This Must Be The Place
How Music Can Make Your City Better

by Shain Shapiro

Published in September 2023

Order from the UK
Order outside the UK

Translated versions & audiobook

Spanish edition
Italian edition
Arabic edition
Japanese edition
Portuguese edition
The audiobook

This Must Be The Place introduces and examines music’s relationship to cities. Not the influence cities have on music, but the powerful impact music can have on how cities are developed, built, managed and governed.

Told in an accessible way through personal stories from cities around the world — including London, Melbourne, Nashville, Austin and Zurich — This Must Be The Place takes a truly global perspective on the ways music is integral to everyday life but neglected in public policy.

Arguing for the transformative role of artists and musicians in a post-pandemic world, This Must Be The Place not only examines the powerful impact music can have on our cities, but also serves as a how-to guide and toolkit for music-lovers, artists and activists everywhere to begin the process of reinventing the communities they live in.

Published by Repeater and distributed in the United States by Random House.

Praise for
This Must Be The Place

  • “Shapiro’s book is one I have been waiting for... Shapiro shows how music and music scenes give life to our communities and provides a playbook for city leaders, musicians, artists, activists, and citizens to use music to make their neighborhoods stronger, more vibrant and inclusive.”

    Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class

  • “Dr. Shain Shapiro has synthesised what I have known all my working life. The more you care for music, the more music cares for you. In fact, you will mess around and fall in love. This is a seminal book by a seminal thinker and one I encourage all interested in music, cities and making our world better to read.”

    Al Bell, Original Owner, Chairman, Stax Records and Former President, Motown Records Group, songwriter and producer of I’ll Take You There (performed by The Staple Singers).

  • “Shain Shapiro is a long-term and astute observer of the way music scenes interact with and bolster the cities they are in. He knows what makes for healthy ecosystems that serve the performers, venues, and public. Where commercial interests see music strictly as a commodity, Shain understands the spiritual, political, social and mental health implications of music beyond its financial outcomes. Strategies for maximising the impact of musical activity are few, but Shain offers examples and philosophies that can be applied to huge cities, tiny villages, mainstream formats and subcultures alike. This Must Be The Place is an engaging and inspiring read for people who believe that music changes lives and places.”

    Brian Richie, bassist of the Violent Femmes and Artistic Director, Mona Foma Festival

  • “Shain continues to be the most informed and capable voice on the subject of how music and culture is a critical and powerful component of any thriving community. I turn to him time and time again for insight and guidance, and I find his balance of research and applied learning really is remarkable.”

    Ben Lovett, CEO, tvg hospitality and musician, Mumford & Sons

  • “Contrary to the views of certain politicians, we certainly do need more experts. We need people who can think radically, consider challenges, and offer solutions. This book is a go to resource for anyone who wants to understand the positive impact that music has on our society, how we are underutilising it, and how we can more effectively integrate it into all areas of our community life. It breathes a passion for music as a force for positivity which everyone can, and should, embrace.”

    Mark Davyd, CEO, Music Venue Trust

  • “Engaging, insightful, and full of practical examples and advice, This Must Be the Place is an essential read for anyone interested in the power of music to shape our cities and our lives.”

    Harvey Mason Jr, CEO of the Recording Academy

  • “Through compelling stories, Shapiro reveals how music transforms our physical space. Whether you are a professional musician or simply a passionate listener, this must-read book will deepen your appreciation for the profound impact of music on our daily lives and its ability to shape where we live.”

    Margery Kraus, Founder and Executive Chairman, APCO Worldwide

  • “In a masterful take on the complex relationship between the music we love and the cities we live in, Shapiro shows us that music can be a powerful urban planning tool for the places we call home.”

    Panos A. Panay, President of the Recording Academy, and author of Two Beats Ahead: What Musical Minds Teach Us About Innovation

  • “We once relied heavily on curated spaces that are less and less influential in the face of global, digital distribution. Local record stores, underground press, small labels, narrowly focused radio shows, and genre-specific venues created community and shared knowledge. With successful case studies and a focus on systems and policy, Shain Shapiro’s book brings the power of music and community back to the place it matters: your city.”

    Roy Christopher, author of Dead Precedents: How Hip-Hop Defines the Future

  • “A lovely, thought-provoking book, full of practical ideas and examples for those who share the goal of encouraging music to flourish in their city. I look forward to using this book in my classroom to spark debate and discussion, and recommend it to music students, researchers and policymakers alike.”

    Matt Brennan, Convenor of MSc Music Industries, University of Glasgow

  • “Shain changed our community’s outlook towards music and inspired Huntsville to take an intentional approach towards growing our music ecosystem to enhance our economy and quality of life for our residents and visitors.”

    Matt Mandrella, Music Office, City of Huntsville, AL

  • “Shain Shapiro convinces us that music is a foundational part of the ideal city and an indispensable civic right – and shows us, step by step, how we can claim it.”

    Lesley Chow, author of You're History: The 12 Strangest Women in Music

  • “Shain's book exposes the contradictions and prejudices that music must navigate, and argues convincingly that our leaders have a responsibility (and an opportunity) to understand and engineer the material conditions to safeguard its future – and, by extension, all our futures.”

    Ramzy Alkaweel, author of How We Used Saint Etienne To Live

  • “Shain Shapiro’s This Must Be the Place: How Music Can Make Your City Better is the book that our hyper-digital world has sorely needed. As one of the world’s leading thinkers about music and civic life, Shapiro has brilliantly merged analogue concepts about musicians and venues with our overarching contemporary need to chart new pathways for uniting artists and audiences together in community. In This Must Be the Place, he reimagines digitalism’s artificial constructs and devises new and transformative means for bringing people together in our constantly evolving cityscapes. In Shapiro’s brave new world, it’s the music that ineluctably matters.”

    Kenneth Womack, Professor of English and Popular Music, Monmouth University & author of Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles and John Lennon, 1980: The Last Days in the Life

This Must Be The Place is available in Spanish, Italian, and Arabic, Japanese, Portuguese and the Audiobook. The book is now in its third printing and is recognized as the global guide to understanding music's impact on cities.