What makes a city a “music city”? I’ve spent the better part of the last five years trying to answer that question — attending conferences, visiting cities, consulting for governments, and reading everything I can find on the subject.
Here’s where I’ve landed.
The Standard Definition
Most people define a music city purely by outputs: famous musicians born there, number of venues, size of festivals. By that measure, cities like Nashville, Liverpool, Detroit, and Austin qualify easily.
But that definition is backward-looking. It tells you what a city was, not what it is or what it’s becoming.
A More Useful Definition
A music city is one where the entire ecosystem — musicians, venues, labels, promoters, educators, government, media, and fans — works together in a way that makes music both culturally central and economically sustainable.
Note that this definition doesn’t require famous exports. A city can be a genuine music city without producing a global superstar. What matters is the health of the ecosystem.
The Five Elements
Based on my research and fieldwork, a functioning music city ecosystem requires five things:
- Infrastructure — venues of all sizes, rehearsal spaces, recording studios, educational institutions.
- Policy — local government that understands music’s economic and cultural value and acts accordingly.
- Community — a connected scene where musicians, industry professionals, and fans interact regularly.
- Economy — enough money flowing through the ecosystem to sustain careers at multiple levels, not just superstars.
- Identity — the city sees music as part of its core identity and communicates that to the world.
Why This Matters for Indonesia
Indonesia has dozens of cities with vibrant local music scenes. But almost none of them have developed the ecosystem thinking needed to become genuine music cities. The opportunity is enormous — but it requires moving beyond “let’s build a festival” toward “let’s build an industry.”