The Geography of America's Music Scenes

[10023]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

The rest of the top 20 includes: Orlando (home to Disney World, which gave rise to boy bands)

The problem with this list is that it uses only absolute values, while the above should result in a negative value.

[Centropolis]

In the Midwest, I find that when it comes to the larger (like larger than Madison) metro areas, the more isolated, and further from Chicago indie type scenes are more cohesive/better. That would definitely be Twin Cities, the Lincoln-Omaha axis and the Lawrence, KS-Kansas City, MO axis.

[pdxtex]

portland is awesome if all you like is crappy hipster indie rock!! im not hating on rock and roll, just crappy rock and roll and we have plenty of it!!! the decemberists....*shudder*.....

[mrskyline]

No one should be surprised to see Rochester in the top 10. George Eastman (founder of Kodak) was a huge patron of music and that legacy continues today. The Rochester Philharmonic is one of the nation's finest orchestras and the Eastman School is one of the world's greatest music schools. Top music students from around the world come to study there and some stay. With the school's faculty living there, you literally have a concentration of some of the world's finest musicians there. Per capita I would also imagine that there are more school age children taking private music lessons in Rochester than in many other cities. This is a great creative advantage for Rochester, a metro of only around 1,000,000.

[awholeparade]

Originally Posted by brickell

I can speak for Orlando. It's a starving artists dream come true.

1) Performance jobs are a dime a dozen. It's theme parks, yes, but also the numerous hotels, bars and nightclubs. I'd assume it's a similar case in Vegas. All those theme park musicians don't just go home and twiddle their thumbs. And cost of living is relatively cheap. I'm just surprised more stuff doesn't come out of Orlando

2) It's always had a pretty decent local independent scene. I was much more involved in music when I lived there than I ever was here in Miami. Down here it's all dance clubs and DJs. Which I guess is a valid music scene, just not one I'm into.

3) It draws regionally from a much bigger area than the rest of Florida and is relatively young compared to other Florida Metros.

edit: Also I agree it's a weird list. I'm not arguing for Orlando or Miami to have one spot or another. Just defending it a little bit.
Measuring absolute numbers is pretty meaningless, but the top 3 seem right, but maybe out of order. 1 Paul McCartney or Willie Nelson = how many over the hill bar bands playing bad cover songs?

Orlando really does have a stronger music scene than you'd expect, and I really do think that you can thank Full Sail almost entirely.

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by mrskyline

No one should be surprised to see Rochester in the top 10. George Eastman (founder of Kodak) was a huge patron of music and that legacy continues today. The Rochester Philharmonic is one of the nation's finest orchestras and the Eastman School is one of the world's greatest music schools. Top music students from around the world come to study there and some stay. With the school's faculty living there, you literally have a concentration of some of the world's finest musicians there. Per capita I would also imagine that there are more school age children taking private music lessons in Rochester than in many other cities. This is a great creative advantage for Rochester, a metro of only around 1,000,000.

Yeah, all this creates a place with a good concentration of classical and studio musicians. Though this in no way, shape, or form creates a major music scene in Rochester, NY -- and that's what this dumb list is supposed to be about.

And the claim that Rochester Philharmonic is one of the nation's finest orchestras is tenuous, as it can arguably share that description with around a hundred or so others. The nation's finest symphony orchestras are known to be the "Big Five": Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, NYC, and Philadelphia. Other high notables are DC, San Fran, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, LA, Atlanta, Baltimore, NYC (Met), Detroit, and other big city symphonies.

An ex-girlfriend of mine was a cellist in NYC and I had to hear about this shit all the time.

[HurricaneHugo]

Not sure how San Diego made the list but I'll take it.

[BnaBreaker]

The list has it's flaws, but Nashville is definitely deserving of the number one spot, at least based on their criteria. The music scene there is booming, and it goes way beyond country.

[CyberEric]

Originally Posted by HurricaneHugo

Not sure how San Diego made the list but I'll take it.

Yeah, I'm not sure either, I haven't had much luck finding any semblance of much of a music scene in SD.

And Rochester, that is hilarious.

Whatever the ranking, it is nice to see that we have so many good cities for music in the US.

[pesto]

Ah, yes, how could anyone doubt that Nashville has a wider, deeper, more sophisticated music scene than NY or LA. I just heard Dudamel discussing this with Placido Domingo and they agreed that they just don't do opera, classical, new age, progressive jazz, fusion, world music, rock, alternative, ambient, techno, chamber, hip hop, dub, choral, atonal, etc., like they do it on 17th St.

