5 Reasons Music Is Undervalued in Cities
In an effort to continue to write 1 or 2 articles a month in 2020 outlining different tactics, lessons and strategies I’ve learned over the last few years working on music cities issues, here’s the third post in this series. If you want to go back and read the first two, here they are:
Here are 5 ways that I feel we unintentionally (or sometimes intentionally) undervalue music in our towns, cities and places. Much of this is based on our mindset and how we talk about music.
This article is inspired by a conversation I had with my friend and journalist Gregory Scruggs about an article he is writing and is the topic of one of the chapters of my book, which I’m hoping to publish in 2021.
- Our Conversations Start With A Negative: I have done a number of interviews talking about grassroots music venues that are threatened. Yes, there are issues in the music venue ecosystem, like there is in any ecosystem, but I do believe over time, and with reinforcement, this narrative creates a false negative that all grassroots venues, particularly independent ones by nature of them being grassroots venues, are threatened. This is an example of how we often discuss music in our communities through the language of scarcity and threat. I don’t mean to discount the challenges we face across live music, copyright, music education, policy reform or other topics, but a consistent narrative that music is under threat in communities enshrines this as reality. The reality is much more complex. In many cities, independent venues are thriving. More grassroots record store are opening. Music’s value in real terms is going up. In some countries, music education is prospering. I believe the tone of how we speak about music should change to ‘here’s how we can create more value from this incredible resource’, rather than ‘this needs help’.
2. We Discount The Employment Around Music: In my TEDx talk, I discussed the amount of jobs that wouldn’t exist at my local music venue if it didn’t lead with music. Without the artist on stage, there’d be no bartender, no security, no design, no sound & lighting and so on. When I’m in cities convincing them to invest in music, I lean in on. Without the artist, there is no workforce. Instead, we lead with the experiential impact, describing the feeling the music will have on you as an audience member, or presenter. I don’t want to discount this —creating experiences is what pays the bills — but in every meeting I outline the jobs that wouldn’t exist without the artist being present, it is impactful. People need to see more than the music. There’s a lot of jobs behind those songs you love.
3. The Community Undervalues Itself: This happens a lot. Even through I wish it didn’t, but some of my fellow music cities peers undervalue what we do. There’s always ‘limited financial resources’, or ‘music is not as important as X’. This has to stop. We need to recognise that as a music ecosystem, we are in the middle of a expansive, profitable, larger ecosystem where music is a sizeable value add, no matter where its inserted. How much is the global wellness sector worth, and how much less would it be if people couldn’t exercise to music, for example? It’s the same mentality that believes most money in music is made through album sales or live, where there’s at least 42 different revenue streams for artists. Those tasked with increasing the value of the music ecosystem should realise that they have the most powerful, impactful, community-building tool in their toolbox - music. Yes, we have inequities and challenges to overcome — be it fair pay, racial equity, gender imbalance and all are inherent, structural, BIG problems — but starting each conversation saying ‘we’re having a tough time’ does not lead with confidence. And for those tasked with growing the music ecosystem, the audience is often comprised of those outside of music — economic development authorities, tourism boards, BIDs, Mayors. They need to be shown how valuable music is to their objectives and outcomes. For example, writing that ‘communities must understand the value of music’ outlines an argument that they — whoever they is — don’t understand our value. I believe everyone sees value in music; they just haven’t realised how valuable it can be to them. Start with a positive, it creates more positives.
4. We Don’t Explain the 42 Revenue Streams Well Enough: JB Anderson who runs Gaslight STL told me a story of an artist he works with who shares the name of a roller coaster in an amusement park in Pennsylvania. He reached out to the theme park and did a deal with the owner, where that artist’s music was featured as a key fixture of creating the experience leading up to getting on the coaster. That artist pays his mortgage because of that deal. The expansiveness of revenue opportunities in music is an incredible opportunity to demonstrate how valuable the sector not only is, but can and will be. Goldman Sachs believes the sector could be worth over $100bn by 2030. It grew by 9.7% last year. This is because of these diverse, lucrative revenue streams. But we need to explain this more. What sector has this many ways to make money? The more ubiquitous music is, the more value it generates. There are a lot of roller coasters out there.
5. We Are Too Humble: I believe that collectively — and especially within the music cities field — we’re not shouting about our successes enough. I’m always asked for results and outcomes from our work. What has literally happened in communities that we’ve worked in? From the creation of Huntsville’s Mayor-appointed music board, to the Vancouver Music Fund, to business rates / property taxes being slashed in London for grassroots music venues (bravo to Music Venue Trust, UK Music & others), to live music districts being created for the first time, many of our successes are process-oriented, rather than singular, PR-able ‘wins’. They come from changing a process, people adopting that change and then matters improving because processes improve. We’re working on better ways to celebrate this and I believe across all our towns and cities, we should all do this. A new venue or record store opening should be celebrated. Launching a new music accelerator, such as The Rattle did in LA last week, is another outcome to celebrate. Or the creation of a city wide music plan leading up to ‘Year of Music’, such as this one in Aarhus. Or the reopening of a famous recording studio, such as Capricorn in Macon, Georgia. There’s hundreds of examples all over the world of music impacting communities. We’re doing well. Let’s ensure everyone knows this.
This is not to say we don’t have to improve. We do. There’s myriad issues, from music not being recognised properly in how we treat entrepreneurs, to licensing and planning issues, to many communities still not recognising the value of music. But all industries have challenges.
Music is a revenue stream for all cities, sitting there, now, that many do not realise they have. Let’s all work together to increase it.
