In comparison with Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham are quite familiar in terms of de-industrialization and culture regeneration. Although these cities’ main industries have already shifted or gradually shifting to the service industry, they emphasize on different aspects. For example, Manchester has a solid music culture of rock bands but it follows the ‘Darwin mode’ and allows it to grow without interference (Brown, O'Connor, & Cohen, 2017). Liverpool was a major port and its industry is still heavily related to trade. Birmingham still takes up a large portion of industrial zones (DiGaetano & Lawless, 1999) in Britain with 25% of exports from Britain made there. London is the most obvious example that has a very different pattern than Sheffield. As the capital of Britain, London not only functions as the culture center of the country, but also the financial and political center. Therefore Sheffield definitely focuses more on its culture and music industry than other cities do. Cultural Focus and Development Strategies In the search for new sources of economic growth and employment, one of the priority investment areas are identified as the arts, culture and media industries (Hudson, 2017). Developing music industry is a strategy for many of the British cities, such as Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham, and especially in Sheffield. When fans go visit these cities, they will associate the experience with the musicians from there and participate in a variety of music ‘scenes’ with great satisfaction (Long, 2017). In the current economic landscape of globalization, the right cultural strategy is crucial for a city’s social development. In Sheffield’s case, it has a marketing campaign called ‘Creative Sheffield’ which developed programs focusing on music and cultural legacy, focusing on local artists, music festival venues, and music scenes (Long, 2017). This could help attract more tourists who share the same value in terms of music and culture. Meanwhile, it also helps on transforming the music industry which is being crushed by internet digitalization. Manchester, which is also a city known for pop music and bands, has a slightly different approach and cultural pattern. The Manchester City Council also tried to promote the city as a centre for music and culture as part of its economic regeneration strategy, which at first focused on building a well-established area for cultural business, then shifting to the music-based developments (Hudson, 2017). However, the leadership of the government is very different in conducting such culture strategy. Compared with Sheffield’s City Council’s proactive guidance, Manchester has been ‘more prepared to allow market forces to shape the way (Hudson, 2017)’. As we can see, the approach of Sheffield is more ‘top-down’ while many businesses in Manchester want less interference from the government. London’s main cultural strategy lies in the combination of landscape, history, and being the only capital of Britain. As a city full of resources, London’s music industry also blooms, but more in a standard way of production. The biggest international record companies are in London and they take up a large portion of the industry and conduct global marketing, promotion and distribution (Watson, 2017). A study finds that high degrees of integration into the global music industry are the major advantages of London's music industry (Watson, 2017). Therefore London’s music industry is more likely to be described as directly related to profit from sales, and many artists come to London only on purpose for better opportunities in album recording. When it comes to marketing, artists are usually labeled by where they were inspired, and that place is not London, but somewhere else. This makes London more like a ‘music factory’ than the muse for creativity. In Birmingham and Liverpool, classical music takes up quite a portion of the music industry. For example, the Liverpool symphony orchestra was ‘a geographical, cultural and social focus for the whole city, also part of the community (Smith, 1993)’, and the development of classical music provides a culture renaissance for Birmingham. Although the legacy of music has been constantly evolving over hundreds of years in Birmingham (Smith, 1993), in the current context, fewer and fewer audiences out of the next generation are willing to commit to classical music. The city of Birmingham supports its orchestra by building better educational academies and introduces partnership with enterprises to revive the classical music industry. The iconic architecture, Symphony Hall, has been ‘probably the most important single contributory factor in Birmingham's cultural renaissance (Smith, 1993)’. Thus this strategy has successfully combined the city’s legacy with ongoing renovation for its culture rebirth. Identity of the City |
