While much attention is paid to high-tech industries, we believe the study of entertainment industries also provides insight into what make the idea-driven creative economy tick. This project includes an effort to develop data and research on the organization and geography of the music business in the 20th and 21st centuries. The end result will be a scholarly examination of the economic, geographic, and social history of popular music.

WORKING PAPERS
That’s Entertainment: Scale and Scope Economies in the Location and Clustering of the Entertainment Economy
April 2009
by Richard Florida, Charlotta Mellander and Kevin Stolarick

Sonic City: The Evolving Economic Geography of the Music Industry
Revised March 2009
by Richard Florida and M. Scott Jackson

Music for the Masses: The Economic Geography of Music in the U.S., 1970-2000
Revised February 2009
by Richard Florida, Charlotta Mellander and Kevin Stolarick

Music Clusters: A Preliminary Analysis
February 2008
by Richard Florida and Charlotta Mellander

WHAT WE’RE READING
Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry
A book by Peter Tschmuck, professor at the Institute of Culture Management and Culture Studies (IKM), University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.

Future of Music
A blog by Dave Kusek, co-developer of the MIDI standard and V.P. of the Berklee College of Music.

Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are
The New York Times Consumed columnist looks at the convergence of marketing and culture in contemporary life.

IN THE MEDIA
Why making the scene makes good cents for the rest of us
Artists are free to live and work almost anywhere, yet they tend to gravitate to places where they can rub shoulders. Who cares? Anyone interested in fostering conditions that lead to prosperity.

In Business on BBC Radio 4
Richard Florida says the seeds of Detroit’s rebirth lie in understanding how it has generated great musicians like Stevie Wonder and the MC5 (at 11 minutes) and talks about what innovative start-ups can learn from innovative bands (at 20 minutes).

THOUGHTS FROM THE BLOG
Music Space May 2009
The Value of an Artist April 2009
The End of Hollywood March 2009
Youth Entrepreneurship in the Creative Age February 2009
Quo Vadis: Humanism, Creativity, and Vision February 2009
Musical Spikes: One of These Things Doesn’t Belong Here February 2009
Rockonomics January 2009
N-Gen Music: Mash-up Mania December 2008
Collaboration Beyond Consensus in the White House December 2008
Fat Head November 2008
Making a Place with Community Radio October 2008
Russell Simmons Gets Spiky October 2008
Arts, Culture, and Economic Growth September 2008
The Urban Style Exchange August 2008
The House that Chicago Built August 2008
Declining Rock Star Index August 2008
The Semiotics of the Streets August 2008
The Shadow of Manhattan August 2008
Creative Class Nightlife August 2008
Live – The Next, New Thing July 2008
Virtual Meet Physical March 2008
Creative Control March 2008
Music Biz March 2008
Canada’s Creative Climate – Music Edition February 2008
Global Pop February 2008
World Music February 2008
Music Clusters February 2008
Music and Economic Development February 2008
The Downside of Scenes February 2008
The Year in Music January 2008
Music and Politics January 2008
Music Models December 2007
Musical (Instrument) Innovation December 2007
More Music December 2007
Understanding the Radiohead Economy December 2007
Music and Class October 2007
Can the Music Business by Saved? September 2007
Why Place Matters – to Music September 2007
Norwegian Invasion May 2007
It’s Only Rock and Roll… March 2007
Music, innovation and creativity January 2007
Alternative Classical Music Scene November 2006
‘The new ambassadors’ November 2006

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO
Fever Ray – Fever Ray (Rabid)
Black Moon – Enta Da Stage (Wreck)
Various Artists – Jamaica to Toronto: Soul, Funk & Reggae 1967-1974 (Light in the Attic)
Golden Dogs – Big Eye Little Eye (True North)

TEAM
Richard Florida, Director
Kevin Stolarick, Research Director
Charlotta Mellander, Research Director of the Prosperity Institute of Scandinavia
Daniel Silver, Assistant Professor, UTSC Department of Social Sciences
Brian Hracs, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto
Ian Swain, Research Associate
Kwende Kefentse, Student & Journalist

CONTACT
Ian Swain, Research Associate
Telephone: (416) 673-8583
Email: ian.swain@martinprosperity.org