Lord Goldie at The East Room's 10th anniversary celebration, 6/10/2022
More than a year of pandemic lockdown is a fading memory amid the Nashville’s bustling live-music scene, hampered as it’s been during the past week by wintry weather. However, longstanding systemic issues in our live-music ecosystem — from the difficulty of sustaining indie venues in our real-estate market to problems with professional musicians being able to access unemployment benefits and beyond — were thrown into sharp relief during the shutdown, and there haven’t been solutions for any of those yet.
If all goes according to plan, there will be a report within a couple of months from PennPraxis’ Nashville Independent Venues Study, regarding roles that Metro can play in keeping our independent venue network healthy. A coalition of area organizations is working to launch an additional study to provide further data and recommendations via the Music Census program from Sound Music Cities, a consultancy firm focused on music communities and public policy.
According to a release, the group supporting the program includes the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Belmont University, Music Venue Alliance Nashville, the Broadway Entertainment Association and the Nashville Musicians Association (aka American Federation of Musicians union Local 257). They aim to launch the Greater Nashville Music Census by the end of February, collecting data in the Nashville Metro area as well as 13 surrounding counties.
“As prices have soared in Nashville in recent years, many within our music industry have migrated to surrounding counties where the cost of living may remain more affordable,” CMFT vice president of communications Kelly Walberg says in the release. “Most still proudly consider themselves a part of the robust Nashville music industry, so we feel it paramount that the geographic region truly reflects the current landscape.”
“Music is often described as the heartbeat of Nashville and serves as a vital attraction for economic development here,” adds Eric Holt, an assistant professor at Belmont and co-founder of concert promoter Lovenoise. “But the growth being fueled by our amazing music scene, is also causing so many within the industry to be left behind. Our hope is to give each and every one of them a voice in this census.”
The details that Sound Music Cities gathers can be compared to and contrasted with data collected in more than 20 other cities that have participated in Music Census studies. The information will be available to the public, and is intended to be used in advocating for legislative solutions to the issues.
“The beauty of the Music Census is the truly collaborative nature of it,” MVAN president and former longtime Exit/In operator Chris Cobb notes in the release. “Between other cities, between other studies, and between community organizations here in Middle Tennessee. We believe it's going to be a perfect complement to the data being collected by the current (Metro commissioned) venues study, as well as the previous Arts & Business Council’s Creative Economy Survey.”
An open meeting will be held in early February to set a timeline for the census, including a launch date. The frequently asked questions section on the Greater Nashville Music Census website notes that participants can expect the results to be presented in three reports — a summary, a deep-dive into data and a diversity, equity and inclusion report — sometime in early summer.
