‘NEW YORK BLOG’ By Kevin McManus, Head of UNESCO City of Music, Culture Liverpool
You can make a strong argument that the two greatest music cities in the world are Liverpool and New York.
(Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans may try to force themselves into the reckoning as well, but let’s ignore them for now.)
I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days in New York recently as part of a Combined Authority mission to the US and was keen to explore opportunities to link the two cities’ music sectors to our mutual advantage.
There’s no doubt about it—New York is an amazing city with an incredible music heritage, which is why almost every musician wants to play there, no matter what genre they come from. I’m sure nearly every musician can’t wait to say, “Well, when we played New York…” because there’s a romance and kudos about it that surpasses anywhere else.
My first trip to New York was many years ago when the band I was working with played a legendary venue called The Bitter End on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. We were all a bit awed because we’d seen this very street in a host of films and knew that many legendary music figures had played early gigs at this same venue. To be honest, the ‘romance’ didn’t last long—once we’d finished our set, the stage manager just shouted at us to get our gear off stage as quickly as possible so they could get the next act on!
But it’s true that wherever you look in New York, some sort of music history has been made. Hip hop started here and changed the music world forever. Or, if you go a bit further back to the ’70s, there’s the CBGB’s scene, where the likes of Talking Heads, Blondie, Television, and The Ramones spearheaded the punk/new wave movement that was my first musical passion.
But enough of the nostalgia. New York is still a hugely important centre for the music industry, and I was there to explore what meaningful links we could begin to develop between the two cities. Historically, of course, The Beatles led the British music invasion of the US in the ’60s, and the Strawberry Fields corner of Central Park is a peaceful area away from the city’s noise, home to a memorial to John Lennon. (Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram led a moving tribute to Lennon, laying flowers while a busker played “Imagine.”)
There are more recent success stories, such as Sentric Music, the Liverpool-founded music publisher that still has its HQ in the city but has its North American base in New York. I caught up with the Sentric team there, who are steadily building the company’s profile in the US, a great testament to the fact that you can grow a global music business from Liverpool.
Our delegation had a really useful, practical session with VisitBritain, and we discussed the strength of the Liverpool music brand and how we could work together to grow music tourism to the city.
During the couple of days we were there, we made the most of our time by meeting with key people from the sector. Here, I’d like to extend a big thank you to an old colleague, Vanessa Reed, who has been based in New York for five years in her role as President of New Music USA. Vanessa kindly introduced me to Shira Gans (from the New York Mayor’s Office) and Erika Elliott (from SummerStage). It was a pleasure to meet Shira and Erika, as well as catch up with Vanessa. They gave us so much food for thought and were receptive to developing a meaningful relationship with us moving forward. Hopefully, these connections will lead to opportunities for our artists and music businesses in the US. Artists such as Red Rum Club and Jamie Webster have been steadily growing their profiles in the US over the last few years, and we need more artists to follow suit and see if they can find a way into this potentially lucrative market. From our side, we need to find ways to support this ambition and use any relationships we establish in New York and across the US to help make things easier for them.
Of course, the conversations weren’t all one-sided. We wanted to learn more about what’s happening in New York, but we also wanted the chance to share our exciting plans. We want people in New York and across the US to know that something remarkable is happening here that they should be aware of. There’s a lot to be proud of right now in terms of our music sector and the ambition we’re demonstrating through initiatives such as Accelerator City, our plans to develop a Music Industry Hub, and the vision of an immersive music-based attraction.
Supported by the City Region Music Board, Liverpool’s music scene is going places, and part of our mission is to tell music businesses in the US that if they’re looking for a UK or European base, they should consider Liverpool first.
For more from Liverpool Music City visit liverpoolmusiccity.com