That Eric Alper

Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, today announced the establishment of the Berry Gordy Music Industry Scholarship at The Herb Alpert School of Music. In partnership with The UCLA Foundation, UMG has endowed a new scholarship, which will support high-potential students studying in the school’s Music Industry Program.

The scholarship builds on the 2024 launch of The UCLA Berry Gordy Music Industry Center at the school of music, a hub dedicated to research, teaching, and community engagement and career support around the evolving global music business. Each year, a student demonstrating exceptional promise and financial need will be named a Berry Gordy Scholar and receive funding towards tuition, housing, and other educational expenses. The recipient will also play an active role in the life and mission of the Center, helping to shape the future of the music industry from within one of the country’s top public universities.

In making the announcement, Sir Lucian Grainge, Universal Music Group Chairman & CEO said, “For more than 65 years, Berry Gordy’s name has been synonymous with artistry and the transformative power of music. Through this scholarship, UMG is honoring his enduring legacy by investing in a new generation of young people who will help carry that spirit forward—creators and changemakers, who will have an opportunity to reflect the innovation and entrepreneurial genius that Mr. Gordy helped bring to the world through Motown, Tamla and the pioneering sound of Detroit.”

Berry Gordy said, “I am thrilled that my friend Sir Lucian Grainge and Universal Music Group have committed to support this program with their endowment that will help open doors for many more students and continue to pave the way for music to be a force for good and change. The center provides vital opportunities for students at UCLA to help prepare for careers in the music industry, so that future generations of young talent will continue to innovate, inspire and bring together culture and communities through the power of music.”

The Berry Gordy Music Industry Scholarship aligns with UMG’s ongoing Sounds of the Future campaign, launched by its Task Force for Meaningful Change in 2023. Now in its third year, Sounds of the Future supports initiatives that amplify Black creativity, preserve cultural heritage, and ensure equity in the music business. The establishment of this scholarship directly supports the ‘Invest’ pillar of Sounds of the Future—advancing the commitment to schools, institutions, and community-led programs that preserve and pass down the creative legacy of Black music for generations to come.

“UMG’s partnership with The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music reflects our belief that increasing access to education and professional training is a powerful tool for transforming the music industry,” said Robert Fink, Acting Dean of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and Director of The Berry Gordy Music Industry Center. “This endowment ensures that the next generation of music executives, artists, and entrepreneurs will not only be inspired by Berry Gordy’s legacy of innovation but also equipped to build on it.”

Scholarship recipients will be selected by the Director of the Gordy Center, and will be eligible to receive the award in consecutive years based on demonstrated financial need and academic engagement.

In creating this lasting investment, UMG and The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music hope to honor the cultural contributions of Berry Gordy and the Motown legacy while opening doors for a new generation to thrive at the intersection of music, culture, and business.

This year, UMG has expanded Sounds of the Future to honor not just the future of Black music, but its impact on the past and present. The campaign reaffirms UMG’s dedication to celebrating the artists, teams and institutions who shape the soul of music and culture today, while also investing in those who will carry that creative legacy forward.

The Sounds of the Future 2025 program has included:

• Deepened Investment in Grassroots, Safeguarding Black Music’s Future. At a time when many community-led organizations are facing growing demand for their services but shrinking resources, UMG is deepening its investment in grassroots institutions that safeguard the future of Black music. This year, UMG has extended donations to two vital nonprofits: Roots of Music in New Orleans, which empowers youth through culturally rooted music education; and Girls Make Beats in Los Angeles, which opens doors for the next generation of female producers, DJs and engineers. While teaching music, these organizations are also cultivating confidence, creativity and opportunity for youth.

• Career Immersion Experience. UMG and its Interscope Records label joined together at the Chicago stop of the Grand National Tour to offer local youth a rare, behind-the-scenes look at careers in music – inviting them into the world of sound engineering, choreography, tour production, wardrobe, artist relations and more. Designed as a career immersion experience, the program provided a firsthand glimpse into how artists’ creative visions come to life through collaboration.

• Immersive Art Installation with BLK MKT Vintage. Earlier this month, UMG hosted an immersive art installation at its Santa Monica headquarters, curated in partnership with BLK MKT Vintage, a Brooklyn-based archive concept shop devoted to Black ephemera and cultural storytelling. The exhibit, explored the continuum of Black music through the lens of sampling, highlighting how generations of UMG artists have borrowed, transformed, and echoed one another’s genius. Salon-hung and deeply evocative, the installation traces the throughline of Black creativity that reverberates across time, sound, and genre.