The state that produced James Brown, the Allman Brothers, Ray Charles, Outkast and a litany of other great names should invest more in music, its biggest “cultural export.”
That’s according to Tammy Hurt, managing partner of Placement Music and vice chair of the Recording Academy, who is helping lead the effort to build its GRAMMY Museum in Atlanta and lobbies through Georgia Music Partners for policymakers to better recognize the impact of music and the arts on the state’s economy.
In her view, it’s vastly under-appreciated — especially given the size and diversity of the landscape here. Atlanta is not only a hiphop mecca, but also a hotbed for country. The city’s symphony orchestra has won 27 GRAMMY awards. And the film and video game sectors — huge consumers of musical output via scores and soundtracks — are thriving across the state.
During a pandemic, many musicians lost a financial lifeline, Ms. Hurt said, as live performances make up some 75 percent of their paychecks. Streaming, while climbing, hasn’t nearly made up the difference, she said during a discussion on “Empowering Cities Through Music” with the World Affairs Council of Atlanta Jan. 28. [Watch the full video here, or subscribe to the Council’s YouTube channel]
At the same time, humanity is recognizing anew the power of music as a uniter, especially at a time of adversity.
“Music is for everyone. You’d be hard-pressed I think of people who don’t identify something in their life with a song or a soundtrack. We start our lives with music, we end our lives with music and everywhere in between. It’s essential,” she said.
“Essential” has a new connotation these days; it’s how society has begun to refer to the workers who keep the world spinning, whether it’s by delivering groceries, manufacturing medical gear or treating those who fall ill.
Ms. Hurt believes music fits the bill, as much as sports, which are widely recognized for their positive effects on physical and mental health as well as their economic potential.
“We have to make that same case for music,” Ms. Hurt said. “If we need something, we create systems, structures and policies to facilitate, protect it and pay for it. Now is the time to be having these conversations because music is economic development,” she said.
Cities that don’t recognize this fact will fall behind in the global creative economy, she said, and those that win will be those that become hospitable to creators.
Fulton County offers a case in point, she said. In a landmark study Sound Diplomacy, a consultancy that aims to help cities craft strategies to capitalize on their creative sectors, calculated that music — from recording studios to now-quiet entertainment venues and restaurants — had a $1.6 billion impact, accounting for more than 10,500 jobs. Per capita, that amounts to a greater output than New York City.
Georgia’s legislature passed the Music Investment Act in 2017, installing a tax credit of up to 20 percent of the production costs for works created or launched here.
But Ms. Hurt and Georgia Music Partners believe the credit should be revamped if it is to achieve catalytic effects in music similar to those brought to the’s state’s booming film sector.
The credits are only good against Georgia income tax liability, which makes it less hospitable to producers outside the state, and it can’t be transferred or sold for cash like the film tax credits can. Producers also must meet minimum spending thresholds that vary based on the type of work, from $100,000 in general to $500,000 for theatrical productions. The music credit also has an annual spending cap of $15 million until it sunsets in 2023, while the film credit has no cap. An effort is afoot to change many of these critical provisions via SB 441, introduced by State Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga).
During a discussion on the arts and economic development hosted by Pendleton Group and Global Atlanta, Ms. Hurt said the state will be well positioned to take off with a revitalized incentive and more focus on weaving the segments of the state’s massive creative sector together for mutual benefit.
“We talk about music being Georgia’s greatest global creative export — the impact that music from Georgia and especially from Atlanta has on the world and the culture is more recognized outside our city than it is internally. We always look for ways to leverage that to have those conversations on how we can all work together, which is going to be the rising tide that raises all ships,” she said during the Pendleton forum in November.
Ms. Hurt, a longtime drummer herself, added that music will help drive education and workforce development as well, noting that the GRAMMY Museum will be focused on supplementing schools’ underfunded music programs 300 days out of the year, utilizing the physical space and new virtual options that have been developed during the lull afforded by the pandemic.
“We want the programs that we roll out with the GRAMMY museum before we put the first shovel in the ground.”
Watch Ms. Hurt’s comments from during the Pendleton Group Reframing Resilience event here:
View the full Sound Diplomacy study of Fulton County’s music ecosystem here.
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