Belmont Study Shows Impact of Music Industry in Nashville

A Belmont University study released (today/yesterday) says the music industry generates nearly 6-and-a-half billion dollars a year in Nashville and 11 surrounding counties, providing 54-thousand jobs and 75-million dollars in tax revenue.

At the request of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Belmont volunteered to conduct the study two years ago. It shows the music industry generates more revenue in Nashville than in cities like Austin, Seattle, Memphis and the entire state of Georgia.

College of Business dean Patrick Raines says people can now safely refer to Nashville as “THE” Music City. But, he admits the study didn’t include cities like New York and Los Angeles because measuring the local economic impact of music in those cities would be too hard.

“I hope we’re not confusing anyone. What we simply set out to do was to show the total economic impact of the music industry. That is our brand. We are trying to leverage our brand certainly as music city, and to make it clear to everyone that Nashville is, I like to think of it as, the ‘Silicon Valley’ of creative talent.”

Raines says he hopes the study will encourage more song writers and musicians to call Nashville home. He says if the study can do that, it will also benefit the university. Almost half of Belmont’s students either major in music or in music business.