The Emerald City has a hard-earned reputation for building and sustaining one of the strongest, most nimble, and evolving music ecosystems in the United States. This is the result of decades of collaborative labor to identify challenges and opportunities, support members of the ecosystem, engage with policymakers and businesses and generally remain vigilant in support of the scene. Not everything is perfect, however, as the Seattle ecosystem navigates all of the same challenges facing every American market. In this roundtable, a mix of Seattle area music champions share their vision of what’s working, what could or should work better, and where our music ecosystems are facing crisis points that require government intervention.

This region has a hard-earned reputation for advancing music policy at all levels of government. In this fast moving presentation, officials from the City of Seattle, King County and the State of Washington will provide short presentations to provide insight into WHAT State and Local government is doing and WHY they are doing it.

For nearly a decade, the Music Policy Forum has pursued stronger, more equitable, and more resilient music ecosystems by fostering collaboration and best practices among different stakeholder communities. In this first fireside chat, MPF co-founder Michael Bracy will reflect on how far we have come and how our community can continue to engage with short, medium, and long-term challenges and opportunities facing our music communities.

The public sector’s understanding of music ecosystems and the significant advances in public policy are due in large part to a new generation of music stakeholders that are taking on roles in all levels of government. These public servants are bringing their lived experience as musicians and music stakeholders directly into the halls of power, creating opportunities to effect change from the inside. What has been their experience working in government and how can we inspire more music stakeholders to take that leap?

Future music ecosystems can’t be imposed by older generations; they have to reflect the values and passions of emerging artists, entrepreneurs, music workers and fans. Current college aged students are the first generation to come of age with smartphones and streaming including global distribution with the click of a finger and the entire history of recorded music available on demand in their pocket. Organizations like the Vera Project, Totem Star and Youth on Record are creating pathways for young creatives to move into leadership roles in music. The challenge for older generations is to avoid the temptation of building new models that replicate the flawed structures of the past, while the challenge for younger generations is to embrace the spirit of community and collaboration that undergirded many historic musical movements and alternative economies. In this session, we will hear a variety of perspectives on expanding our imagination about the future of music.

The positive relationship between access to live music and overall emotional health, happiness and sense of community is well documented. In the United States, the live music ecosystem truly is a tale of two business models and missions: a profit-driven model that is generating historic levels of revenues and an independent model that serves a very different purpose. For many reasons, the ecosystem of independent festivals and venues is under significant economic strain, threatening the long-standing “ladder of venues” that is widely recognized as the key to a healthy live music ecosystem. Ironically, in many American cities it was the very success of these spaces and gatherings that led directly to economic growth and development - factors that directly threaten the economic viability of these spaces.What is the state of play with these venues and festivals? What’s their role in creating access to live music AND ensuring artists make a decent living? How can stakeholders shore up this ecosystem? What are we willing to do to prevent the tangible impact of losing independent venues and music festivals?. 

Conferences can be good vehicles to share deep thoughts and broad concepts - but we also need to be grounded in the hard-core reality of what success or failure could look like. We will close the day with a series of eight minute presentations about actionable opportunities to align the priorities of policymakers, music ecosystems and the general public toward specific, meaningful actions.