Music zones in the United States: a typological and geospatial perspective

ABSTRACT This article aims to better understand music zones, which have developed in or near the downtowns of American cities, play an important role for tourism, and have significant economic impact on local economies. The main goal of this study is to propose a typology of the music zone and argue its merits and value. The current academic literature approaches arts districts and entertainment zones as encompassing any forms of entertainment and has been the exclusive domain of the urban development or tourism fields of study. However, this study focuses solely on music-specific zones and their necessary association to the independent music venue ecosystem. A dataset that encompasses 108 music zones pulled from the web, the academic literature, and through conversation with many experts across 27 states and 59 cities that account for 1423 venues is leveraged to map the geographical distribution of those music zones and their corresponding venues across the United States. To further support our argument, two music zones are featured as case studies: the St. Mary’s Strip in San Antonio, Texas and South Broadway in Denver, Colorado.