Statewide series of music surveys needs West Tennessee input
By KATE COIL
TT&C Assistant Editor
West Tennesseans are being asked to participate in the most recent aspect of a larger project aimed at mapping, promoting, and building musical assets across the state.
The West Tennessee Music Census is the third in a series of initiatives aimed at bringing musicians, venues, music industry professionals, and music nonprofits across the region together to gain a better understanding of the region’s music ecosystem.
The survey is bringing together state partners involves collaboration among the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD), Tennessee Entertainment Commission, and Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, as well as regional partners like Visit Jackson and Jackson Hidden Tracks. Officials are also working with the company Sound Diplomacy to help process data gathered from the survey and in-person meetings.
Jimmy Wheeler, TNECD Director of Music Business Development, said the goal is to gain as much information as possible about West Tennessee’s music ecosystem.
"What a music ecosystem study does is a deep dive into a region’s music scene,” Wheeler said. “Music can be a fabric of a community through all its forms, shapes, and sizes. The study itself has four different pieces to it, and Sound Diplomacy does the asset mapping – which looks at all the venues and things going on in the region – and a regulatory assessment. There are two other components to that where we need the community to come in and help us. One is with the music census, and the other is in-person roundtables.”
Participation from local officials is particularly important for both the census and the in-person meetings.
“The music census is for everyone in the region, whether you love music, play music, write music, or own a record store or a venue,” Wheeler said. “We want as many people in the region as possible to take this census so we can get a really good subsection of people to inform us. For the in-person roundtables, we will come into centrally located areas in West Tennessee. This could involve participation from mayors, councilmen, artists, or anyone who wants to talk about musicians, live music, education, tourism, and placemaking.”
Wheeler said similar surveys have already been conducted by TNECD for Northeast and East Tennessee with plans to conduct similar surveys in Southern Middle Tennessee and the Upper Cumberland beginning in March. Wheeler said independent studies were also undertaken by the cities of Chattanooga, Memphis, and Nashville with the ultimate goal of putting all results together in a statewide map.
"Sound Diplomacy will take the information from the census, roundtables, asset mapping, and regulatory assessment and then come back to us with about 20 recommendations,” he said. “We’ll then talk about those recommendations, get feedback from the community, and then put it together in one large report. The long-term goal is to have a database that anyone can access across the state, pull out their region, and see what these regions do. The studies determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and the threats. The idea is really to get a better understanding of music ecosystems in each region and the best ways to maximize those opportunities.”
Recommendations could be anything from adding new venues and event spaces to adding a day onto popular festivals. Wheeler said results from the Northeast Tennessee and Nashville surveys have already rendered actionable items. For Nashville, Wheeler said the survey found high parking costs were negatively impacting buskers on Broadway, leading to the city collaborating with local parking groups to provide performers with free spots.
The results of the Northeast Tennessee Census found a $75.6 million music-based economy and regulatory hurdles to supporting larger venues and expanding genre diversity. Wheeler said the survey found there is enough interest to add another music festival in Bristol and support for creating a centralized space for artists to collaborate and learn about issues such as taxes and business management.
Additionally, the survey led to officials in Northeast Tennessee and in bordering Virginia and North Carolina to establish a group aimed at promoting unique Appalachian music styles.
Wheeler said he encourages officials in West Tennessee to take the survey, engage with the commission, and keep their eyes out for updates on results. He added that officials in Middle Tennessee should be ready for their projects to begin in March.
“We want to come alongside our communities statewide to help them drive economy and bolster tourism,” he said. “Music has a way to do that without breaking the bank. We don’t just want Nashville to be the Music City; we want Tennessee to be the music state.”
For more information, reach out to TNECD Director of Music Business Development Jimmy Wheeler at jimmy.wheeler@tn.gov.