The Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries strives to prepare students for the competitive music industry after college. And it works — 90 percent of students who come out of this program work in the industry upon graduation.

Last Monday, Billboard magazine named Syracuse University’s Bandier Program in the Setnor School of Music as one of the top 11 schools to attend in order to learn about and start a career in the music industry.

Redesigned in 2007, the selective Bandier Program prepares 25 students per year for success in the music industry through a multidisciplinary curriculum. Students graduate as qualified experts in the businesses of television, drama, film and visual arts.

The ranking was not much of a surprise to the directors of the program, David Rezak and Ulf Oesterle. Almost a year ago, Billboard’s Editor Bill Werde tweeted at a prospective student that the Bandier Program and the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University were the top two programs for music industry.

“We have to be as good at our business acumen as the artists are with their artistic talent,” Rezak said. “(We are) preparing young people to work in the business in any art form.”

What sets Bandier apart from other programs of its kind is its active role in the industry. The program conducts a weekly lecture series featuring the biggest players in the business. The program also presents students with internship opportunities and an experienced alumni base.

“Hearing people speak at the Soyars Lecture Series and getting the opportunity to meet them after class and before class is huge,” said Andrew Spalter, a senior in the Bandier Program.

With the financial aid of Martin Bandier, a 1962 Syracuse alumnus and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Chairman and CEO, students are also flown to various music conventions including College Music Journal, the Billboard Touring Conference and South by Southwest.

These opportunities bring students into direct contact with the biggest names in the industry, including Rob Light of Creative Artists Agency and John Sykes, co-creator of MTV, both of whom are SU alumni.

“You can hear what they have to say and ask them questions and talk to them and network,” Spalter said.

Syracuse’s location doesn’t stop the Bandier Program from the influx of opportunities it presents to students.

“We have to do a little bit more. We have to keep the music industry engaged,” Rezak said. “We’re very conscious of our geographic disadvantage and we mitigate that by bringing the industry here.”

Students also have the opportunity to take a semester in Los Angeles and London, and others choose to create their own semester-abroad programs in New York and Nashville.

Oesterle pushes students to get involved, make connections and find fulfillment both on and off campus during their time at SU.

“We have a philosophy of ‘Do It Now,’” he said. “While you’re a student, there’s no reason why you can’t start following your passion to work in this business, whether it’s managing artists, starting your own record label, working in music video or editing (or) being in a band.”

Because of the constant evolution of the music industry, the executives behind the Bandier Program find that a hands-on approach is the most effective way to learn. By requiring students to work in three internships, the professional world becomes a classroom of its own.

“It’s not a business where you can use a textbook anymore because by the time the ink dries something has changed,” Oesterle said.

The Bandier Program is reaching a tipping point as alumni begin to outnumber current students in the program. Opportunities can only expand, growing the program’s reputation and influence in the industry. Rezak said the graduates are “absolutely killing it.”

Said Oesterle: “It’s a big upside to be able to walk into virtually any music business related company and have a connection to the Bandier Program one day; that’s what I would love to see.”

Published on September 29, 2014 at 12:01 am

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