What's the best city to be a musician/start a band?

What's the best city to be a musician/start a band?

Also best cities for general gigs

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youtube.com/watch?v=298gccT3mL8
cnn.com/interactive/2014/09/health/cnn10-healthiest-cities/
globalnews.ca/news/1827343/b-c-is-the-healthiest-province-in-canada-ranked-3rd-in-the-world/
besthealthmag.ca/best-you/health/canadas-healthiest-cities-2009/
ohsheglows.com/2009/06/28/north-americas-healthiest-cities-where-do-you-rank/
twitter.com/AnonBabble

Seattle

pffft hahahaha
Seattle doesn't care about music or art, it's a bougie corporate city.

You're baked as fuck

London New York Perth

I don't know where else bands come from anymore rock is asswater

no I just live here, and I don't smoke weed anymore. Don't let the street art fool you, all you glasses wearing techies took this place. Soyboy central over here.

Literally every body is either microsoft worker, amazon worker, or a Sup Forumstard, you're delusional. There's maybe 2 good bands from Seattle recently.

There is an article by some magazine I can't quite recall that discussed in detail the Seattle scene. The 90s scene was a result of the the unique flavor the city had up until that point. Once it got popular, a lot of companies started going to Seattle and it became just another big city. Would you say that's correct Seattle bro?

Anyone have experience with Nashville? Is it worth it for a non country musician? Looking at the US music mecas it seems the best option desu. There's Nash, LA and NY. NY is expensive as fuck and doesn't seem to have any opportunities, LA is expensive as fuck, has opportunities but it seems like you'd have to deal with the worst scumbags on Earth.
Nash on the other hand might not be that big, but it's a meca, isn't as expensive and you might even live in a comfy house. Unlike LA where you'd be in a spic liberal hellhole, or NY where you'd be in the classic concrete jungle.

Opinions greatly appreciated anons.

Definitely. Kurt saw where the city and his band was headed. Everything is just a product. Seattle in the 90's had low rent, an active art and music scene, poetry readings and gallery shows, small businesses and cafes. All of that is mostly gone, and most small businesses are being pushed out of the city. Seattle tries to embrace its legacy in grunge, but it's all in reminiscence. And I see the gentrification taking hold more and more every year. Soon people are gonna be commuting from outside of the city just to serve coffee to these dicks.
Yeah you really gotta hustle up here if you aren't a techie.

Portland and New York

Cleveland, Ohio

I would say California is the best state. Any city there would be fine.

come on, chicago lets be honest

How about Miami?

best chance cities desu, Toronto would be cool too

Boston
LA
NYC

Austin TX here
Lots of musicians and a large range of gig opportunities here. If you're starting from the bottom but you're good you'll get picked up by cover bands which in my experience leads to better and better gigs the more you play and the better you get. Good place to cut your teeth. It's also totally possible to just strictly play jazz here, one of my friends does that and has only ever had jazz gigs. He's in South America right now giving clinics and playing festivals. One of chic corea's drummers moved into town recently and plays around a lot. It's not incredibly expensive but it can be if you're not wise with your money. I played 5 nights out of 7 last week and this week 6 nights out of 7. Tonight is my only night off and I'm hitting up two jam sessions and just hanging out and playing music with other musicians. It's cool honestly. If you wanna make some serious money get on that Texas red dirt country gigs. Those pay very well. Corporate gigs pay really well too. Lots of blues and indie acts. Dallas is another dope city, but you have to be really good to get in with those people. Lots of Grammy award winning artists out there and a deep pool of young talent playing massive gigs.

That's the thing, music cities are always the places with cheap rent and low cost of living. I can't think of any US city that fits these parameters these days, it's quite worrisome. It seems like more than ever we're in need of some alternative scene, I don't want to sound hyperbolic but I can't think of another age when popular music was so narrow and boxed. Probably nothing different will come out of LA, NY or Boston, and rent is a big part of that. Until a few years ago Atlanta was an option, but these days it isn't, unless you are a mumble rapper or some shit like that. It doesn't have to be a characteristic scene such as Seattle, just somewhere musicians could make a living would already be wonderful. Is there anything to look forward to?

