On January 22, Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT), Music Venue Alliance of Nashville, Belmont University, Broadway Entertainment Association, and Nashville Musicians Association came together to announce the launch of the Greater Nashville Music Census. 

With a call for community partners to join the project, the organizations will be working in partnership with Sound Music Cities, a civic-oriented music policy firm, and joining a cohort of 20 cities across the U.S. seeking data-driven policy solutions to support their creative ecosystems. 

The census, aimed to open mid to late February will collect a variety of data from local musicians, music professionals, music nonprofits, and music venues as it relates to how they both live and work within the greater Nashville area. It will then analyze the results and provide community leaders and policy makers with a roadmap of potential legislative solutions to address what many view as a mounting creative culture crisis facing Nashville. 

“Music is often described as the heartbeat of Nashville and serves as a vital attraction for economic development here,” said Eric Holt, founder of Lovenoise and assistant professor at Belmont University. “But the growth being fueled by our amazing music scene, is also causing so many within the industry to be left behind. Our hope is to give each and every one of them a voice in this census.” 

Diving even deeper into that sentiment, Lauren Morales of the Broadway Entertainment Association said: “The musical culture of Nashville needs nurturing in tandem with the city’s continued growth. We’re excited to gain a better understanding of who we are now and to have the data to thoughtfully affect where we are headed.”  

The census will survey the Greater Nashville region, which includes the 13 counties in and around Nashville. 

“As prices have soared in Nashville in recent years, many within our music industry have migrated to surrounding counties where the cost of living may remain more affordable,” said Kelly Walberg, vice president of communications for CFMT. “Most still proudly consider themselves a part of the robust Nashville music industry, so we feel it paramount that the geographic region truly reflects the current landscape.” 

Nashville joins a national cohort that includes 20 cities and is growing. All efforts are community-led, not-for-profit, and will open source the data collected to anyone interested once the census is complete. 

“The beauty of the Music Census is the truly collaborative nature of it,” said Chris Cobb, president of the Music Venue Alliance of Nashville. “Between other cities, between other studies, and between community organizations here in middle Tenn. We believe it’s going to be a perfect complement to the data being collected by the current (Metro commissioned) venues study, as well as the previous Arts & Business Council’s Creative Economy Survey.”

While data collection is the root of these efforts, coalition building and policy solutions are equally important to the success of this census. 

“We know anecdotally what our current problems are, and we have great examples of solutions coming from peer cities,” said Jamie Kent, local singer-songwriter and founder of Backstage Strategies. “But historically, our industry hasn’t been very well organized when it comes to advocating for itself at the local level. So the bigger a coalition we can build through this census, the bigger the ideas we can tackle coming out of it.”

The Greater Nashville Music Census welcomes all community partners to join the effort and will host its next meeting in early February to finalize an official timeline for the launch of the Census. “Nashville has the most concentrated and diverse musician population in the world,” said Dave Pomeroy, president of the Nashville Musicians Association. “And now more than ever, we all need to be able to communicate, connect, and find our common ground. This census is a great starting point to do just that.” 

To learn more about the Greater Nashville Music Census, to get involved, or to join the project as a community partner, visit <musiccitycensus.com>.