Taking a look at our competition: what is Austin doing?
February 24, 2009 by CMC
We at CMC think one of the best ways for Chicago’s music community—and our city–to best improve is by looking outward across the globe and taking a long, honest look at how we stack up. CMC’s first stab in this direction was “Chicago: Music City” that we commissioned the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center to draft for us. That economic impact study showed that Chicago music and Chicago’s music economy has some fundamental strengths—our diversity, the innovative music we offer, the number and quality of jobs we create—but also some very real challenges compared to other cities. “Chicago: Music City” pegged Chicago in third place (NYC and LA were, generally, first) for most categories. But it also made clear that our competitor music cities are gaining on us, and in some significant categories have passed us by.
So we’re kicking off here an informal, irregular set of posts taking a snapshot look at interesting efforts other city governments are undertaking to support their music communities. These snapshots are not scientific—we’re grabbing what we think are noteworthy initiatives. We’ll hopefully delve into the details on some of these efforts in future posts. In any event, please let us know what innovative/effective efforts you know about that we don’t mention.
First up: Austin, Texas.
- Government-supported music community branding campaign (“Live Music Capitol of the World”)
- Live Austin music at all Austin City Council meetings
- An average of eleven performances per week of live Austin music at Austin’s airport
- “Live From the Plaza”, a live showcase of Austin music every spring and fall Friday outside of Austin City Hall
- 24/7 city funded television (“ME TV”) showcasing Austin music
- Creating and support of Austin Music Memorial, honoring individuals who have had significant impact on Austin’s music community
- “Creative industries loan guarantee program”, assisting performers and music companies
- “Cultural contracts fund”, helping music-related nonprofits
- Creating of dedicated music-only loading/unloading zones on 6th Street (a main music/entertainment thoroughfare) that allow bands to park and load/unload their equipment for a short period of time without being fined
- Creation and support of Austin Music Commission (and here), a group of volunteer Austin citizens, all of whom are appointed by the City Council, to advise the City Council on music-related matters
- Sponsorship of SXSW, annual world-wide music festival in Austin generating approximately $95 million in revenue for the city. City’s sponsorship allows for various fees to be waived that have been valued at $90,000.
- City Council-created “Live Music Task Force” to make recommendations to the City Council about ways to support and enhance live music in Austin, including pushing the creation of a city music department, the development of more music venues, and a city-lead campaign to lure music industry firms such as publishing houses, managers, record labels and digital distributors.
Next up: Seattle
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One Response to “Taking a look at our competition: what is Austin doing?”
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Austin has understood this for a while..but take a look at Portland:
http://www.fairpaytoplay.com/fairpay/default.asp?ID=27&PageData=357
We need this in Chicago. We used to have this in Chicago, at least to a degree.
It’s the duty of the union to help all its members, not just the CSO and the few musicians who play in the pit at $$$ corporate musicals. When I talk to younger musicians about what being a working musician in Chicago was like, they do not believe me..as the mind set of a musician here has steadily declined to the point where players think they are actually supposed to pay to play in a club. …for “exposure”. Fuck that.
My experience with Arts programs funded by muni’s and corporations has always had mixed results.. It depends on who is running them..is it for some corporation that needs the extra good will shil? for a city dept that needs the same? Or is it a real program pointed to promoting good music, and not just the “good music’ the muni or city wants, IOW, a variant on pay to play? Looking at Austin’s plans, I see both.