Shawn Gee (President, Live Nation Urban), Sierra Lever (Head of Hip-Hop/R&B, Amazon Music), Mark Cheatham (Co-head of Global Hip-Hop/R&B Touring, Creative Artists Agency), Swaggy Sie (Host of SiriusXM's The Heat and Hip-Hop Nation), Mitch Glazier (CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America), Public Enemy member and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Flavor Flav, Kaliii (Grammy-winning artist), Nashville-based emcee, musician and songwriter Daisha McBride and performer Connie Diiamond.
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Apple Music's Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos technology was among the ever-broadening music industry disciplines that TSU's students availed themselves of during the semester. The innovation allows for a three-dimensional audio experience that adds the perception of height channels to surround sound to simulate an expanded soundscape.
At present, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, J Balvin, Kacey Musgraves, and The Weeknd are among the artists using the advancement.
The Music Accelerator Program, founded in 2022, continues a series of city and nationwide BMAC initiatives to develop sustainable, multi-year strategies to ensure a pipeline of talented Black creatives exists on Nashville's Music Row and elsewhere.
In the past two years, Grammy-winning R&B artist Coco Jones, rap favorite Waka Flocka Flame, and critically acclaimed country and Americana performers BRELAND and Joy Oladokun have spoken to students who have eventually been placed into internships at Wasserman Music, Warner Music Nashville, and LVRN.
"Black Music Action Coalition and our partners are committed to empowering the next generation of Black musical artists and professionals in Tennessee and beyond. Music Row and the Nashville industry have a prime opportunity to welcome them into the industry, especially with all the tools we give them for success," Stiggers adds.
For more information on BMAC's efforts and impact, visit https://www.bmacoalition.org/impact-reports.
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