RVA vs. NYC: which city is the most musically influential?
When considering epicenters for the discovering new music, people tend to think of New York, Los Angeles, and London as the main tastemaker cities. But a new study that examined Last.fm data suggests that major cities aren’t always the best bellwether for new music. Here’s Hypebot’s rundown of the findings: The study shows that some cities […]
When considering epicenters for the discovering new music, people tend to think of New York, Los Angeles, and London as the main tastemaker cities. But a new study that examined Last.fm data suggests that major cities aren’t always the best bellwether for new music. Here’s Hypebot’s rundown of the findings:
The study shows that some cities appear take a leadership position for certain genres of music. Montreal leads North America in indie music listening habits and Atlanta drives Hip Hop. In Europe, Paris leads for indie music, but Oslo leads for music overall.
Another intersting finding is that the data seems to support that the size of the city does not matter as much as we might think when it comes to being the place where new music is discovered. So you’ll find Richmond, VA and Columbus, OH realtively more influential for new music than New York.
On a related note, last Saturday was Record Store Day. Judging by this photo, it seems the annual event was a boon for local shops.
Related
- Network Science Reveals The Cities That Lead The World’s Music Listening Habits; Technology Review
- The Geographic Flow of Music (PDF); arXiv.org
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Nathan Cushing
Nathan Cushing is a writer, journalist, and RVANews Editor.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
I am not surprised by this, but maybe it will influence some Richmond city leaders to appreciate the local music scene more. Seems like they only care about the S.O.B. (symphony, opera, ballet). Maybe reduce or get rid of the City admission tax?
A couple of years ago I would have said that jazz disproves this, having grown up in RVA and living in NYC for over 20 years. However, I work at the only 24/7 jazz radio station in the NYC market, and I know that at least one band from RVA has made it to our studios. While the majority are coming from NY and Boston, I was delighted that there is a growing jazz scene in Richmond. Something for those of us from the original GWAR generation as we advance in age a bit.