It may be lost on the elites in Washington, but songwriting is not something that only happens in New York City, Nashville or Hollywood.  Music contributes billions of dollars to local economies in states all across the country and to cities all across those states.

Texas is no different–music contributes over $1 billion a year of economic impact to the City of Austin alone.  Many other states come to mind who are likely similarly situated in addition to California, New York or Tennessee.

A random choice would be  Illinois, Washington, Mississippi, Louisiana, Colorado, Oregon, Georgia, Florida and the District of Columbia in no particular order.  Chicago, Seattle, Clarksdale, New Orleans, Denver, Portland, Atlanta, Miami and DC all have associated themselves with music both culturally and economically.

In fact, one could pretty easily point to some aspect of every state’s economy that gets a significant contribution from music–and great records and…