Center for Music Ecosystems

Last week, we had an incredible time in Abidjan at the Global Citizen and Bridgewater Associates' Economic Development Assembly. There, we announced that we'll be working alongside Global Citizen, via a donation from Universal Music Group, to develop research and data to better incorporate music into development finance mechanisms. This is the beginning of a long-term project that our ED, Shain Shapiro PhD, launched at the event. Watch this space! Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gUhE6G3x

🔈 💿 💫 Welcome to the second part of our LinkedIn series unpacking our work as secretariat and research center for ORCA (Organization for Recorded Culture and Arts). Part 1: The Recorded Music Industry—Where It All Develops The recorded music industry, and specifically record labels, play a pivotal role in shaping the entire music ecosystem. The first part of ORCA’s ‘Setting the Stage’ report—titled ‘The Recorded Music Industry—Where It All Develops’ dives into the economic and creative contributions that arise from recorded music. With 63% of the $41.5 billion in global music copyright revenues in 2022 attributed to the recorded music sector, the role of labels in driving the music industry value chain is massive. This value, importantly, is driven by investment in artists. The IFPI estimates that record labels invested 33.8% of their revenues back into music in 2020. And today, labels spend $3.9 billion annually on directly scouting and developing new artists (also known as A&R) and $3.2 billion on marketing these artists to audiences globally. But it’s not just about financial investment. Labels also bring invaluable non-monetary support. From recording and production, to marketing, distribution, and more, record labels provide the expertise, support, and time to help artists develop their work and build businesses around their music. In Part 1 of ‘Setting the Stage’ we break down each of these areas in detail, showing how labels support artists to build lasting careers. We also provide several case studies  showing how the mix of artist-label trust and on-the-ground work is essential to developing artist careers, including profiling Spanish label Everlasting Records’ relationship with the experimental rock and roll band ‘Guadalupe Plata’, and Secret City Records’ 17-year and counting collaboration with cinematic pop artist ‘Patrick Watson’. ORCA member Justin West from Secret City Records sums up this section of the report and the value add of record labels well: “We create an infrastructure that perpetuates across years and many different artists. When that infrastructure does the same job over many releases and artists, it creates a build‑up of knowledge. You develop best practices that you can't just learn doing it once on your own.” Head over to https://lnkd.in/eP-Qkd_W now to dig deeper! #musicpolicymatters

Kicking off today, we'll be sharing a few posts highlighting the key sections and takeaways from ORCA’s ‘Setting the Stage: How Music Works’ report, which was launched in July. If you missed our earlier posts, the TL;DR is that ORCA—the Organization for Recorded Culture and Arts—is a new think tank made up of independent music labels who are committed to increasing music’s economic, social, and cultural value — it’s membership includes Beggars Group, Because Music, City Slang, Exceleration Music, Everlasting Records, Domino Recording Company, Secretly Group , Secret City Records, Sub Pop Records, !K7 Music, Hopeless Records, Partisan Records, Ninja Tune, and Playground Music Scandinavia AB. The ORCA labels came together based on the belief that creating a better music industry requires understanding the complexity of the music industry and providing simple, effective explanations as to how it works and how it can be more inclusive. To do this demands evidence-based research. At CME, we are thrilled to work with the ORCA as its research partner and to have developed ‘Setting the Stage’. Following from ORCA’s mission, the report presents a comprehensive guide to the music economy and ecosystem, written for those outside the industry. A true deep dive to explain how music works, and enable policymakers, leaders, and more, to better understand the many benefits of and ways they can engage with music. Over the coming days we’ll share a few short posts highlighting insights from the report, and we hope, stirring you to dive in and read through the full report. Head on over to take a read now: www.orcaformusic.com #musicpolicymatters