Are you nuts? California is expensive as fuck, plus most people are way too artificial. Good art seldom comes out of a place like that. A pop star? Yeah. Something new? I'm not counting on it. Not to mention art needs a place where different opinions have a voice, doesn't seem a thing in cali

It's already seen as the latin/dance music center, plus it's too big to spawn something innovative. NY is the only exception I can think of in regards to big cities spawning innovation, but no artist can make a living there these days, waaaay too expensive

How much is the cost of living in Cleveland and Chicago? Is there a general cultural scene to look for? Idk much about Cleveland, but isn't Chicago dangerous af? You gotta remember musicians might live in sketchy areas due to low rent

Maybe. I think the closer you get to LA, the worse it gets, but you'll always have people that are outside the hivemind.

Seems promising, but Austin always seemed like a "insider only" place to me. Am I off the mark? Can some nobody outsider land in there safely? What about the cost of living? Is there something beyond blues, jazz and indie or that's about it? I wish there was more info about Austin online.

I always thought Austin wasnt good if youre a musician like Nashville, a place where most people play music seems like it would be harder to get gigs and stand out.

Isn't LA the only city attracting musicians from other places, though? Going to a place like SF, Sacramento or San Diego seems like a really risky move for artists.

Portland and Austin are just as bad or worse. There's something particularly sinister and evil about corporatising earnest (and ironic) quirky hipster naivete. They basically make money off of a subculture trying to fit in. It makes me sad, though I'm sure the Gavin McInness and Bret Easton-Ellis people among us get hard as diamonds watching naive people being taken advantage of by sly capitalists.

Imagine if this happened to San Fran in the '60s or Athens in the '80s. It would be inconceivable

Idk. It seems like most up in comers in music, even the underground come from a position where they can afford to be musicians and possibly fail. Like the few bands in my area that are making progress are definite rich kids pretending they're not.
Look into staying in outskirts of a major city or in a town away. Portland or Boston might be your best bet. Somewhere in Texas might be a good bet too, like El Paso.
We're probably gonna see a bunch of new acts from other no name cities.

my friends live in nashville and have a studio where they record a lot of rappers. not too sure about rock

(1/2)
I moved to austin about 5 years ago for school and low-key played outside of the city limits for about 2 years (cedar park, round rock, liberty hill, thrall, etc) playing blues gigs with people 3 times my age and then eventually started going to jam sessions around the city (pretty much a jam session every night of the week except for fridays/saturdays) and began to get the attention of other players. Yeah it can be weird at first being new and no one knowing you, but if you play well enough and you're a cool enough person they will let you in to the "circle" if you will. A japanese dude who slays on guitar moved into town a few years back and was gigging immediately because he was so good even though he knew nobody and couldn't speak english. now everytime i see him he's drunk and wearing expensive cowboy hats lmao but still a monster going out on tour often and playing some of the better venues in town.
Dude honestly austin is very forgiving. in other cities musicians will try to turn the beat around on you, mess with you on the bandstand to out you as a "phony" and all this other shit to embarrass you, new york is notorious for these "cutting sessions". here in austin, if you're at a jam session, you'll play your two or three tunes, if you absolutely suck the worst you get is some mumbles and groans but ultimately people are chill as fuck and very forgiving.
What kind of music are you looking for? there are djs playing with drummers doing hip-hop and top 40. my buddy is in a successful hip-hop band, there's country, blues, jazz/free jazz/latin jazz etc, rock and roll and all its variants (metal, grunge, prog, punk) there's room for just about everyone I'd say. I see live music at least 4 times a week and just run into random shit.
granted because there are so many people here playing music and it's a very forgiving place, a lot of the bands have a low barrier of musicianship which i find to be the downfall of the ctiy.

you ever been to austin? i make my living playing music.

(2/2)
don't get me wrong there are world class musicians here, but there's a lot of amateur musicians, which is fine by me honestly because there's so much crap there's a lot of room for really good musicians to pick up the better paying gigs. it's not impossible to make it here. my buddy's hip-hop band started out small and now they're a national touring act with features on rolling stone and whatever other gay ass magazine the general public likes to consume. all of the people in the band (surprise) are way better than the average musician in town. like i said in my earlier post, it's a great place to cut your teeth. I'm personally adventuring into the free jazz/hiphop/soul realm with a buddy of mine I met playing blues gigs. we play blues around town but we create our own shit and eventually want to release a product and tour it.

Isn't Boston overcrowded due to universities though? If something came out of it I'd expect kids that went to Berklee on a scholarship or something along those lines, otherwise it's like the teenagers paying to play at the Whiskey

I'm not at all talking shit about the musicians there, or even the music scene itself, but generally the way hipsters in all varieties are taken advatage of. Things I've read and stuff friends who live (or have lived) there paint it as an idyllic place with a seedy underbelly of corrupt assholes waiting to prey on idealistic young people.

