The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, along with government partners and music community partners from around the Washington region, officially released the results of the 2024 DC Area Music Census Summary Report and Portal.
The census, a community-led initiative to better understand the needs of the greater Washington area’s music community, launched on April 10 and ran for seven weeks, collecting 2,738 responses from people working in music in any capacity who are 18 and older and living in the region.
The draft version of the report was shared with government and community stakeholders over the summer and feedback was solicited as to where any clarifications in the presentation of the data were needed.
The information gathered from the census is the most comprehensive data set that has ever been collected on the DMV music ecosystem, organizers said. The census report and the census portal, which can be found and downloaded on www.dcmusiccensus.org, are free and open to the public to access.
The hope is that the information gathered can help government agencies, local music advocates and music industry partners make better data driven decisions on how to best support the region’s vibrant and growing community.
The government partners that assisted in the census include the DC Office of Cable Television Film Music and Entertainment, the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife and Culture, Arlington Arts and Arts Fairfax. The list of over 100 community partners is included in the report.
In order to accomplish the census, the commission teamed up with a national cohort of cities organized by Sound Music Cities, a leading Austin-based provider of music ecosystem studies and music census work.
Other cities that are part of the cohort include Baltimore, Cleveland, New Orleans and Minneapolis, many of whom launched their own music censuses in 2024.