Research: The values of live music for cities

To properly support the live music industry, it is important to demonstrate the social value of venues and festivals to policymakers and politicians, among others. The focus here is often too one-sidedly on economic value. Recent research by Arno van der Hoeven and Erik Hitters of Erasmus University Rotterdam therefore draws attention precisely to the social, cultural and spatial significance of live music for cities.

The live music sector has been hit hard by the Corona crisis. The months-long closure put pressure on the rich Rotterdam music scene. Before this crisis, however, there were also major challenges, as evidenced by recent research of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, the policy vision Pop of Rotterdam municipality and the vision document from the N8W8. Festivals, for instance, face discussions about nuisance, an overheated real estate market puts pressure on makerspaces, and the income position of musicians is precarious. To ensure sufficient support for the live music sector from, for example, policymakers and politicians, it is essential to highlight the social relevance of this cultural form. 

In the Dutch and international literature, much attention is mainly paid to the economic value of live music as reflected in employment, spending and tourism. However, the other values of live music tend to remain underexposed in this regard. One reason is that the positive impact music has on our social relations and well-being is a lot harder to capture in numbers than its economic value. Moreover, political parties that are normally critical of subsidies are sensitive to the argument of economic impact. However, the other values are at least as important for artists, venues and audiences. Therefore, our study explored how to define and protect the social, cultural and spatial value of live music for cities. This study was done as part of the POPLIVE-project. This is a large-scale research project on the live music industry taking place at Erasmus University and Hogeschool Rotterdam.

Cultural value
The cultural value of live music refers to the essence of this cultural form, which is also called the intrinsic value. If we translate cultural value to an urban context, we see that it consists of three dimensions. First, there is the dimension of musical creativity, which revolves around artistic development. For this, it is important that cities provide sufficient space for musical experimentation, so that new genres can mature. Second is cultural vibrancy, which is about the contribution of live music to the overall cultural offer in a city. The final dimension of cultural value is talent development, which focuses on opportunities for growth and development in the live music industry. For this, it is important that there are sufficient rehearsal spaces and internship spots, for example.

Social value
Social value is about live music's contribution to strengthening social capital, civic engagement and identity. Social capital refers to strengthening social relationships, distinguishing between strengthening relationships between groups from different backgrounds (bridging social capital) and within existing communities (connecting social capital). Social engagement refers to activities that go beyond music, such as the commitment of venues and festivals to sustainability, political causes and neighbourhood social initiatives. Identity shows how live music can contribute to the character of a city, for example by making venues and festivals part of the local heritage. 

Spatial value
Spatial value concerns the relationship between live music and the built environment. First of all, this concerns the use of the city as a stage. The physical place where a concert or festival takes place, for example an old factory site, contributes to experience. The second dimension of spatial value is the contribution of live music to urban development. As, for example, the festival De Nacht van de Kaap shows on Katendrecht, events can be an important driver of area development. Finally, the dimension of storytelling indicates that live music is part of the stories about cities as expressed in, for example, city marketing and heritage activities. The stories about the performances that took place on Katendrecht during the war, for example, contribute to the identity of this place.

Especially in relation to the spatial embedding of live music, many challenges exist. In many countries, venues and festivals are under pressure due to rising rents and urban densification, among other things. As more and more houses are built in inner cities, noise complaints are increasing. In the UK, the so-called Agent of Change–principle came into force. This principle places the responsibility for sound insulation on the newcomer to an area (the Agent of Change) instead of the stage that was already there. This should prevent the disappearance of venues with an essential contribution to the social and cultural life of cities. This underlines how important it is to pay attention to the values of live music in both new urban development and the redevelopment of existing areas. As in Rotterdam, night mayors and night councils are therefore emerging in more and more cities. They perform an important task of raising the interests of nightlife with politicians, policymakers and property developers. The Corona crisis has made that task even more urgent. A strong music sector and nightlife is indispensable for an attractive city.  

Want to know more? Read the research by Arno van der Hoeven and Erik Hitters by clicking on the links below. More information on the project 'Staging popular music: sustainable live music ecologies for artists, music venues and cities' is here find.

Written by Arno van der Hoeven and Erik Hitters (February 2021)

Literature
Van der Hoeven, A., & Hitters, E. (2020). The spatial value of live music: Performing, (re)developing and narrating urban spaces. Geoforum, 117, 154-164. 

Van der Hoeven, A., & Hitters, E. (2019). The social and cultural values of live music: Sustaining urban live music ecologies. Cities, 90, 263-271.