HuffPo: Tech firms can learn from Motor City rock & roll

What do family-owned radio stations, the MC5 or concert crowds have to do with opening a technology biz? In an industry where creativity is king, professor Jason Schmitt writes that the next Silicon Valley start-ups or multinational software corporations could take a lesson from Detroit rock, which has maintained sell-out crowds and a gritty edge from one century to the next. Schmitt studied the Detroit music ecosystem for the better part of a decade and says our city, more than any other region, has maintained steady creative output and rightly earned the nation’s fascination. Hey, Google — if you want a lesson in maintaining relevance and credibility, listen up.

Excerpt:

Most new tech firms are hardly a blip on the longitudinal timeline of
creative success. Inversely, Detroit rock music has employed and
cultivated a solid stream of creative talent and cultural relevancy for
six decades and running. In other words, the talent and creativity of
this region continually replicates and maintains its inertia. Sure,
other music regions have had ‘flash in the pan’ success and lots of
correlating hits: a la Seattle. But the Detroit case is different.
More complex. Continually creating without drying up — and allowing
creativity to flourish in opposition to the regional economic
imperatives.

Rock on. Read the whole thing here.