ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how and where popular music policy has been linked to policies that have come to be included within 'creative' or 'cultural' industries and economies. This involves the examination of how such discourses and policies work at and through the levels of city governance and activity. While cities have always exploited their economies of scale in terms of people, resources and experiences, making themselves hubs of cultural and artistic life, the trend towards an explicit branding of city cultural life has been profound in the last two decades. The success of music quarters or precincts has become an aspect of city policy aimed at helping urban transformation, employment boosterism, industrial synergy or all three. The chapter also examines three cities, Wellington, Glasgow and Melbourne, that enjoy considerable reputations for popular music activity and discusses how their success is incorporated in music and cultural policy.
