City and State Governments Unite to Form Association of Music Offices

Today (May 11), the Association of Music Offices (AMO) announces its official launch at the 2026 Music Biz Conference. This nationwide effort combines the powers of city and state government music offices, music industry organizations such as the Recording Academy, and community groups to share resources towards supporting the US music scene at the local level.

Mission statement:

• “To connect music offices nationwide by supporting music communities through industry collaboration and shared best practices.”

Who’s involved:

• Founding members include music offices from Dallas, Oklahoma, New Orleans, North Carolina, and more.

• Within these government offices, the press release says the specific officials participating are “music officers, executive directors, and key representatives from municipal and state music and entertainment offices, cultural affairs departments.”

• Industry partners include the Recording Academy and the marketing agency, Marauder.

Goals:

• Establishing governance and membership structures.

• Developing data and measurement frameworks to quantify music's local impact.

• Building community engagement models for diverse and inclusive music ecosystems.

• Creating a central hub and accessible resource library for toolkits, funding mechanisms, education, programs, and more.

• Organizing an ongoing annual calendar of forums, convenings, policy roundtables, and working groups.

What they said:

• Reid Wick, Recording Academy's Director, Regional Advocacy & Member Engagement: "It's exciting to see the Association of Music Offices grow from organic discussions about policy into an organization that has the potential to transform how we support music at the state and local level.”