[spoonman]

Originally Posted by HurricaneHugo

Not sure how San Diego made the list but I'll take it.

This may have something to do with the punk/ska scene from the 90's

[Private Dick]

I'm not sure which is more retarded... this stupid Forbesian list...

... or the fact that people are continually tricked by this stupid Forbesian list and cite past music history from their cities as support for their city's music scene, mistakenly thinking that it somehow relates to this stupid Forbesian list.

[BnaBreaker]

Originally Posted by pesto

Ah, yes, how could anyone doubt that Nashville has a wider, deeper, more sophisticated music scene than NY or LA. I just heard Dudamel discussing this with Placido Domingo and they agreed that they just don't do opera, classical, new age, progressive jazz, fusion, world music, rock, alternative, ambient, techno, chamber, hip hop, dub, choral, atonal, etc., like they do it on 17th St.

If you had taken a second to take a step back from the imaginary pain in your butt, you would have realized that their criteria has absolutely nothing to do with the "sophistication" of a city's music scene. The beginning of the article gave the impression that it was. I'll give you that. But the actual list itself was based mainly on the concentration of music based businesses in an area. They're using an extremely limited set of criteria if they're really looking to find the 'best music scenes', but Nashville is the clear number one in terms of that set of very limited criteria.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by ardecila

You can blame Forbes, but Richard Florida should really be your target. These oversimplified lists are just a side effect of his ideas about how cities are essentially interchangeable.

Was he always such a hack? Because I feel like at one time his ideas had some value. I think blogging for The Atlantic has accelerated the hackifcation process.

Originally Posted by Private Dick

... or the fact that people are continually tricked by this stupid Forbesian list and cite past music history from their cities as support for their city's music scene, mistakenly thinking that it somehow relates to this stupid Forbesian list.

Heh. Word. I would think that a city's music history only matters for a list like this if it's left a lasting legacy.

For example, a lot of the record labels and clubs that made Chicago a center of blues music no longer exist, but events like the Chicago Blues Festival continue to make the city important for that genre.

[Segun]

How would one even go about quantifying this? Do they use record contracts, websites, people on the street freestyling?, etc....

[greywallsareboring]

Dallas needs to do a better job at reclaiming its blues heritage. SRV learned the blues in his hometown after all. I hope the restoration of the studio were Robert Johnson recorded and a less-violent Deep Ellum is a start....

[pesto]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

If you had taken a second to take a step back from the imaginary pain in your butt, you would have realized that their criteria has absolutely nothing to do with the "sophistication" of a city's music scene. The beginning of the article gave the impression that it was. I'll give you that. But the actual list itself was based mainly on the concentration of music based businesses in an area. They're using an extremely limited set of criteria if they're really looking to find the 'best music scenes', but Nashville is the clear number one in terms of that set of very limited criteria.

Sorry! What section of Nashville has the opera, classical, new age, progressive jazz, fusion, world music, rock, alternative, ambient, techno, chamber, hip hop, dub, choral, atonal, etc.?

Your comment is like saying Mumbai has the best food district in the world, because there are 500 Indian restuarants on 10 blocks and nothing else.

If you are talking best "c/w and gospel" district, then Nahville makes sense. Otherwise its in a different league. Single A, maybe.

[Boquillas]

Originally Posted by pesto

Sorry! What section of Nashville has the opera, classical, new age, progressive jazz, fusion, world music, rock, alternative, ambient, techno, chamber, hip hop, dub, choral, atonal, etc.?

Your comment is like saying Mumbai has the best food district in the world, because there are 500 Indian restuarants on 10 blocks and nothing else.

If you are talking best "c/w and gospel" district, then Nahville makes sense. Otherwise its in a different league. Single A, maybe.

Pesto, are you not reading his comment? Bna said, "They're using an extremely limited set of criteria if they're really looking to find the 'best music scenes." The criteria is musicians and music-based businesses, and Bna correctly pointed out that Nashville is number one when it comes to THAT set of criteria.

I don't think you read so good.

[Boquillas]

n/m

[BnaBreaker]

Originally Posted by pesto

Sorry! What section of Nashville has the opera, classical, new age, progressive jazz, fusion, world music, rock, alternative, ambient, techno, chamber, hip hop, dub, choral, atonal, etc.?

Your comment is like saying Mumbai has the best food district in the world, because there are 500 Indian restuarants on 10 blocks and nothing else.

If you are talking best "c/w and gospel" district, then Nahville makes sense. Otherwise its in a different league. Single A, maybe.

1. If you think Nashville is nothing more than Country and gospel, then you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

2. Work on your reading comprehension sport.