The city of New Orleans is America’s music capital, and perhaps the world’s. Musical magic flows from Crescent City bars and nightclubs, and often spills out into the streets. The city is a great place to enjoy festivals, and it’s also a place where artists come from all over the world to play gigs alongside the greats, work on their musical chops, and generally gather inspiration. But largely, most major industry functions don’t happen here, and New Orleans’ musicians very often don’t make the money they deserve.
The Idea Village’s Metronome accelerator program for music business aims to change that.
“We’re a non-profit impassioned with helping founders create companies based in New Orleans. We’re very focused on helping investors raise capital investments,” said Megan Balch, the program director running the accelerator programs for the Idea Village organization “We’ve been trying to identify if we have industry clusters, and it does feel like there is a good opportunity for music technology to have a home in New Orleans. We think we could make a real hub for innovation here.”
Metronome started after GNO Inc. commissioned a study, called New Orleans Music Economy (NOME), to identify what it would take to level up the music industry in New Orleans. The study identified a roadmap to success for this. The Metronome project is the first reaction to that report, with hopes to help artists with their music business skills
As a specialized track inside the ten-week Metronome program, entrepreneurs will have access to an industry-focused mentor, specialized workshops, access to dedicated coworking space, highly curated coaching sessions, and ongoing peer-to-peer connection opportunities. Entrepreneurs will learn to go from idea to venture-ready in areas including recording, streaming, booking and artist management, licensing, publishing and royalties, music-focused legal aid, and soundtracking video games.
Born and raised in the city of New Orleans, Lou Hill has been in the music industry for more than 25 years. As founder, songwriter and drummer for the Billboard Top 20 charting band Water Seed, and former head of marketing for Louisiana Red Hot Records, he is now heavily involved in helping the growth of the New Orleans’ music industry. “Years ago they put together a panel of industry whos whos and that was called NOME and that project was designed to do a case study to determine how can we get New Orleans musicians and the the music business and economy supporting musicians and seen as a viable business, beyond the concept of playing a gig or going on tour; record labels, PR firms, how do we generate those things here?” Hill said.
An advisor and mentor who now helps with the Metronome accelerator, Hill said, “Metronome is the active version of that study. The impact music has on the whole state is massive, so we’re putting rubber to the road and trying to build that economy in New Orleans with GNO Inc and Idea Village. You apply to be in the accelerator program, then you’re picked and go through an eight week course and by the end you’ll have your stuff in order.” Hill said they’ve received over 50 applications so far.
“When I came up in music we were making a lot of money in the late 90s,” recalled Hill. “But the money that was made then–usually $100 per band member for a 90 minute set–is the same amount that’s made now, which today is like the equivalent of $20. The bands who get top dollar put the work into their intellectual property.”
GNO Inc’s New Orleans Music Economy Initiative previously launched its Music Industry Career Development University Partnership Program, otherwise known as MIC’D UP which, not unlike Metronome, aims to help keep New Orleans musicians from moving away to bigger cities in order to “make it.” MIC’D up helps implement music business programs in local universities, plus hook local musicians up with managing agencies, mentors, IP managers, publishers, marketers, and legal representatives.
And yet, local musicians still continue to struggle.
Though the Metronome initiative includes time set aside to educate musicians on issues surrounding live performances and touring, some musicians who’ve gigged in New Orleans for decades feel a bit cynical with programs that frame music mostly as a business. “Most business ideas really seem to be about promoting music business, not music itself,” explained veteran New Orleans guitarist Jonathan Frielich, who doesn’t love music being treated as “general content for business exploitation.”
“On a more supportive note,” Frielich continued, “I’d like to say that times are not so easy, and something that enables more people to make a living is a benefit since we are facing down a lot of poverty and aimlessness in our music scene.”
OffBeat magazine owner and publisher Jan Ramsey feels similar to Freilich but added that Metronome might be a great vessel for teaching musicians to tap into higher paying situations than just gigging at local bars and clubs. “The initial NOME study determined that musicians are not getting paid because their music isn’t getting played in other media, movies, commercials,” said Ramsey, a dedicated proponent of music business here in New Orleans for almost 40 years. “There’s a real divide between the creator and the business people who have the ability to put music into media that will pay residuals. But none of those people are here; they’re in L.A., New York, maybe Nashville. Getting music placed by a publisher is key to this idea of generating money for local musicians, and not many musicians have the ability to do that.”
“The whole point of Metronome is to teach musicians different ways to empower themselves.” Hill said. “I want to empower the musicians to make more money when they play around town or go out into the world on tour.”
While these types of programs sound promising, and are generally warmly received, most folks engaged in New Orleans’s music economy would hope you still remember to attend local shows and, as always, put some money in the band’s tip jar. Let’s keep the musical magic of New Orleans flowing.
