Crafting Community Through Music Tourism
The CEO of TouchTunes breaks down how the new American Music Tourism Act of 2024 aims to rebuild community bonds by crafting community through music tourism.
by Ross Honey, CEO of TouchTunes
Despite increased virtual contact through social media, feelings of exclusion, anxiety and disconnection are prevalent in this post-COVID world. All over, fractured communities are attempting to reconstruct social bonds and reduce the loneliness epidemic, a task that demands both individual and systemic changes.
Harnessing the power of music, which serves as the heartbeat of American culture, could help to heal the divisions within our communities. Music brings people together through shared emotional experiences, starting conversations, and fostering a sense of belonging. However, the industry needs more legislative and economic support to create music-centered destinations that help communities thrive. By investing in the establishment of musical destinations, we can cultivate more spaces where people can share in one of life’s most joyful experiences – there’s a reason “music therapy” is practiced all over the world, and that’s because music can mend us where we’re broken.
The American Music Tourism Act of 2024 aims to promote just that. Supported by various music and tourism organizations, including the RIAA, the bipartisan legislation seeks to elevate the economic and cultural contributions of the music industry by increasing music tourism. The bill encourages both domestic and international travel to American music events, venues, museums, and festivals, providing these venues with a financial boost while enshrining music culture as a national priority.
At TouchTunes, we believe that music creates memorable moments that bring people together like nothing else. Supporting this bill will allow more people to experience that feeling – and make the world a little less lonely.
Community Connection, One Note At A Time
The pandemic hastened the erosion of America’s vital “third places”, which are communal spaces outside the home or workplace. To combat loneliness, people need places to go where they can connect with others – but societal barriers are making these places increasingly hard to find. Fortunately, deeper investments in music culture (and the arts, in general) have the potential to revive them.
The Rhapsody Project in Seattle is using music to revitalize the third place by teaching it; they’ve created a space for young people from all walks of life to learn the rhythm and blues genres that influence nearly all popular music today. With funding from the Music Tourism Act, initiatives like The Rhapsody Project, music venues, and other music-related community sites would receive the financial assistance necessary to keep their doors open, even if they’re not highly profitable. After all, the social and cultural value they provide pays for itself through its positive impact on the community.
Iconic locations like New Orleans’ French Quarter and Detroit’s Motown heritage embody the unifying power of music. In these places, discussions transcend the music itself, delving into the history behind it and how it resonates uniquely with each of us. These conversations can crescendo into friendships, relationships and the sense of community that we are desperately craving as a culture.
Let’s Raise the Volume
The richness and diversity of the human experience resounds through the music we create and enjoy; it is a language we all understand, a force with the power to transform our community, our country and ourselves. With music listeners scoring higher in mental well-being and exhibiting slightly reduced levels of anxiety and depression compared to the general population, integrating music into communities underscores the positive societal effects we already recognize.
The American Music Tourism Act is just the beginning, a promise of a future where music is further ingrained into our national and local culture. By actively and vocally supporting these programs, we can guarantee their survival, supporting the vitality of the music industry and its power to connect us all.
