AUSTIN, Texas – The 2023 Austin Music Census, the first since 2015, revealed data on how the city’s rapid growth has reshaped the music scene. The data on housing, economics, and the artists who represent Austin, the report highlights the challenges, advancements, and overall changes to the city, and how it has affected the music scene.
Through the census, we learned that one of the biggest challenges facing local artists in Austin today is the growing housing cost, which has been pushing artists out of the central Austin area and into commuter towns such as Bastrop. While there are positive changes, such as a growing diverse demographic participating in the scene, there is a major concern over the music culture today. Iconic venues are closing or changing ownership, and major festivals like SXSW are shifting focus, prioritizing film over music.
Local artists like Erin Ivey, who won the 2025 Austin Music Award for Best Folk/Bluegrass, said
- “Austin is more expensive, though. Many peers have had to move, and many of them have to like Lockhart, Bastrop, or just moved out further.”
While the economic dynamic impacts artists, we also have to keep in mind the local music lovers who attend these events. Events like Blues on the Green do not even have a confirmation, so many are resorting to small, DIY, and niche shows to support artists and events.
Austin local Tyler Hallmark is an advocate for going to these local shows. They attend Friendly Rio Market, Body Mechanics, and a number of on-campus Co-op shows. I interviewed Hallmark on their experience with going to the shows and events they do, and he said:
- “The community is amazing, I really feel as if I am a part of something.”
As Hallmark mentioned, community is a major part of what makes the music scene so special. In Austin, there have been grant programs like the ‘Austin Live Music Fund’ that have supported this. While the fund has faced major criticism since its establishment in 2019, it is currently being further developed to better support the music community.
The DIY shows, small venues, and other forms of niche music are an integral part of the community. Not only are those important, but the mainstream music scene, like popular artists performing at local venues, major music festivals, and the development of new venues, is also a key aspect of music in Austin.
While development is expanding, hearing from artists within different scenes, such as bluegrass and house music, is important.
Cameron or ‘mixer rogers’, his stage name, is a DJ with much experience around making music in Austin over the past decade, said:
- “The money that has come into the city is positive, but with that, it makes everything more expensive too, which is frustrating. When the big boom of Austin kind of first started happening, they built the first high-rise, that’s when the big ‘boom’ of Austin first started happening.”
Overall, music in Austin is in a transitional period. But with the changes, both younger and older generations of music makers and fans are working to keep ‘Austin weird’ in terms of music.
Over the course of this semester, I found a sense of community within the local music scene—something I wouldn’t have discovered without this class.
The future of Austin’s music scene is still up in the air, but one thing I’ve learned through a journalistic approach is that supporting local artists is key to keeping both the grassroots and mainstream scenes alive, because at the end of the day, music needs community.
