Music truly matters – so how can we plan better for its future?
There are significant economic opportunities if the music industry starts thinking more strategically about how music can address some of the world’s largest challenges
Hi all. The kind folks at Music Ally gave me the opportunity to pen an op-ed on their site. I’ve reprinted it here (with their approval), as it provides a good outline of where the writing - and thinking - on this blog is headed. Comments welcome! - Shain
Over the past decade, I have communicated with governments and economic development professionals worldwide in an effort to convince them of a simple truth - music is, like anything else, an economic good. For those of us fortunate enough to work in the music industry, this is a given. Copyright is respected, royalties are paid, and work is compensated. Yet, this is not the case everywhere. In fact, in the majority of places where people live, music operates more as a utility than an economy, leading much of the economic activity to be labeled as informal or, to translate the rhetoric, something not serious enough to be tracked, taxed, and regulated. While music is a global good, access to its potential economic benefits is not equally global. In fact, in many places, the basic foundations for music to be recognized as an economic good are either nonexistent or poorly constructed.
I find this paradoxical because we live in a world of endless surveillance and digital tracking. Much of the world’s digital dollars are made through tracking usage - people, likes and clicks - and all the technologies we would ever need to ensure that what gets listened to is paid for exists. But what gets in the way is a mindset, a way of thinking about music that, if it doesn’t impact you, is not recognised. But it is there and every day it reduces the potential of finding the next star, ensuring money made from music can pay for rent and bills or contribute to someone’s improved self-worth and mental health.
This paradox needs to be brought from the background to the foreground and dealt with. While music is a universal language, something we all speak and share, it often is restricted from the other universal language that we all share - commerce. Despite living in a world where metadata is infinitely trackable and usage can be registered on a ledger, 47 countries have no CMO of their own, and dozens more have infrastructures that are either poorly regulated, poorly run, or lack political capacity. Despite music’s proven impact as a cognitive development tool, it is not included in educational frameworks, which can - and does - reduce access to it for large swaths of the population. Even though acute healthcare costs as populations age continue to strain exchequers, there’s limited investments in music as a therapeutic for costly conditions, such as Alzheimer's, dementia or depression. And there’s little the music industry, as a collective, is doing about any of this.
I believe that addressing these issues—placing music as both an economic and social solution to some of the world’s most pressing challenges—is a blue-sky opportunity for music. If music is, or at the very least can be, something that can bring people together at a time when most economic activity is focused on monetising actions that exacerbate division, why isn’t addressing these issues head-on seen as good business right now? This is a question I’m asking myself.
Take AI as an example. It is welcome and necessary that the music industry—and other creative sectors that rely on the monetization of intellectual property—push back against tech companies. Yet, alongside that, this aforementioned broader ignorance supersedes and worsens our position: a lack of basic understanding and respect for intellectual property in every country, everywhere. No matter what technological advancement is created to solve the problem, people, mindsets, and local action must change first.
One way the music industry can bolster its position against the unbridled access to free copyright arguments peddled by tech companies is to ensure that, no matter where the art is made, it is done so in a country whose government takes music seriously and enforces systems to register, track, and monetize it. The first step to growing the pie is ensuring it can grow. Instead, we accept tacitly a music industry that isn’t genuinely global. This weakens the position that human creativity comes first.
Or what about accelerating climate resilience? If it is too hot to attend an outdoor show or producing a concert becomes too expensive due to insurance premiums, access to live music will shrink. If someone is forced to leave home due to a climate emergency, the gig tickets won’t be at the top of their mind next week. A potential existential crisis for the sector is possible, and there are opportunities to address it. For example, festivals can serve as unique learning labs to understand how to build better temporary settlements, and those in charge can provide, and sell, expertise. Cities can be reimagined through festivals and events, as is what’s happening in Liverpool right now. If these technologies and ideas were socialised outside of music, such as in discussions about sustainable cities, land-based environmental resilience, or how to quickly and inexpensively set up temporary housing, more investments could follow into music and festivals, further expanding economic opportunities that would increase sector resilience.
What’s needed is a collection repositioning. We must not only believe that music can help save the world, but act on that belief collectively because significant economic benefits can be realised across the board, both now and in the future. Suppose music is further integrated into public healthcare infrastructure. In that case, there will be more performance opportunities for musicians in care homes, whether as therapists or through having their music licensed for dementia treatment. If music were comprehensively treated as an economic good everywhere, we would see more talent emerging from diverse places, improvements in touring infrastructure, and increased demand, which is particularly notable considering that the most significant increase in income from streaming currently comes from so-called emerging music markets.
We need to focus as much as possible on what unites us. This is why I believe music can help save the world, and I will do my best to prove it. In the realms of economic growth, education, climate change, AI, and crisis, there is a role for music - not just as a social unifier but also as a business. Not only are there songs for us to sing together, but there are also opportunities to both do good and succeed simultaneously, right now, together. I hope you will join me.