Sorry if I made it sound like the music scene itself sucked.

cost of living, you can live on the east side (ghetto but gentrified more and more) for as cheap as 350 a month plus utilities. I'm living in a house with two roommates and pay 450 and i'm 5 miles outside of downtown. the further out you go, the bigger the houses get, the cheaper rent becomes (generally speaking of course, certain areas are more expensive than others)

austin has so many venues for musicians to play it's not even funny. just about anyone can get a gig here. refer to my post about low barrier musicianship also nashville is much more of a professional vibe. here in austin, musicians live on musician time, so like 15 - 30 minutes after they say they'll arrive. nashville isn't like that. lots of work and lots of different kinds of music coming out of there, country is just the biggest thing they've got. all those dudes playing country don't want to play country most of the time.

>el paso
nigga don't do that

Chicago if you're in the United States.

the way I see it, people come to LA to make money, but in general it's not to make something artistic. The bands you see crop up in the big cities tend to be doing it for the glam and glitter. If you go to a place like Lancaster, then you'll be able to find better music being made

chicago can be expensive but it's not the worst for the scene that is there. On the dangerous front it's one of the most segregated cities and this directly applies to how dangerous it is. just depends on the neighborhood

mmm i suppose thats true, but i think that falls on us individually to see through that shit and live within our means. bottom end musicians make dick but can still live, top level musicians tend to make anywhere between 35k - 65k a year depending on the person and thats only playing music and doing sessions.
my one hipster guilty pleasure is juiceland, fucking $8 for a 16oz juice.

Thanks for the response. The stuff I play is between rock, jazz and blues, and I'd say my main thing is alt rock such as Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead or even The Cure, but I can play other stuff if a gig requires it. I'm always looking for some insider opinion, cause I'm a foreign musician who'll need to get to the US at some point if I'm gonna make a living, the industry in my country is very limited. If I could I'd just go straight to a place like Austin to see what it's like, even more so since you said it's forgiving, but there's the whole issue of a working visa and all of that. I'm gonna audition for Berklee in early February, if I get a good scholarship I'll go and hopefully the student visa will open some doors. I'd rather get straight into the market, but as said above it's not that simple. The student visa is a way to get in the US, really

Anyone know some clubs or venues in Montreal or the west island that are easy to get gigs at? I'm in the process of starting a couple of bands and don't really know the scene on island

We'd be playing different variants of rock, like punk, alternative, etc...

Damn, that's WAY better than I expected. You're doing really well pitching Austin user. If you have more info I'm all ears, it seems to be by far the best option in the US I've heard until now

good luck man
here's the thing about berklee, they will accept pretty much everyone that auditions. why? because tuition is something like 20 - 30k usd a semester and the people who can't cut it, drop out after a year or two and berklee walks off with millions of dollars in tuition fees. it's a very good school obviously but just don't get tricked into spending a fuck ton of money. one of my buddies was one of the only people in the world his last year of high school to get a full ride to berklee for guitar.
youtube.com/watch?v=298gccT3mL8

he's on guitar, the drummer is a sick drummer, also a berklee grad, plays with big texas country artists, and the bass player subs for victor wooten when he's out on tour with like dennis chambers and shit. bass player currently lives in nashville now and makes a very good living out there.

I've really come to enjoy austin. once you meet people, become friends with them, hang out and jam, drink, smoke pot, whatever it becomes like a family vibe. i'm one of the younger dudes on the scene and it took a while for some of the older cats to accept me, whatever that means, and to come up to me and say hi and offer me drinks and shit. you'll meet interesting characters for sure, but for the most part people are cool as fuck and there's a lot of history here. some of the old dudes here have played with serious heavy weights, chaka khan, prince, bb king, albert king, stevie ray vaughn (of course, it's austin) W.C. Clark. Gary Clark Jr casually hangs out at clubs and watches musicians. he walked into a gig I played on a wednesday night and threw $120 into the tip bucket. shit like that. it's cool. the only issues I have with playing on the main drag (6th street) is because it's a tourist destination, the people there are there to get drunk and if you're not happening musically they'll just ignore you. but I've figured out a way of getting people to listen when I play with whatever band hires me that night. if you put in enough energy and passion, people will stop and watch and they will tip.

Anyone know any good music scenes in Australia?

