I know that many people who come to PopMatters care about music, but I’d like to make a special request to any of you in or around the New York area, or who care about the music scene in that area. For a while now, NYC clubs have been the targets of city regulations (i.e. cabaret laws), unfriendly landlords (CBGB’s, The Bottom Line), etc.. One of the things that I love most about New York is the music here, so I’m distressed to see these things happening and I started to think about what could be done to reverse this trend and make this area more friendly to the music scene.
After hearing about music commissions in other big cities like Austin, New Orleans, Seattle, Chicago and Nashville, it occurred to me that maybe NYC should also have a commission which advocates for clubs and musicians. The ones in other cities meet and discuss issues with the government and try to set up programs to help local artists.
I’ve already spoken to some club owners, musicians and journalists about this and they think this is a good idea. If anyone reading this likes this idea too and wants to help ferment some ideas on this, please let me know.