New tax incentives aim to bring more film and TV scoring to Tennessee

Bob Mehr | Memphis Commercial Appeal

Companies making original music for films, television, video games and other digital media projects will be getting new tax incentives to score their projects in Tennessee.

On Tuesday, the Tennessee Entertainment Commission (TEC), in conjunction with the Memphis and Nashville Chapters of the Recording Academy, announced the initiative, which is designed to bring more scoring projects to the state.

According to the announcement, the new TEC incentives will “offer up to a 25 percent rebate on qualified expenditures for music scoring projects that spend at least $50,000 in the Nashville area or at least $25,000 in other parts of Tennessee. The rebate covers costs for musicians, producers, engineers, recording studios, instruments, and other qualified expenses.”

In a statement, TEC Executive Director Bob Raines noted that film, TV, video game and digital media scoring has been a major growth sector of the state’s music industry over the last decade.

“It is our goal to make Tennessee the No. 1 destination for these types of media projects and to create high-quality job opportunities for Tennessee musicians and engineers, while expanding our existing production infrastructure," Raines said.

The Recording Academy chapters in Memphis and Nashville worked closely with the TEC to develop the program, which has been germinating for several years.

“As the home to so many talented working music creators, this new incentive further emphasizes Tennessee's dedication to music and the composers who create some of our favorite soundtracks," said Daryl Friedman, the Recording Academy's Chief Industry, Government and Member Relations Officer.

According to Recording Academy figures, more 6,700 Tennesseans work in the recording industry across nearly 1,100 businesses. This includes the highest concentration of musicians, music directors and publishers and the second-highest concentration of sound engineers in the U.S.

Given those numbers, "it only makes sense for us to leverage Tennessee's unparalleled concentration of music talent and production services to attract additional music scoring projects,” Raines said.

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