Chicagoland is Music City (#3)

In today's tribune there is an article about the arts and music scene in Chicagoland. Behind New York and Los Angeles (Hollywood) we are number 3.

It's most interesting.

A few things I DIDN'T know.

• There are 190 local theaters in Chicagoland
• 1.8 million tickets are sold to musical events annually
• Nearly 80 million dollars of tickets are sold
• 13,000 musicians work in Chicago
• 53,000 support personnel work along side of them
• Over a billion dollars in payroll in music related business

From the Article:

Despite having one of the most lucrative and vibrant music scenes in North America, the University of Chicago study describes Chicago as "a music city in hiding."

The economic survey, sponsored by the 2-year-old music-community advocacy group the Chicago Music Commission, touts itself as the first comparative study of music industries and scenes in the 50 most populous metro areas in the U.S. It found that Chicago ranks third in overall size of its music industry, third in the number of concerts and fifth in the number of music groups and artists employed.

The report provides ample evidence of Chicago's musical vitality. It says the city is home to 10 times as many musicians as Austin, Texas, which bills itself as the "Live Music Capital of the World." It also concluded that Chicago's core music industry generates $84 million annually and employs nearly 13,000 people in 831 businesses. In all music subindustries, 53,000 are employed and $1 billion in payroll is generated, which ranks Chicago third in the country.

I know there are lots of venues, opportunities and good music going on. I listen at night to Steve and Jonny who feature many of the local musicians. On Sunday Morning Rick Kogan will play local music.

Only the music playing local radio stations don't play any local music. They are owned by guys from New York and LA. Do we smell conspiracy here?