The case for counting Indiana's music economy

This is the most important document on this page, because it is not an argument. It is a result. In June 2026, a coalition of public officials, private companies, and philanthropic funders in Fort Wayne unveiled a full music economy strategy as part of the region's ten year tourism master plan.

Sound Diplomacy's analysis found the regional music ecosystem generates $3.1 billion in total economic output and supports roughly 6,900 local jobs. And the region acted on it: a 17 point roadmap spanning promotion, education, policy, and placemaking; a Fort Wayne Music Office to coordinate and champion the sector; and a seven partner Music Board drawing from the city, Sweetwater and Surack Enterprises, Arts United, the Embassy Theatre, Greater Fort Wayne Inc., and Visit Fort Wayne.

Leaders were explicit that this is not about manufacturing a music scene. It is about building on the ecosystem that already exists. Three lessons for the rest of us: the data can be gathered, in months rather than decades. Philanthropy will fund it; the Knight Fund, the Don Wood Foundation, and the Northeast Indiana Strategic Development Commission backed the research. And measurement leads somewhere: an office, a board, a search for an executive director.

Fort Wayne wrote the playbook. Now imagine it statewide.