Music Policy: What Works Across the Country and the Midwest

Music policy and how government and music interact have made headlines more often than usual recently. 

There are lawsuits by the Department of Justice and states against Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, for behaving as a monopoly. Ticket resellers have made the live entertainment experience more complicated to access, streaming services have reduced the ways and amounts musicians are paid, and prices for everything seem to be going up. These illustrate some key ways legislation and policy can support or hinder a thriving music industry. 

In this article, we dig into how state and local policies can support musicians, venues, and music businesses. 

This interaction is more complicated than just finding and supporting talent development. The music industry, and especially the live entertainment industry, intersects with regulation at almost every level. This includes alcohol licensing and sound permitting, real estate development and zoning, and tax policy. 

Fortunately, there can be shared inspirations and solutions.