Dallas named second-worst American city for live music
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Marc Anthony on stage at American Airlines Center last year. Photo: Omar Vega/Getty Images
Dallas is one of the worst cities in America for live music, according to new data from Clever, a real estate research firm.
Driving the news: Using public data from the U.S. Census, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Google Trends, a list published this month ranks Dallas as the second-worst live music city among the top-50 metro areas in the country and the fifth-worst city for music overall, as first reported by the Dallas Observer.
Why it matters: North Texas has been a boon for up-and-coming musicians over the last few decades, producing a plethora of national stars in multiple genres, including Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Post Malone, Leon Bridges, Norah Jones, Maren Morris and Erykah Badu.
- The area has also sprouted critic darlings like St. Vincent, Charley Crockett and Joshua Ray Walker.
- North Texas has also been a historic music haven, home to slightly older acts including Steve Miller, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Edie Brickell, Tevin Campbell, Vanilla Ice, Meat Loaf, the Old 97’s and T-Bone Walker — who was sometimes billed as Oak Cliff T-Bone.
The big picture: A spokesperson for Clever told the Observer that Dallas ranked so low because the average price of tickets for major shows in Dallas is $158, there are too few concert venues and the area lacks music festivals.
Context: Local venues have long complained about the high-paying casinos on the other side of the Oklahoma border having big-name performers sign non-compete clauses that prevent them from playing in Dallas.
- The economics of the local music scene are rough in general. Joshua Ray Walker told Axios last year that even with his surging popularity, he’d be happy to make $60,000 in a year.
Zoom out: Austin was ranked first for live music and fourth overall, largely because of its huge number of musical festivals.
- Three of the bottom ten cities are in Texas, with Houston and San Antonio ranked just behind Dallas.
What they’re saying: Musician Adam Pickrell, who is also Nelly Furtado’s musical director, told the Observer that the list ranking Dallas so low is “shallow and pedantic.”