🔈 💿 💫 Welcome to the second part of our LinkedIn series unpacking our work as secretariat and research center for ORCA (Organization for Recorded Culture and Arts). Part 1: The Recorded Music Industry—Where It All Develops The recorded music industry, and specifically record labels, play a pivotal role in shaping the entire music ecosystem. The first part of ORCA’s ‘Setting the Stage’ report—titled ‘The Recorded Music Industry—Where It All Develops’ dives into the economic and creative contributions that arise from recorded music. With 63% of the $41.5 billion in global music copyright revenues in 2022 attributed to the recorded music sector, the role of labels in driving the music industry value chain is massive. This value, importantly, is driven by investment in artists. The IFPI estimates that record labels invested 33.8% of their revenues back into music in 2020. And today, labels spend $3.9 billion annually on directly scouting and developing new artists (also known as A&R) and $3.2 billion on marketing these artists to audiences globally. But it’s not just about financial investment. Labels also bring invaluable non-monetary support. From recording and production, to marketing, distribution, and more, record labels provide the expertise, support, and time to help artists develop their work and build businesses around their music. In Part 1 of ‘Setting the Stage’ we break down each of these areas in detail, showing how labels support artists to build lasting careers. We also provide several case studies  showing how the mix of artist-label trust and on-the-ground work is essential to developing artist careers, including profiling Spanish label Everlasting Records’ relationship with the experimental rock and roll band ‘Guadalupe Plata’, and Secret City Records’ 17-year and counting collaboration with cinematic pop artist ‘Patrick Watson’. ORCA member Justin West from Secret City Records sums up this section of the report and the value add of record labels well: “We create an infrastructure that perpetuates across years and many different artists. When that infrastructure does the same job over many releases and artists, it creates a build‑up of knowledge. You develop best practices that you can't just learn doing it once on your own.” Head over to https://lnkd.in/eP-Qkd_W now to dig deeper! #musicpolicymatters

🌟 📕 #RecommendedRead We have found the 'Culture after the EU elections: what to expect?' article, by thinktank the Culture Policy Room, to be an useful and digestible overview of the current landscape, unpacking anticipated shifts in EU cultural policy as it enters a new policy cycle. https://lnkd.in/ejmcr-7E 'In a nutshell: The newly formed CULT Committee leans more right-wing than its predecessor (2019-2024), potentially heightening tensions between national cultural identities and European integration. While strong advocates for Europe as a cultural power are few, the Committee’s core consists of centre-right (EPP) and centre-left (S&D) groups. The issue of artists' working conditions, featured in the Commission President's mission letter, appears in several national party manifestos across the political spectrum, with most initiatives proposed by S&D parties. This raises hopes for progress following the European Parliament's resolution on the EU framework for artists. However, only a tiny minority of parties explicitly endorse a consolidated EU approach on this issue. Access to culture is a common concern among parties, though rarely seen as a broad framework for universal access. Instead, many programmes focus on specific aspects, like museums, libraries, or archaeological sites, and target particular groups, most often youth, the elderly, and people with disabilities. A key theme among right and centre-right parties, which together form a majority in the CULT Committee, is the emphasis on their distinct cultural identities. For some, culture is a tool to consolidate and promote national identity, while for others, it serves to resist cultural ‘invasions’ and ‘threats’. Some concrete initiatives, primarily from S&D parties, aim to strengthen EU cultural action, including doubling the Creative Europe budget, boosting international cultural relations, and creating a pan-European agency for heritage management. Meanwhile, other groups in the Committee view the EU as a platform for promoting national identities, with some opposing deeper cultural integration.' #musicpolicymatters

Kicking off today, we'll be sharing a few posts highlighting the key sections and takeaways from ORCA’s ‘Setting the Stage: How Music Works’ report, which was launched in July. If you missed our earlier posts, the TL;DR is that ORCA—the Organization for Recorded Culture and Arts—is a new think tank made up of independent music labels who are committed to increasing music’s economic, social, and cultural value — it’s membership includes Beggars Group, Because Music, City Slang, Exceleration Music, Everlasting Records, Domino Recording Company, Secretly Group , Secret City Records, Sub Pop Records, !K7 Music, Hopeless Records, Partisan Records, Ninja Tune, and Playground Music Scandinavia AB. The ORCA labels came together based on the belief that creating a better music industry requires understanding the complexity of the music industry and providing simple, effective explanations as to how it works and how it can be more inclusive. To do this demands evidence-based research. At CME, we are thrilled to work with the ORCA as its research partner and to have developed ‘Setting the Stage’. Following from ORCA’s mission, the report presents a comprehensive guide to the music economy and ecosystem, written for those outside the industry. A true deep dive to explain how music works, and enable policymakers, leaders, and more, to better understand the many benefits of and ways they can engage with music. Over the coming days we’ll share a few short posts highlighting insights from the report, and we hope, stirring you to dive in and read through the full report. Head on over to take a read now: www.orcaformusic.com #musicpolicymatters

