Wait, Home Studios are Outlawed in Nashville? | Forward Beat

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WAIT, HOME STUDIOS ARE OUTLAWED

IN NASHVILLE?

In another stunning edition of ‘Wait, Whaaat? ’ news, it turns out that

owning a home recording studio can get you in a lot of trouble with

Nashville’s government. According to a provision in Metro Nashville’s

zoning laws, owning and operating a home recording studio is illegal… in a

city affectionately known as “Music City.”

Wait, what ?

This, my musically talented friends, is irony. Not the kind of irony that’s

actually a coincidence, or just weird. This is a truly ironic legal quirk for a

city internationally known as a music industry capital.

The ban on home studios is part of a ‘blanket ban’ on home-based

businesses serving patrons from said property. It’s not uncommon to find

laws against residential zones being used for commercial reasons. That’s not

terribly weird. Someone shouldn’t be able to start, say, a daycare center in

their basement or sell home-brewed beer from their backyard. Those are

regulatory and safety concerns that should totally be addressed.

(http://forwardbeat.com/wp-

content/uploads/sites/53/2016/01/HomeStudioNoFrills.jpg)

(HTTP://FORWAR

HOME-STUDIOS-

IN-NAS

CONTRIBUTE (HTTP://FORWARDBEAT.COM/CONTRIBUTE/)





However, it’s because of the broadness of this ban that makes it hard for

perfectly credible, and safe, home businesses to operate. According to

Census figures

(https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/business_ownership/cb11-

110.html), more than half of all businesses in the US are based in a home. In

California, the legislature just made it legal

(http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/21/business/la-fi-mo-governor-

1616-homemade-food-20120921) for citizens to sell everything from

organic cupcakes to homemade jam from their home kitchen.

So, why can’t Nashville’s many, many musicians be legally allowed to record

in their own homes?

For some citizens, there’s a concern that increased traffic and lack of

parking could lose a neighborhood’s “residential character .” But that feels

more like a, ‘old man yells at cloud’ kind of concern. I mean, do you think

these home studios are going to generate Walmart-like business? I don’t

think so.

Citizens and home studio owners hope that newly-elected Mayor Megan

Barry, who unsuccessfully tried to reverse the policy with legislation back in

2012

(http://www.nashville.gov/mc/ordinances/term_2011_2015/bl2012_292.htm)when she was on the Metro Council, will revisit the issue now that she’s in a

position of power.

Producers who own home studios are in a pickle of a situation. These aren’t

rebels simply looking to break a law for breaking-a-law’s sake, these are

people trying to support their homes and families. “Well, why don’t you use

a commercial recording studio? That’s legal .” Well, because the current

trend in the music industry has encouraged home recording. Improvedrecording technology has made owning the best of the best equipment far

more affordable.





RELATED POSTS

(http://forwardbeat.com/wp-

content/uploads/sites/53/2016/01/maxresdefault.jpg)

If you can work from home, why wouldn’t you?

If a producer obeys the law, they can’t support their family. If they support

their family, they could be penalized. This isn’t an uncommon story across

this country. We hear this time and time again. Because of a weird law,

someone doing something completely harmless in their own homes is illegal.

That doesn’t make sense, and neither does this weird zoning law. When

you’re self-employed in the music industry, you have to hustle your ass offand promote yourself through social media, websites, or whatever else

helps advertise your brand. Why is recording from home any different?

Nobody in the music industry should be in a situation where they can’t grow

and expand because of some stupid, weird law that makes no sense. In a city

that’s known all over the world as “Music City,” the government should be

doing everything it can to encourage, support, and foster that community

that brings in so much revenue.

Get your priorities straight, Nashville government.





1 COMMENT

Leave a Comment

HOME BREWER (HTTP://WEBSITE)

January 7, 2016 at 5:24 pm

The homebrewed beer comment in this is off base. Home

brewed beer would be as safe as the food items that were

mentioned being legal in California. As such you analogies

seem distorted. Under federal law if the brewery building is

seperate from the home it is legal to make and sell commercial

beer from a residentially zoned property. It does require more

over sight than the recording studio, but please do not make

homebrewed beer sound potentially dangerous compared to

other home produced food and drink. Now if you were talkingabout distilling, that is different.

REPLY (/WAIT-HOME-STUDIOS-ARE-OUTLAWED-IN-NASHVILLE/?

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Wait, Home Studios are Outlawed in Nashville? | Forward Beat