Music cities, or cities of music?

This chapter examines the impact of UNESCO City of Music accreditation on the practice and regulation of sector activity in four accredited City of Music sites: Adelaide (Australia) Auckland (New Zealand), Kingston (Jamaica), and Kansas City (the United States). A continuation of the creative and cultural cities initiatives (Landry 2006, 2012; Florida 2002), the music cities movement comprises a broad spectrum of initiatives ranging from commercial events such as the Music Cities Convention to the leveraging of place-specific music heritages in “Music Cities” branded initiatives. Alongside this has been the emergence of the UNESCO City of Music network. Collectively these Cities of Music sit in contrast to traditionally recognized music cities, which typically leverage the mythologizing of mainstream British and American rock. This suggests the potential for UNESCO Cities of Music to disrupt and counter these dominant mythologies, particularly given the majority are situated in non-English speaking countries. In practice, however, the criteria for accreditation reify significance in terms of commercial activity and cultural heritage. Drawing on discourse analysis and interviews with representatives involved in the application for, or enacting of, approved UNESCO City of Music status, this chapter examines the criteria through which the City of Music status is granted, and how the cities function in terms of regulation, funding, sector operations, and heritage protection.