Artists can record, collaborate and release music internationally without living in a traditional music industry hub. That flexibility changes the role of location, even as live venues continue to bring performers and industry professionals together.
Where industry connections developed
Los Angeles, New York, Nashville and London became music centers by concentrating the businesses and relationships that supported artists’ careers.
Television composers benefited from proximity to production work. Songwriters could find publishers and performers seeking material, while recording contracts, management, studio work and session opportunities depended on nearby professional networks.
Before the internet enabled routine remote collaboration, building those relationships often required meeting in person. Manhattan studio lobbies and control rooms served that purpose through the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.
Those cities retain substantial industry infrastructure. Los Angeles has an extensive music business, while Nashville brings together songwriters, publishers, studios and musicians, including many who relocated from Los Angeles.
New York and London remain cultural and commercial centers. High Manhattan rents have also prompted artists to move to upstate New York.
Venues as professional meeting places
The Troubadour in Los Angeles, The Bitter End in New York and The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville connected live performance with the people who could offer further work.
Their audiences included managers, publishers, producers, record company staff and established musicians. A performance could lead to another opportunity when someone with the relevant connections was present.
At CBGB in New York during the 1970s and 1980s, neighborhood music executives attended shows and signed bands. The Bitter End played a comparable networking role and continues to do so to some extent.
The Bluebird Cafe became part of Nashville’s songwriting community, placing writers close to publishers, producers and artists who might use their songs. Tourists also visit hoping to see an established artist make an impromptu appearance.
These clubs combined several functions:
- Live performance spaces and places to test material.
- Meeting points for artists and industry professionals.
- Networks through which musicians could find collaborators and work.
Access to those rooms did not guarantee discovery or employment. Their role rested on bringing performers and potential professional contacts into the same space.
Recording across locations
An album can now involve composition in one location, musicians recording elsewhere and orchestration handled remotely. Files can then go to mixing and mastering engineers in another city before the finished release reaches listeners worldwide.
That process allows collaborators to complete a project without most of them ever sharing a room, reducing the need to base an entire recording career in a single industry center.
