New Orleans joins national effort to promote music investment

The big picture: The Association of Music Offices formally launched Monday at the Music Biz 2026 conference in Atlanta.

• The group plans to develop a data framework to quantify impact, build community engagement models and create a resource library for music offices.
• Nationwide, the music industry adds $212 billion to America's GDP, supporting 2.5 million jobs, according to 50 States of Music.

Zoom in: Music offices support local music economies by working with artists, venues, businesses and government to help shape policy, programs and investment.

• There are enough civic music offices across the country that it made sense to form an association instead of just running into each other at events, Huntsville Music Officer Matt Mandrella told Axios.
• New Orleans' Office of Nighttime Economy and Louisiana's Office of Cultural Development are among the 14 founding members.
• Other groups are in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. The Recording Academy is a member, too.

Zoom out: "A lot of times it becomes our job to make decision-makers understand that so much of our industry is invisible," Reid Wick, the Recording Academy's director of regional advocacy and member engagement, told Axios. He's based in New Orleans.

• The average person attends a show and sees a handful of people on stage, he said, but there may be 800 people working behind the scenes.
• "It's time that we treat the music industry like any other industry," Wick said, noting that the film industry has had similar organizations for decades.

The bottom line: "Some people are foodies, some are into sports, some are into music," Mandrella says. "Having music in a community really, really helps."