Gold Top continues to move the needle

Four years ago, as he became a new clinical assistant professor of music and director of popular music in the School of Music, John Buteyn was welcomed with a to-do list. At the very top—practically bolded, underlined, and italicized—was starting a record label.

Taking inspiration from Gibson’s iconic Les Paul Gold Top guitar, which clearly fit well with Purdue University Fort Wayne’s colors, the Gold Top Music Group was introduced on Aug. 3, 2021. Beside Buteyn and Jason Lundgren, clinical assistant professor of music industry, there was one student at the start.

Today, Buteyn and Lundgren are still the cornerstones of the Center of Excellence, but now supported by five full-time and 12 part-time faculty members working with between 80 and 100 students. Since 2021, approximately 200 students have graduated with popular music and music industry degrees. 

One of PFW’s Centers of Excellence, Gold Top attracts and teaches students interested in a professional music career, either through performing, managing, promoting, or working in the control booth.

There are five musical acts signed: Loud Division, Man of the Flood, VEO, Indigo Society, and Sheldon Pickering. Supporting them, students help build a brand, develop social media, produce singles and albums, and promote and put on performances such as the Sept. 10 Party on the Lawn at Student Housing on the Waterfield Campus and the annual Goldstock showcase. 

Everyone learns along the way.

“We’re all about hands-on, practical experience,” Buteyn said. “Our main goal is for students to take what they are learning in our classrooms and then tie it to something that is legitimately going on in the world—and has real money and people’s careers tied to it. It’s a little bit different than a class project.”

Gold Top offers students a level of practical experience that is unavailable at most other institutions.  A year ago, Lundgren gave his music industry class an assignment to find out how many other U.S. colleges and universities presented similarly structured record labels. They found Gold Top is the only label to involve students on a weekly basis in and out of the classroom. The PFW students are encouraged to claim ownership of this unique experience.

“We work hard to provide a framework for these students to work within and we keep on top of them to make sure they are doing what they need to do,” Lundgren said, “but there is a tremendous amount of freedom we try to give them to show us what they can do and be builders. We train them to not just do what they are told, but to really go out and build something special. We tell them all the time this is their record label and not ours.”

The best of those students grab hold immediately and start producing. Some thrive on the possibility of inventing new ideas. Much of the work is based on the study of commercial music traditions. The center has been such a strong catalyst that if Lundgren was running a record label, he’d hire many of the students immediately. 

And a different kind of student is coming every year, emboldened by what they’ve heard about the group, either by word of mouth or from extensive social media exposure. When Lundgren asked his music marketing and entrepreneurship class of about 45 students last fall how many already knew about the label, about 90% of the students raised their hands and the vast majority said they came to PFW because of Gold Top.

“High school students in our region are hearing about and seeing what we are doing—and they are excited about it,” Lundgren said. “This feels like something of value to them, and it doesn’t get much better than that. The label is only four years old, and that’s pretty thrilling.”

The popular music, music industry, music technology majors, and Gold Top continue to attract more students and will receive a massive boost in two years. On Sept. 10, PFW will break ground on a $25 million, 26,000-square-foot music industry building. Forty percent of the project has been funded through private donors; another $15 million is coming from the Indiana General Assembly. The state-of-the-art structure is projected to be open for the fall 2026 semester.

“We’re planning for that growth and what we can do,” Buteyn said. “We kind of have dreaming sessions with the student team. `What do you wish we could do?’ That’s going to draw music lovers of the younger generation who want to study this. We’re just getting started.”