For a metropolis that is so synonymous with music, Metro Detroit is a hard place to be a professional musician.
This is according to new research done to check the pulse of the local music industry. The 2026 Greater Detroit Music Census was a community-led initiative that collected around 2,500 responses from musicians, promoters, venue owners and other members of the industry over a weeks-long span earlier this year.
“We felt going into this that we really needed to get a better handle on the music ecosystem here,” said Kevin Kay, founder of the Detroit Music Collective, which conducted the survey. He has 30 years in the music industry, working for a variety of major labels and in marketing and education.
While he says the survey is no “magic wand,” it can serve as a roadmap to find the weak spots in the broader music community.
“Detroit still somewhat lives in its past and hangs its head way too much on Motown and kind of just leaves it at that,” Kay told The Detroit News last week when the results of the census were released. “We’re not a true music city, if you look at the definition of some of those cities. We don’t have a music office. Our music ecosystem isn’t really strong and we’re not a destination city for artists to move here.”
Artist leaving Detroit means money leaving Detroit, like when talent goes to Nashville or Los Angeles to record an album.
Of the musicians who responded to the survey, 74% said they plan to keep working in the music industry in the next three years, but only 48% said they would “definitely” stay in Detroit to do so.
Kay hopes the Detroit Music Collective can help with these issues and change the narrative to not only keep artists in the area, but also attract new ones.
The health of music venues needs to change, too. Kay said another notable piece of data from the census was that area venue representatives who responded to the survey do an average of 64 events a year, which is very low.
“That ranking put us in the mid-market range, like Wichita, Kansas and Des Moines, Iowa. It’s a huge problem,” he said. “Other cities like Columbus, Cleveland, they’re in the 90s. The ceiling is Nashville; it’s 172 events per venue per year. The mere fact that we’re sitting at 64, that’s a serious, serious problem.”
Kay said he and his partners are combing through the data to find ways to fix the problems.
“We lack a certain number of venues here. Where are those good 500, 750, 1,000 capacity venues? That could be one of the problems,” he said. “The respondents from the venue side said they want help. We don’t have a NIVA (National Independent Venue Association) organization here. They were asking for more education.”
“Venues should be taking advantage of bringing in brand sponsors. It’s a source of revenue that they’re not even thinking about,” Kay said.
Read more about the Detroit Music Collective and read the full results of the census at detroitmusiccollective.com.
mbaetens@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Music census highlights the struggles of Detroit musicians, venues
Reporting by Melody Baetens, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Melody Baetens, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
