This for-profit educational company operates and franchises after-school music instruction schools in the United States, Chile, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, South Africa, Mexico, Australia, Paraguay, Taiwan, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and the Philippines.

They have recently expanded to offering career development for working bands, and "Grad School" for adult amateur musicians.

He took out a loan for $7000 in 2002[2] and established a permanent location for the first Paul Green School of Rock Music in a dilapidated building at 1320 Race Street, Philadelphia that has since been demolished.

[3] The location had a number of small rooms for individual instrumental instruction as well as larger performance spaces for full band practices.

Spin magazine sent The Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha to profile Green and the school for the May 2002 issue.

[11] Green preferred the documentary, saying it "...opened a lot of other doors, corporate partnerships, and given us access to the rock stars that we play with.

"[13] Green was bought out in 2009 by investor Sterling Partners and the management team he had brought in,[14] headed by former Clear Channel executive Matt Ross.

In January 2012, the headquarters relocated from New Jersey to the Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge[19] with a staff of 14,[18] and an additional 11 employees in Denver.

"[25] A January 2014 profile of CEO Dzana Homan in Entrepreneur magazine increased that number to "more than 145 School of Rock franchises in eight countries".

The Burnsville, Minnesota, location originated[30] an early childhood music education known as "Little Wing", after the Jimi Hendrix song.

[33] The most skilled students of each school form a band and perform at various venues in their city, opening for established regional and national acts.

In 2011, they introduced two new programs – "Band Coaching" for existing bands to improve aspects of their performance and "Epic Albums" where students spend three to four months recording their own version of Nirvana's Nevermind, Radiohead's OK Computer, Led Zeppelin IV, Green Day's Dookie and Black Sabbath's Master of Reality.

[34] Most School instructors are working musicians with ongoing careers in rock music[35][36] and a number are graduates of the program.

[36][38] There are occasional "Guest Professor" workshops featuring accomplished musicians, which include discussions about past experiences, songwriting, live performance, and handling fame.

Previous guest professors include Jon Anderson, Earl Slick, Dave Stewart, Mike Watt, former Santana drummer Michael Shrieve[39][40] Peter Frampton, Roger Waters, Jackson Browne and Zack Wylde[41] The guest may also spend time assisting the students on their technique[42] and may perform a concert with the students.

[48] The Guest Professors for the 2012 event were "Metal" Mike Chlasciak - guitarist with Halford, Sebastian Bach and Testament, a teacher at the Chatham location and Jason McMaster - bassist with Watchtower, Dangerous Toys and Ignitor who teaches at the School of Rock Austin.

[50] Fees vary depending on program participation and school location, but it is in the range of "a couple hundred dollars a month.

[59] The School year consists of up to three seasons, each composed of up to five different theme shows (depending on the size of the branch).

progressive rock, The Allman Brothers Band, Guns N' Roses vs. Mötley Crüe, Hair metal, Guns N' Roses vs. Aerosmith, Corporate rock, Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Beatles, Metallica, Iron Maiden vs. Metallica, King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, The 27 Club, Devo, Van Halen, Pink Floyd's The Wall, Punk and Reggae, Funk & Soul, Thrash Metal, Radiohead, Muse vs. Radiohead, Eagles vs. Fleetwood Mac, Rocky Horror vs. Hedwig, AC/DC, Best of the 80s/90s/00s, Punk rock, The Clash vs Ramones, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Who's Tommy, British Invasion, Iron Maiden vs. Judas Priest, Frank Zappa, Old School Blues, Women Who Rock, British rock, The Doors, Grunge, Alice in Chains vs Pearl Jam, Guitar Gods, Yes, Dave Grohl vs Jack White, Rush, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie, Prince, Prince vs Michael Jackson, Green Day, The Clash, The Police, Talking Heads, CBGB, Bruce Springsteen, Motown, The Last Waltz and many more.

[60] Locations are a mixture of franchised and company-operated, some having been established as independent entities prior to the founding of the Paul Green School of Rock Music and maintain their own traditions and values.

Venues are Trees, Club Dada, Boiler Room, Liquid Lounge and 3 Links beginning 14 April 2013.

The 2013 edition was judged by Slim Jim Phantom of Stray Cats, David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick, Jim Peterik of Survivor and The Ides of March, Bruce Kulick of Kiss, "Metal" Mike Chlasciak of Rob Halford's band, Eric Bloom of Blue Öyster Cult and Nathan Willett & Matt Maust of the Cold War Kids.

[65] They tour such venues as the Whisky a Go Go and The Roxy in Los Angeles, The Cutting Room in New York, Stubbs in Austin, various Hard Rock Cafes and House of Blues, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and many of the biggest festivals in the country such as Lollapalooza, Summerfest and Austin City Limits.

The 2010 AllStars tour was billed as "Live-Aid Remade" with a set list drawn from the original Live Aid concert 25 years previously.

[68] They often tour and play with successful rock musicians, such as the Butthole Surfers, Slash, Les Paul, Brendon Small, LeAnn Rimes, Perry Farrell, Jon Anderson, Peter Frampton, Eddie Vedder, Alice Cooper, Adrian Belew, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Stewart Copeland, John Wetton, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Ike Willis and Ann Wilson.

The performers were assembled into six bands, and played multiple dates including all the days of both Gathering of the Vibes and Lollapalooza festivals.