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State Lawmakers Consider Breaks for Music
Big, But How Big?
T en years ago, Georgia's film and
television industry was virtually non
existent. When they wanted to film
on location, Hollywood producers
generally went to places, like Louisiana, that
offered them tax breaks instead of Georgia.
The Georgia legislature passed its own tax
incentives in 2005 and revised them in 2008.
Last year, TV and film productions spent $3.1
billion in Georgia, according to the state
Department of Economic Development.
"Can we do for the music industry what
we did for the film industry in Georgia?" asks
state Rep. Margaret Kaiser (D-Atlanta).
Kaiser serves on a state House of
Representatives committee, chaired by Rep.
Ben Harbin (R-Augusta), that's consider
ing incentives for Georgia's music industry.
The committee held a hearing in Athens in
October???taking testimony from a number of
heavy hitters in the local music biz???and vis
ited several other cities around the state.
From left, House intern Alison Haire, singer/guitarist John Bell, former state Rep. Doug McKillip (R-Athens) and drummers Sunny Ortiz and Todd Nance after the state
legislature honored Widespread Panic in 2011.
It's obvious that music is big business in
Athens???just look around downtown on a
Friday night. One problem in coming up with
incentives for music, though, is that no one
knows just how big.
"I don't know of any studies that have
been done locally," says Ryan Moore, direc
tor of the Athens-Clarke County Economic
Development Department. "To be honest,
that's a good question. We tout the music
industry and its impact, but there's really no
way to quantify it."
A study commissioned by the industry
group Georgia Music Partners in 2011 put the
statewide figure at $3.8 billion. The music
industry employed 8,842 people in Georgia,
including artists, producers, publishers, teach
ers, manufacturers, promoters and record-store
clerks, according to state Department of
Labor statistics. The music industry in Georgia
had an average salary, believe it or not, of
$54,924.
Tourism is a $250 million annual business
in Athens, and football is responsible for less
than 10 percent, says Chuck Jones, director
of the Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau,
but music-related figures aren't broken out.
Still, Jones believes it must be substantial.
"When I travel to places like the Ukraine,
South Korea, they don't know us necessarily
for the University of Georgia, they know us for
the music scene. It's amazing," he says.
Barrie Buck has seen the growth in out-
of-town visitors firsthand. The 40 Watt Club,
which she owns, used to have a "clubhouse
feel," she says. Now, when people buy tickets
with credit cards, she knows where they're
from, and she is amazed at the number of
people she doesn't know who come to shows.
In addition to putting money in the pock
ets of retail, bar and restaurant workers and
artists (well, sometimes), music also creates
a quality of life that benefits other indus
tries, says Brian Brodrick, who runs the public
relations firm Jackson-Spalding's Athens
office. "Three of the most talented people in
my office since we opened eight years ago
have a music background," Brodrick says. "In
fact, they're probably in our office because of
the music scene."
How Would It Work?
While the committee hasn't issued its
recommendations (the legislature convenes
Monday, Jan. 13), the model is the 20-30
percent tax credit for film and TV productions
that have made Georgia the 5th-largest loca
tion in North America, behind California, New
York, British Columbia and Louisiana, accord
ing to Film Works L.A.
The tax credit applies to music videos,
as well as recordings and compositions that
are part of a qualified film, TV or video game
production, according to Lisa Love, director
of music marketing and development for the
Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Love says she doesn't know how many tax
credits have been granted to music-related
projects, but she expects artists and produc
ers to benefit from growth in the film and TV
industries.
Like tax breaks for big corporations such
as Caterpilllar, though, the film credits don't
always benefit the little guy. Tax credits are
only available to half-million dollar produc
tions or larger, and very few artists spend that
much to record an album, says David Barbe,
owner of Chase Park Transduction studio
and head of the University of Georgia Music
Business Program, which trains hundreds of
students to enter the field each year. The
"sweet spot"???what most artists will spend???
is $10,000-$50,000, Barbe says.
Moreso than the film industry, though,
music has been wracked by changes. A gen
eration has grown up without ever paying
for music, instead listening and watching for
free on the Internet. "The music business has
shifted," Barbe says. "It's not going away."
Shil Patel, a promoter with Athens-based
Team Clermont, has watched colleges pull
funding for radio stations and sell their broad
casting licenses. "It's really disheartening,"
Patel says. "Instead of the challenge of how
do we get DJs to play our music, it's the chal
lenge of how do we keep our stations, how do
we make it relevant?"
R.E.M.'s former equipment manager, DeWitt
Burton, points to successful festivals like
Bonnaroo and EDM and hip hop concerts in
Atlanta that flew under the media's radar but
drew tens of thousands of people. Popular
bands like Mumford & Sons make money by
selling tickets and merchandise, not CDs,
Burton says. "Live music, in my opinion, is the
future of the music business, and festivals,"
he says.
Troy Aubrey, the booker at The Melting
Point, pitches funding to market Georgia
music to tourists. "It's nationwide. It's inter
national," he says. "They spend money in our
clubs and stay in our hotels. We need to spend
money to market to them and get them to
come to our festivals."
Another avenue, according to Barbe,
is music publishing, a lucrative business
that's primarily based in New York, L.A. and
Nashville. Songwriters who graduate from UGA
often move to Nashville, making Georgia a
music exporter. "The music publishing busi
ness is incredibly lucrative," he says. "It abso
lutely could be done from Athens."
There's also a concrete component to music
(yes, still), says Tommy Robinson of New West,
Georgia Music Industry Salaries
Promoters without facilities $205,144
Promoters with facilities $163,379
Music publishers $134,374
Integrated record production/distribution $90,114
AV equipment, CD, tape and record manufacturing $74,172
Agents $56,822
Music groups and artists $49,320
Record production $45,117
Instrument manufacturing $35,971
Independent artists, writers and promoters $32,079
Instrument and supplies stores $26,597
Tape, CD and record stores $20,616
Fine arts schools $13,345
Sound recording studios $4,740
Source: Georgia Department of Labor
Biz
6 FLAGP0LE.C0M ??? JANUARY 8, 2014
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