Lots of BA programs won’t require an audition. Or may require just a basic placement audition. You can even do a BA in music without an audition at the University of Minnesota. Saint Olaf also makes it pretty easy to go down a BA path for music and I suspect it’s a better BA school than a BM school even though some do get BMs there.
That said, this depends on your goals. I actually don’t think a BA is the worst way to build critical thinking, organizational and problem solving skills while maybe trying to target part time jobs and internships and even opportunities on campus to get involved in sound mixing, production, stage management, leading arts clubs, etc. Like my older kid does a music group with a big 10 U that has an intern that has been doing sound and production all year (they do a fair amount of travel/tour). That group has a number of interns - social media, business team, etc. A lot of those students are interested in entertainment/music business but have varied majors. You kind of have to dig around for opportunities like that, but they do exist on many campuses. Especially larger ones.
But there are more specific music business and production programs available at some schools if that might be closer to your goals and the programs are affordable for you.
In terms of shopping for schools, it is often best to consider budget because it affects how you shop for schools. This is a lot easier if your family has unlimited funds. But if you’re hoping for merit money, may need to use student loans, qualify for need based aid at some schools that may really differentiate how you want to shop for programs. I do think there are plenty of places you could have great experience in the upper midwest.