Interrogating the music city: cultural economy & popular music in Melbourne

Melbourne is Australia's premier 'music city', with popular music a key component of its contemporary identity and cultural economy. Drawing on a range of sources and disciplinary frameworks, this project is both a history of the pop and rock music scenes in Melbourne from the mid-1950s to the present, and an analysis and critique of the usefulness of the concept of the 'music city' to understanding the role of popular music in the cultural economy of cities internationally. As governments and civic leaders around the world increasingly look to music cultures as drivers of economic development and cultural status, the project offers a timely evaluation of the utility of this cultural and economic strategy.