More on the decline of NYC as the center of the music universe

No date on this article, but since it was referenced in the article mentioned in my previous blog entry, I would guess it is at least two years old.

Although these aren't current articles, they do document a turning point in local music scenes. At the same time that these were written about NYC, Denver, for example, was moving into its own as a creative music scene. What was disappearing in NYC was being created elsewhere. Without the Internet, it's likely that neither Denver nor Omaha could have had an impact on national music.

I used to go back and forth from Colorado to NYC as a freelance writer for a number of national magazines. (I'd write at home then head back for meetings with editors.) I found that it was to my advantage to be from somewhere else. While I didn't have day-to-day interaction with editors, I stood out because I was from a different part of the country. They were always pleasantly surprised that someone from in the middle of nowhere could carry on an intelligent conversation.

For the same reason, I have felt musicians based in Colorado have a better chance of making it than those who move away.

The New York Hipster Exodus: "...there have been times when at least the common perception has been of a city particularly infused by a breakout cultural scene: punk in the CBGB seventies, art in the Jean-Michel Basquiat eighties, and most recently the rock-music scene lorded over by homegrown bands like the Strokes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Interpol.

“'Three years ago, when all that really kicked in, it was great,' recalls Asif Ahmed, 28, manager of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. 'But things got exploited and eventually watered-down. Now the hip scenes are the nonmetropolitan places, like Omaha and Oakland.'

"He moved to Los Angeles in July.

“'In New York, it feels like everyone is a manager trying to get a piece of the action,' says Ahmed. 'Plus, there’s the threat of the Empire State Building blowing up. And the cost of living is ridiculous.'

"As with any New York tale, real estate—its price, if not its combustibility—plays a role. 'As the city gets more and more expensive,' says [John Leland, author of the recently released book Hip: The History], 'more of the riffraff—the kid that comes to New York just to get his freak on—can’t afford to live here. But those kids are an important part of keeping the city hip, and each year more of them have to go elsewhere—even if it’s only to Brooklyn.'”