Yeah it's really expensive, thus I'll only go with a fat scholarship, I'm aware it's not exactly easy though. The thing is there are very few gigs around here, so I figure it would be best to do the networking and all of that in someplace I plan on staying, otherwise it's wasted. Thankfully I'm already studying with a school that has a really similar curriculum to Berklee's, my teacher has a degree with honors in performance. I'm taking the time now to do the woodshedding so I can go out and meet people and do gigs once I get there, I've already studied most of Berklee's guitar common core. Of course I won't be dumb to think I'm gonna be some hot shot there, but hopefully it allows me to really squeeze it for what it's worth. It's absolutely not worth it without a scholarship, I have no illusions in that regard.
A while ago I briefly spoke to Derek Sivers via email, and he said that when he went to Berklee in the 90s the money students got gigging around Boston was enough to pay tuition. Oh what a dream

Out of curiosity, how young are you?(since you mentioned you're one of the younger dudes)

Damn. That's a con job.

Do you remember a vegan hot dog place that had pictures of David Bowie hung round the entrance? IIRC, they had a thing where they gave you a free hot dog if you dressed up as Bowie.

Oh wow when I finally find something good among all the K Pop threads it's already on page 5. C'MON Sup Forums, THIS HERE IS THE KIND OF THING THAT DESERVES PAGE 1

Comfy thread anons

Richmond, Virginia. Active music scene, low cost of living.

Never heard anything out of there. Can you name something to look into?

Vienna

wee unsightly man

Toronto is cancer and shit for music.

Carbon Leaf and GWAR are both from RVA, off the top of my head.

that is so fucking awesone.

im fucking jealous.

shit. i gotta motivate.

>Lancaster
Is this a joke? I live here and the scene is hardly amazing

As expected

Been to most cities in Europe and NA and I can tell you that Montreal is among the top for NA at least. I live there currently and there's such a huge scene for every genre, indie in particular.

People who don't like Toronto are usually ugly or poor.
Toronto has a great scene, it is expensive though.

I'm deciding to do community college for 2 years and stay home, what are some good scenes in Florida right now specially near West Palm Beach?

Go on.

Toronto is a meme, it's degenerate, it's expensive, and on and on. I'd rather be a rural retard

Aight, i grew up in Toronto, i live in Montreal now for uni. Montreal is extremely cheap to live in for a musician. The artsy neighbourhoods aren't even that gentrified compared to other cities. There's an insane underground scene with many DIY venues accross the city, with underground raves playing techno, house, afrodance, trap and dubstep (from what ive been to). The indie scene is probably the most popular scene right now. Theres tons of small little bars with some shitty mac demarco copycats but theres some great bands right now.Regardless, tons of great small venues. Also, the city just doesnt give a fuck about anything. You can be or do whatever you want and nobody cares, unlike any other city in NA. Theres also a big noise and drone scene

New yorks techno scene has been rising up its neat

It's also apparently a very architecturally ugly city? Confirm or deny?

Nashville is pretty good. It's within easy distance of a lot of other places as well, memphis, atlanta

toronto, montreal, vancouver, calgary, and halifax are the best cities in canada. specific order depends on personal preference though...
>toronto: financial centre
>montreal: cultural centre
>calgary: nature centre
>halifax: small town vibes
>vancouver: best weather (?) nver actually been but i hear its nice

Toronto has some great architecture, but all of the new condos and such being put up are ugly as sin, big glass monstrosities. nice to live in because theyre clean and safe, but ugly to look at.

see also deny

vancouver is 100% the nature center, literally the most active city in North America.

Calgary is nothing

the only place worth making music in is Toronto or Montreal

>vancouver: best weather (?) nver actually been but i hear its nice
I hear all of the Pacific coast cities (Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, Olympia) have nice weather, if you can handle the rain.

I live near Nashville, have plans to move to Montreal in the future. Should I expect some wife disparity? I like cold weather, so I assume that's a plus. I also like bagels.

I've heard more than a couple times that there are some dark times ahead for Canada due to people like Trudeau, I'd think artists would be especially vulnerable. But hey, I've also heard Montreal and Quebec are somewhat based, so I'll take your word for it, I've only been in Canada once

Big cities all look the same. You might find a unique historic building here and there, but it's the exception not the norm. Don't look for architectural beauty in a modern city. Tbh, if I could I would try to make a living as a musician in Europe, being there really gets the noggin joggin, but it's not exactly practical

>vancouver is 100% the nature center, literally the most active city in North America
>literally the most active city in North America

Whoa, take a step back. It barely has half a million people.

