Music & the Entertainment Economy

The other day, Richard Florida posted about the recent and dramatic rise of Nashville as a global music city. One of the interesting conclusions he proposed is that the increase in quality and numbers of writers, studio musicians, and recording infrastructure was helping Nashville to break out of its country music parochialism into broader vistas: [...]

   One of the constant refrains surrounding classical music is that audiences are declining and aging.  Many orchestras have adopted policies intended to reverse this trend.  Some go for superstar blockbusters.  Some try to build bridges with popular music acts, like when the San Francisco Symphony played a concert with Metallica.  Others, like the Toronto Symphony [...]

The increasingly low barriers to entering the music industry have generated an oversupply of music-related products. As recorded music competes with illegal downloads and a range of entertainment alternatives including DVDs, video games, cell phones and the internet itself, the quintessential question facing major labels and individual musicians is ‘how do we make money from making music?’ [...]

In his comment on my post about Montreal, Music, and Vice, Ian asks about the “performing arts presenters” variable. I actually combined two NAICS codes from Canadian Business Patterns to make that variable: “Live Theatres and Other Performing Arts Presenters with Facilities” and “Performing Arts Promoters (Presenters) without Facilities.” Since these variables are part of [...]

Here’s an interesting use of £500,000 of government money: building music rehearsal spaces in deprived areas that lack social and cultural institutions for youth.   Some key quotes: Budding British bands are being offered the chance to pursue their musical dreams in new rehearsal spaces opened by the government. The first has been unveiled in Knotty Ash [...]

I created the charts below using data from Canadian Business Patterns, which tracks the numbers of businesses in Canada by NAICS code. They show trends in Quebec musicians, artists, festivals, studios, and performing arts presenters from 1999-2008, graphically demonstrating what has been clear to many for a while, namely, that in the 21st century Montreal [...]