Huntsville, Ala., Has Seen Music Job Growth of 145% Since 2018. It Wants Other Cities to Copy Its Ideas
The Huntsville Music Office partnered with Sound Diplomacy to look at the economic impact of the city's music scene after an influx of new funding.
Black News 
The music economy in Huntsville, Ala., is booming, and the city’s music office has the numbers to prove it.
Since 2018, Huntsville’s music ecosystem — which includes artists, venues, recording studios, festivals, music executives, record stores and more — has grown by nearly 40% in direct economic output and increased by 35% in its direct gross added value (GVA), according to a new report by the agency. The report, released on Tuesday (July 28), was compiled using data collected between 2018 — when an audit of the city’s music ecosystem led to funding for more music venues and the establishment of the Huntsville Music Office — and 2026.
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Co-founded by a coalition of music offices called The Association of Music Offices (AMO), the HMO spearheaded the opening of the $40 million Orion Amphitheater in 2022 and created partnerships with Texas promoter Resound Presents to bring special events to the city. Huntsville is now the largest city by population in Alabama.
Released by the HMO and creative economy consultancy firm Sound Diplomacy, the Economic Impact of Huntsville Music Report details the city’s investment in the music economy and the results of eight years of implementation. A key component of the city’s music growth came from the 8,000-capacity Orion Amphitheater, which has attracted national acts to the tertiary market and brought more than 150,000 non-locals to the area, the report notes.
“Sound Diplomacy’s own evaluation demonstrated that the venue’s operations and attendee spending generated $85.2 million in total economic output and $50.1 million in GVA. In the first 18 months of operating, the amphitheater was responsible for supporting 624 full- and part‑time jobs, providing income opportunities for 1,023 unique individuals,” the report details. “Non‑local attendee spending alone generated $76.8 million in output and supported 501 jobs, directly injecting millions into key local sectors: $10 million in accommodations, $6.8 million in recreation and entertainment, $6.5 million in food and beverage, and $5.3 million in retail.”
The report “is a huge victory for the mayor’s music initiative,” says Matt Manderella, who became Huntsville’s first-ever music officer in 2022. “We’ve been putting our heads down, working so hard, and [we] finally [have] solid, tangible proof that [the music initiatives are] not only working, but exceeding.”
The report also highlights downtown Huntsville’s Von Braun Center (a live entertainment hub with eight flexible venues), which generated an estimated $37.5 million in total economic impact and $5.3 million in local taxes, and supported 3,590 jobs in 2025 alone. The report also spotlights the debut of the South Star Music Festival, which delivered a $24.1 million boost to the regional economy despite the need to cancel the second of its two days due to a severe weather disruption.
When the study began in 2018, Huntsville did not have the Orion Amphitheater or several of the venues mentioned in the report and, Mandrella tells Billboard, the city was losing out to other major music markets. “We had great local talent, but in terms of seeing major talent other than what was coming through the Von Braun Center, most people were still in the mindset that you had to go to Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham to see the big shows. So, we were losing so much economic impact to other cities,” says Mandrella, adding that Huntsville is only a few hours’ drive from Nashville, Memphis and other music hubs. “The fact that we’re bringing as much as we can of that within our city limits is probably the biggest change.”
The music ecosystem, led by exhibition activities such as live music and performance spaces, directly supports more than 2,400 jobs in the city — a number that has grown 145% since 2018. Those jobs account for just over 2% of the city’s workforce, but Mandrella says that helps to attract and maintain workers in other sectors of the economy. Huntsville is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the U.S. Army’s Aviation and Missile Command, Boeing operations and one of the largest FBI facilities in the nation.
“Smart people that get offered high salaries for places like Boeing and NASA usually have the flexibility to pick which campus of that company they want to live in, so for Huntsville to be more attractive to get those employees, we needed things for them to do after 5 p.m.,” says Mandrella, who adds that the Huntsville FBI offices used an image of Orion Amphitheater in their welcome materials. “Music makes any city cooler and doing it in a way that aligns with what the community wants too is really important.”
The report, Mandrella hopes, will also serve as a blueprint for other music offices around the country, especially those in the AMO. “From the AMO perspective, state music offices have this report to be able to show their leadership, ‘Here’s a tangible return of what can happen if we establish music offices in as many cities as possible,” he says. “Imagine if every state had five music offices in different cities. Potentially, it could shift the whole music economy.”
Read the full Economic Impact of Huntsville Music Report here.