Could you elaborate on these dark times? And how would artists be especially vulnerable? Just curious

Don’t forget us Boeing fags

what does that have to do with population?
I meant active as in physically active, people are healthy

I would venture that calgary has greater access to the natural parks. A lot of the land in BC is privately owned. It also has the foothills and plains for those interested in raising horses etc.

Although vancouver has the ocean, so I guess its a bit of a toss up based on preference. But then Toronto has the lakes...

Alberta's also much cheaper to live in than BC, so that's gotta factor in somewhere. Calgary is a dull city itself, but unfortunately is the best of Alberta imo

I thought colorado was the most '''''''''active'''''''' place

also desu i would like to see whatever research such claims are based on aside from your own conjecture

What two bands?

Asheville, NC is the spot currently. Nice little scene there, quaint quiet and somewhat affordable. Avey Tare and Angel Olsen are two people I know of that live up there. At the end of the day if you have good music and a way to market yourself effectively then you can pretty much make it anywhere. People that fall into this fallacy of "I need to do X thing / buy Y thing and then I can make it" are just going to waste money

Ooohhh see I thought you meant active as in "it's a bustling city", not as in "these people are /fit/"

That's more Sup Forums stuff, but as you can see Trump is an obstacle to some stuff that was going on, while Trudeau is the opposite. For instance, there there's supposed to be more massive waves of immigrants getting in Canada in the future, that summed up with other things puts a serious strain on a country. Also keep in mind 90% of what happens in Canada is in that small area from Toronto to Montreal, so even if most immigrants are sent to city X or Y it will eventually bleed out. And any time a country is even remotely in trouble, free lancers and the like are the ones who suffer the most. My hometown got a lot of immigrants in recent years, people vastly underestimate the effect it has on a city

cnn.com/interactive/2014/09/health/cnn10-healthiest-cities/
globalnews.ca/news/1827343/b-c-is-the-healthiest-province-in-canada-ranked-3rd-in-the-world/
besthealthmag.ca/best-you/health/canadas-healthiest-cities-2009/
ohsheglows.com/2009/06/28/north-americas-healthiest-cities-where-do-you-rank/

Was just about to say this, but at the same time I don't want people moving there and making rent go up. It's already happening...

NC seems extremely comfy, but it seems a bit of a stretch to say it's a better choice than some places that have been thrown around here. If you're looking for a calm lifestyle it might be it, but a calm place rarely pays a musician's bills

I've heard Richmond has some tough neighborhoods, same as Atlanta.

Yeah but it's nothing like Baltimore or Detroit.

Minneapolis/St. Paul is pretty nice. Cheaper, smaller, and safer than Chicago/Milwaukee, but the arts scene is huge for its size. The scene and the people are super insular though so it might be hard starting out.

Brisbane here.
People usually say Melbourne is the best but I've never gone so I can't comment on it. Sydney is fucked due to the Lockout laws and its expensive living situations.
There are more small-medium venues here than large. Also some record stores here get bands to do free instore performances every week to help promote the release of their new album/EP. Some notable bands that have done instore performances include Shellac, Municipal Waste and Courtney Barnett.

try memphis

>Dallas is another dope city

Our music scene is pretty ok. I'd imagine Austin's is greater though. I've been thinking about going to small shows and meeting new people and trying to get into the music scene.

I'm still amazed at how many music shops I passed by when I visited Austin.

New Orleans

Dallas kicked Austin's ass this year. Y'all had a great year. Partaker is my personal favorite.

Moved from FL to Nashville about five years ago. Did music and gigs for years already, wanted to get serious with my own material. About to do a release show for my first EP. Nashville is seriously the best because the standards make you get better or quit, it's the easiest place to meet people you can use/work with, and there's no shortage of great places to play or audience members. But honestly I just as a whole got to a new level as a musician and artist that I never could have if I never moved here. Especially being in the studio with a truly good engineer/producer who's himself on a whole other level.

The only downside is the endless hordes of country dumbfucks who think they'll be the next tay tay if they do enough co-writes.

Didn't see your post. It's getting more expensive by the day in Nashville, expect to live with roommates. Still cheaper than NY and LA but probly by less than you think.

Substratum and Lesbian

Ann Arbor MI

Is this a joke?

w i n n i p e g

Miami, Houston, and New York are fantastic if you rap

Fuck no I'm listening to the Lesbian album from last year right now and it's fucking awesome. Why do you ask?