The City of Sacramento on Monday released the first-ever study on the local music economy after surveying nearly 1,400 people working in the industry last fall.
Main findings from the study include a need for more live music performance venues, concerns over city licensing requirements making it difficult to open new businesses and data suggesting the scene is more white and male compared to the general population.
The Music Census covers the Sacramento metropolitan area and was conducted by Sound Music Cities — an Austin, Texas-based consulting company — the city and community partners. Creatives, including musicians, bands, songwriters and producers, made up 78% of the participants. But venue operators, event producers, presenters and agents also filled out the online survey between October and November.
Of the creatives who participated, 86% said they have less than four local gigs per month. Jay King, President and CEO of the California Black Chamber of Commerce sings in Club Nouveau and works with local artists he plays on KDEE, a radio station the chamber operates. While the Sacramento area has large live performance spaces like Thunder Valley and Ace of Spades, King said the region lacks venues for local artists. Some artists go to the Bay Area because it has more opportunities, he added.
Even the city’s performing arts center costs too much for a group of Sacramento artists to put on a show, King said. He wants to see the city work to increase the number of both public and private venues friendly to local musicians.
“It has to open up the venues, quality venues that the city has control over,” King said. “Quality venues that the city would allow to be open and in some instances even subsidized so that we can get our arts community up and running.”
The study identified a particular need for more venues with capacity for 101 to 500 people, a category Harlow’s and Cafe Colonial fall under. Julia Heath is the Planning and Community Relations Director of the California Capitol Venue Coalition and President of the National Independent Venue Association’s California Chapter. She said venues of that size create more gig opportunities for local talent and provide space to refine their work.
Sacramento has lost a few live performance venues in recent years, including Starlite Lounge, Holy Diver and Luna’s Cafe, which closed earlier this month.
But the Music Census also found regulations have prevented more venues from presenting live music. Heath highlighted the finding of for-profits only owning 26% of venues in the area, adding that people have little incentive to open a business if they don’t think it will be profitable. To attract more operators to open venues in Sacramento, Heath said the city needs to streamline regulatory processes.
She agreed with the study’s recommendations for the city to create a guide to rules surrounding live music, as well as centralize the process. The city currently offers only one type of entertainment venue permit, which includes bar and nightclub restrictions.
“Something that we as venue operators have been saying for years is that some clarity around the permitting and licensing requirements would really make it a lot easier,” Heath said. “Right now things are kind of divided up into different departments and you're having to do department hopping to get all of your licenses and permits in place, and even then you're probably missing something.”
The report suggests the city could create regulations friendly to small venues similar to how its rules around special events have supported large music festivals such as Sol Blume and Aftershock. Even so, the study noted festivals could involve local artists more.
Mike Testa, President and CEO of Visit Sacramento, said it can be tough to incorporate local talent in national music festivals unless Sacramento-based people are part of the organizing group. Because Visit Sacramento was a financial partner in the country music festival GoldenSky last year, Testa said the marketing organization was able to require three local bands to appear on the bill. It also secured an agreement for $25,000 of the festival’s proceeds to be donated to the local venue scene, he added.
“When you're a financial partner, you have the ability to help make some of the rules,” Testa said. “So, some of those rules were [that] we've got to make sure that local artists have the opportunity.”
Study suggests inequalities in music scene
Based on the survey responses, the study suggests Sacramento’s music industry is more white and male than the region’s general population. Of the nearly 1,400 participants, part of the breakdown was as follows: 59% white, 14% Hispanic, 6% Black, 4% Asian, 3% multiracial and 12% prefer not to say. In comparison, the region is 48% white, 23% Hispanic, 7% Black, 14% Asian and 6% multiracial.
King said he thinks the statistics are incorrect. The survey might not have reached a reflective sample of the industry, King said, adding that artists might not have had time to fill it out.
“I just think that that's just a outreach issue,” King said. “There are a lot of people of color — black, brown, Asian — that are making music right now in our city.”
An annual local music award show could help promote Sacramento’s diverse artists, including those who perform traditional cultural pieces, King said. He added he would like to see the city work with a diverse board to plan such an awards program.
The report also highlighted a gender inequality in survey responses, with 67% identifying as male, 25% as female, 3% as genderqueer, nonbinary or agender and 5% preferring not to say. The portion of female responses is lower than the average of other places Sound Music Cities has studied, including Seattle, D.C. and Austin.
While men are generally overrepresented in the live entertainment industry nationwide, Heath said the breakdown accurately reflects the Sacramento music scene. Some artists assume people running shows are men, she said.
“I've been a venue manager at several different places and in every single place I've worked, I have been totally ignored because whoever on the tour assumed that I was a bartender or that I was the marketing director and I wasn't the venue manager,” Heath said. “So, they would go and talk to the closest guy in the room.”
Women in the local music scene support each other, Heath said, and the non-profit Girls Rock Sacramento works to show young women and nonbinary people there is a place for them in the industry. To follow up on the demographic findings, Sound Music Cities recommends the city consult community organizations and hold workshops to improve inclusion of women and people of color in the local music industry.
The full study results, as well as an appendix on diversity, equity and inclusion data, is available on the city website.
