04/30/2026
5 Simple ideas that might significantly alter the St. Louis "music scene" without any seismic shifts in philanthropic spend or municipal economic risk.
St. Louis claims to be part of American Music Royalty, next to Chicago, New York, New Orleans, and Nashville. But context matters. In Ken Burns eyes... yes. In Jimmy Lovine's... no.
Enough with the opinions, how about some ideas???
5 suggestions:
1- Court 5 publishing companies with free rent for "X" period of time. Our non-profit community has loads and loads of real estate. Offer up a corner, access, and insight to the market, for free. If Warner Chapel, BMG, Kobalt, Concord, Pulse, etc. simply have St. Louis on their locations tab... win. If they actually come here and find the talent we know exists... they'll ask for more square footage. Everybody wins.
2- Fully fund CRSTL Radio. The "new" KDHX. I don't want to relitigate the old KDHX and that fallout, for that was a perfect storm of a whole lot of opinions, even more lies, and zero self-awareness. BUT!!!... pirate independent radio is popular everywhere, but not everywhere has it. We do. Fund it. Distribute it. Tell the underground we have it.
3- "Opener Slush Fund." When big/med/sm acts come to town, a local buyer puts them here. Rarely do we see a local on the bill. We should way more often. That should be funded by muni/philanthropic $'s. In order to celebrate, reward, and develop local talent, more people need to see/hear them. Most importantly, great baby bands (openers), turn into capable touring bands, and with some luck massive ticket sellers... from St. Louis... think Nelly. Give the buyers a zero cost local option. They'll take it when possible.
4- Establish a local Bar/Grill/Venue "Gig Credit." With skyrocketing liquor, food, labor, insurance, rent, and "overhead" expenses crushing small businesses, the "talent budget" has been crushed. Offer a $.50 on the $1 sales tax credit, capped at $500/night to begin, for money spent on live music (W-2 the band). Bars that try to have live music need help. When there's music, people eat, drink, and stay longer. It should feed itself over time.
5- With Missouri attempting to get back into the Movie biz, remember... all movies have music. A lot of it. Tons actually. Think Tarantino! So, why not write into the legislation a 100% tax credit on the music supervision, score, and licensing fees IF they use a "registered STL" artist or catalog (TBD how to do that, but I'll get there). Hit movies often generate hit songs. Ride the coattail to an Oscar, which might lead to a Grammy, which will definitely lead to more musical transplants that love the movies... yet another flywheel.
Anyone interested in exploring how to do these things? I love coffee in the mornings, and beer the rest of the day. I'm sure there's a bar napkin waiting!
EDITED IMAGES SO WE CAN FOCUS ON THE SUBSTANCE BELOW. TO ALL THOSE OFFENDED, WHICH IS MANY, LET THIS IMAGE OF LOCAL MUSIC BEING PLAYED TAKEN FROM MY PHONE AT A HORRIBLE ANGLE IN .5 MODE ACT AS AN APOLOGY!!!
