If things go according to plan, we’ll know a great deal about the Detroit area music community later this year.
An initiative called the Greater Detroit Music Census will be running from Feb. 3 to March 3 to gather data about the area’s music ecosystem, including musicians, studios, venues, promoters, managers, media and other aspects of the business. Administered by Sound Music Cities — which has done similar projects for Nashville, New Orleans, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Austin, Texas and more — the census is designed to measure the size and scope of the music workforce and determine its needs, as well as develop strategies and opportunities for the future.
Data in other cities has led to a variety of initiatives on both the grassroots and governmental levels.
“People always ask, ‘What’s the agenda?’ There is no agenda,” explains Sound Music Cities founder Don Pitts. “It’s just data to be used to improve the conditions and the experience … as much about community building as it is about data collection. It’s nice to see these coalitions start to work together and collaborating after the census.”
Sponsored locally by the Detroit Music Collective and Portfolio Medics, the census will be open to music industry professionals via detroitmusiccollective.com/detroit-music-census. Individual responses will be kept confidential. The data will be gathered and collated during the spring and made available to the public as soon as possible, organizers said.