🎸 🎉 Today, we draw our #MusicPolicyResilienceNetwork LinkedIn series to a close, as we put the final plans in place to unveil our new, international cohort in a month's time. More on that soon... We're delighted to now share our research created for and with Whitesburg, Kentucky, focussing on accessibility, and the social and economic value of music and its impact on community health. In the words of our focal point, Valerie Horn at Cowan Community Action Group: "Levitt Amp Whitesburg Music Series was honored to work with CME's Music Policy Resilience Network. Whitesburg is a small city in Eastern Kentucky, tucked into the Appalachian Mountains, it is easy to feel isolated and alone. Being a part of the Levitt Amp Community and this broader Northern Hemisphere coalition has deeply broadened our perspective and awareness while providing proof of concept and possible approaches to common issues. Working with the Center for Music Ecosystems has been a personable and positive experience. The leadership invested in the process to provide the most beneficial and relevant studies to our community. We remain grateful for this experience and hope to remain engaged and support the work moving forward to other communities.” With thanks to funders Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, and case studies Attitude is Everything, Ottawa Bluesfest, The National Academy for Social Prescribing, Streetwise Opera, The Music Forward Foundation and Upbeat GNV for support and inspiration. Written and researched by Brodie Conley and Genevieve Allotey-Pappoe. #musicpolicymatters

🎸 🔈 We were delighted to curate the Policy Dialogues: Music in Local Policy Making panel last week at Reeperbahn Festival. Thank you to all the team for making us so welcome, our brilliant speakers Jett Glozier, Asa Dyradottir, Sunnuva Bæk, Chastan Swain, Simone d'Antonio, Mimozë Veliu for sharing tangible examples of music policy initiatives and their impact on places and communities, as well as to Music Cities Network and our audience for their attention and thoughtful questions. We'll be sharing a series of blogs diving into the work of each of our speakers and their organisations over the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that. 🎙 #musicpolicymatters

🎸 🔈 We were delighted to curate the Policy Dialogues: Music in Local Policy Making panel last week at Reeperbahn Festival. Thank you to all the team for making us so welcome, our brilliant speakers Jett Glozier, Asa Dyradottir, Sunnuva Bæk, Chastan Swain, Simone d'Antonio, Mimozë Veliu for sharing tangible examples of music policy initiatives and their impact on places and communities, as well as to Music Cities Network and our audience for their attention and thoughtful questions. We'll be sharing a series of blogs diving into the work of each of our speakers and their organisations over the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that. 🎙 #musicpolicymatters

Focus on Whitehorse, Yukon (Canada), as part of the #MusicPolicyResilienceNetwork, in partnership with Music Yukon. In the words of Beth Dart, Executive Director... “The Music Policy Resilience Network has offered insightful perspective and an important international community for the work that we undertake at Music Yukon. It has connected us with other remote music centres, provided tools and insight to assess and streamline our priorities, and given us tangible research to use in advocating for our musicians and music industry. The work that MPRN and the Centre for Music Ecosystems are undertaking comes at a critical moment for music, when creative and longterm solutions are required to improve access to market, build thriving music cities, and improve quality of life for local residents in remote locations. We are grateful to continue to collaborate with MPRN.” Whitehorse is a well-established tourist destination, so effectively communicating the benefits of live music and promoting local artists to both businesses and local government will arguably pave the way for greater opportunities for artists, whilst creating a positive feedback loop for the entire community. Read our full, published PDF report below. With thanks to our international best practice case studies, Ancienne Belgique - AB (Brussels, Belgium), Gut Level (Sheffield, UK), Gretchen (Berlin, Germany), PRS Foundation, Manitoba Music and Edmonton Arts Council for sharing their time and expertise with us! Written and researched by Angharad Cooper. https://lnkd.in/eY9Zv8u3