Innovation center The Cannon, Belgium’s Wallifornia MusicTech Conference and City of Houston’s Music Advisory Board Connect to Advance Music + Tech around the World…and here at home.
August 30, 2023 - Houston, Texas | Liege, Brussels
It’s well-known that The City of Houston is home to some of the largest musicians in the business like Beyonce, Lizzo, Megan the Stallion, Cody Johnson, Travis Scott and many more. Houston was recently certified a Music Friendly Texas Community by the Texas Music Office and established its first Music Advisory Board.
The Houston Music Advisory Board is a new initiative from the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, run by Music & Cultural Tourism Officer Gracie Chavez, with a mission to support and grow music business in Houston. A mission which attracted one particular entrepreneur, Tracy DeJarnett.
A Houston resident and inaugural board member, DeJarnett has been striving to build artists careers and grow the music scene in Houston since 2017 when she decided to start her first music festival. “I knew that music plays a special role in bringing people together, in healing, in celebrating and building communities,” shared Tracy DeJarnett. “After my first music festival my eyes, ears and heart opened up to the diversity, breadth and depth of talent we have here in Houston and in Texas for our next generation of artists. I knew I wanted to play a role in discovering, supporting and promoting artists. That led to my interest in ensuring Houston has the industry foundation and resources for our artists to build and grow their careers from right here in H-town.” It also led her to Liege, Belgium.
Through a series of fortunate events at The Cannon and SXSW, she was invited to be 1 of 10 coaches working with the start-up accelerator summit Wallifornia MusicTech. Their event in Liege is a gathering of over 200 industry experts, VCs, start-ups, artists, engineers, and teachers from 21 different countries. It’s designed to build bridges around the world for music and technology innovation. Over the course of 10-weeks, DeJarnett was tasked with coaching the start-up Tickets for Good, a company that works directly with live event companies and venues to provide free and discounted tickets to events for NHS professionals and charity workers. They went on to be voted as the “jury favourite for 2024” among the competition. To add to that victory, they’ve since added artist Robbie Williams as their largest investor and advocate.
Through its partnerships with over 500 live events companies, the company has offered tickets to concerts from Williams himself, Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and festivals such as Parklife, Tramlines and Live at Leeds. Tickets For Good currently has more than 200,000 users and has processed over 300,000 free and discounted tickets. The ultimate mission of the company is to provide access to the arts for all.
And now, they’re coming to Houston.
LaunchMusic Lab / HoustonLive (DeJarnett’s companies), Wallifornia, The Cannon, and the Music Advisory Board are facilitating a move to the US, with Houston serving as the first field test for Tickets for Good in the coming months.
“I’m excited about our expansion in the US through Houston due to the incredible connections we’ve already made there including those at The Ion and Wallifornia. Houston has an impressive growth within music and entertainment and exemplifies a willingness to adopt new ideas and technologies,” said Steve Rimmer, Founder and CEO for Tickets for Good.
A big change in the Houston music scene is on its way across the pond and things are going to kick off in earnest in 2024. DeJarnett is planning a pre-SXSW event to connect some of her new colleagues from around the world coming in for SXSW. Save the date for March 3 - 4, 2024 - follow these initiatives and more at houstonlive.tv to stay informed.
For More Information, visit the below websites:
About HoustonLive and LaunchMusic Lab
About Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and the Houston Music Advisory Board
About Wallifornia
About The Cannon
About Tickets for Good