8 Years of Sound Diplomacy
Today is 8 years to the day that I, along with my business partner Jordi Puy, launched Sound Diplomacy.
While it feels odd celebrating this during a pandemic and at a time where there are immense challenges in cities and places around the world, I thought it would mark a good moment to reflect and give thanks as we move to the future.
As I write this, we — like every other company — have had to change the way we work because of the pandemic. We have given up our physical offices and our team is now 100% virtual. We’ve adapted our thinking to wherever we live, work and engage. Right now, our team of 25 are spread across London, Berlin, Barcelona, San Jose CR, Lafayette, LA, Calgary, Nashville, LA, Turin, Rome and Amsterdam. We have to work locally from afar, and despite the challenges, we feel more connected than ever. It is amazing how far I have been able to travel, without leaving my kitchen table in East London since March.
It has been a wild ride since 2013. When I launched Sound Diplomacy, the concept of ‘music cities’ did not exist as it does now. We were working with and for music export offices. Our first client was the Canadian Independent Music Association. Our second was ICEC, the Catalan Office for the Cultural Industries. From a converted garage in Dalston, London — we produced events, pitched artists to labels and worked with government’s cultural offices. We organised the Canada Day concert in Trafalgar Square, London. This is how it was for the first three years.
We adapted and grew, slowly but surely. We had a number of hiccups and made a number of mistakes. Some team members, including a few there at the beginning, left. New members joined. We moved offices. In Barcelona, we moved into a converted ground floor shop with our friends Record Play in the Gracia neighbourhood. We even started a music publishing company, Gracia Music, in honour of our adopted neighbourhood. This eventually became what Unison is today. In London, we moved from Dalston to Haggerston, then onto Shoreditch, again sharing with our friends at Record Play. Throughout this, our work remained focused on export offices, artists and gigs. There were a lot of late nights in Dalston.
It changed in 2015 when I organised — with the help of Martin Elbourne and my team — the first Music Cities Convention the day before The Great Escape, which to our surprise, sold out. The Convention, along with other initiatives outside of our work, led to the development of the music cities concept and this new work - linking music to cities and planning policy - that came with it. 2015 marked a change for Sound Diplomacy and for me personally. And we’ve never looked back.
There’s too much to tell you, between 2015 to now. Our senior team has changed. People have left, new ones joined. We made more mistakes - both personally and professionally. But we got some things right. The meaning of ‘music cities’ grew and with it, our confidence as a company in our message, drive and reason for being.
There are hundreds of stories to share since 2015 and too many incredible initiatives to count; But to name a few:
Supporting the Mayor of London and helping to create the London Night Czar position, the London Music Board and Night Time Commission.
Authoring a report with Music Venue Trust, the Mayor’s Culture Team and Nordicity about music venues in London. This led to a number of wins, including the Agent of Change provision, property tax reforms and better policies.
Writing our first formal city music strategy, in Katowice, Poland in 2016.
Staging over 20 events, including Music Cities Conventions in Melbourne, Chengdu, Berlin and Washington, DC and Music Tourism Conventions in Franklin, Tennessee and Liverpool. Now this is its own fully-fledged company, Music Cities Events.
Writing and publishing reports that hundreds of thousands of folks have read about music and cities, night time economy, tourism, real estate and recovery.
Travelling to over 50 countries to work, speak or learn, from Vladivostok in Russia to Valdivia in Chile.
Working with over 25 cities in North America, including New Orleans, Huntsville, New York, San Francisco, Fort Worth, Fulton County, Indianapolis, Branson, Muscle Shoals, Tulsa, St. Augustine, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria and other places.
Developing music policies in Berlin, Barcelona, Lausanne, Brisbane, St. Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago, as well.
Working with the UN in a number of ways, including on a music strategy in Cuba for UNIDO; on SDGs with UN Global Communications; at the World Urban Forum with UN Habitat.
Participating in more webinars, talks and sessions than I could ever count and so, so much more.
I have so much to be thankful for. For every member of the Sound Diplomacy team, past and present. For our board of directors and advisors. For every single client and partner around the world, investing their time and money in us. For everyone who has attended any of our events, online and offline. For my business partners. For anyone who has read an article or retweeted one of our reports. All of you.
As we look ahead, we believe we are on target to ensure music is part of all economic recovery and investment plans, all around the world. We have a number of exciting launches this year, including welcoming new team members, new events and a new not-for-profit foundation, the Center for Music Ecosystems. And we’re invigorated.
So thank you. All of you. Here’s to the next 8 years.
Best,
Shain Shapiro, PhD - Founder and Group CEO, Sound Diplomacy