Sony Donates $7.5 Million to New York University to Launch Sony Audio Institute
New York University and Sony Corporation's Personal Entertainment Business' U.S. operations have announced the launch of the Sony Audio Institute, an initiative 'designed to prepare the next generation of creators and innovators within NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, fostering innovation at the intersection of technology, music and business,' according to the announcement.
The Sony Audio Institute, established for an initial 10-year term, will serve as a hub for interdisciplinary collaboration, combining the expertise of Sony's professional and consumer audio businesses with NYU students, faculty, and facilities. Formally known as the Sony Audio Institute for Music Business and Technology, the Institute will offer new opportunities and support to students in Steinhardt's Music Business and Music Technology degree programs.
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The institute will open this spring with Larry S. Miller — NYU Steinhardt Clinical Professor and music industry veteran who received the 2024 Educator of the Year Award from the Music Business Association — as inaugural Director. He will also continue as director of the Music Business Program at NYU Steinhardt until Fall 2025.
The Sony Audio Institute was created by NYU Steinhardt leadership and faculty and Sony's Personal Entertainment Business, which is responsible for Sony's professional and consumer audio business and heavily focused on its engagement and support of music and creators at all levels, including producers, engineers, songwriters, recording studios and more through its hardware and innovative audio solutions. The partnership was facilitated by Marcie Allen, a music-branding consultant who is also an adjunct faculty member at Steinhardt.
'It is an honor to establish this collaboration with New York University, one of the world's premier music schools, renowned for its long-standing legacy of producing some of the audio industry's top talent,' said Sony Corporation President-CEO Kimio Maki. 'Through this collaboration, we look forward to inspiring creativity for the next generation of music creators and witness how their artistry will influence the music industry for years to come.'
NYU President Linda G. Mills said: 'We are excited and grateful that Sony has chosen NYU Steinhardt to collaborate on this important initiative, which will create new opportunities for our amazingly talented students through scholarships, internships, research fellowships, and other unrivaled experiences. This forward-looking initiative will not only create new opportunities for creative expression, it will give our students a competitive advantage in a rapidly changing industry. I'd like to thank the team at Sony and everyone at NYU who worked tirelessly to make this dream a reality.'
The Sony Audio Institute will integrate Sony's state-of-the-art technology into NYU's immersive learning environment for students focused on the music business and technology. This includes giving students access to a variety of audio solutions, such as 360 Reality Audio, Sony's immersive music experience, and 360 Virtual Mixing Environment, a technology that accurately reproduces the acoustic field of an audio studio using only headphones with proprietary measurement technology, thus enabling users to create professional audio mixes from anywhere.
NYU's Music and Audio Research Lab (MARL), which studies the convergence of science, technology, music, and sound, will pursue, with input from Sony researchers and engineers, groundbreaking research in the areas of music and audio technologies. MARL's current research includes music and auditory perception and cognition, machine listening and music information retrieval, spatial, and immersive audio, music in the health and rehabilitation sciences, and more. Joint research will complement MARL's existing activities and create a space where students can help to shape the future of music and technology.
A studio at NYU's Brooklyn campus will be named the 'Sony Audio Institute Studio,' and will be equipped with Sony's 360 Reality Audio, as well as 360 Virtual Mixing Environment. In addition, NYU venues will present student-driven programming that bridges the gap between academic learning and real-world industry experiences.
Finally, through the Sony Audio Institute, NYU is establishing a scholarship program to assist undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students at NYU Steinhardt who demonstrate financial need and academic merit with a preference for students who have an interest in pursuing research or careers in the audio industry.
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