In her thoroughly-researched book, Baker examines megastar music cities such as London, New York and Los Angeles, alongside smaller vibrant music centers like Berlin, Austin and Melbourne through the lens of what she defines as “Urban Sociability.” She examines the factors by which these cities are, in the face of many challenges and to a greater or lesser degree, able to maintain their pre-eminence as music centers.
Is it a numbers game, the number of live venues per head of population? Or is it a place where musicians, writers, producers, and publishers form and reproduce themselves? Or is a great music city a place imbedded in the public imagination? Baker says it’s all of the above - they are cities that “deliver significant economic, employment, cultural and social benefits” to their citizens. She starts by defining what exactly a great music city is. “Andrea Baker, has made a valuable contribution to our understanding of what elements go in to making a great music city.
The book marks a major turning point in studies of the contemporary music city.” (Paul Watt, Associate Professor of Musicology and Deputy Head (Research), Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music, Monash University, Australia) Baker has done the hard yards of research, and social, industry and economic analysis to produce a book that musicians and policy-makers cannot do without. “This is an ambitious, detailed, and intelligent book.