Music and city branding: Auckland as a ‘City of Music’

We examine Auckland's ‘City of Music’ (ACM) place branding initiative, outlining its aspirations and gauging its contribution to the vitality of Auckland's underlying music scene. We draw on documentary evidence, media reports, first‐hand observations and a series of interviews with brand advocates and music insiders. The paper highlights tensions between the ‘City of Music’ brand and the understandings of those whose work, identities, daily lives and lived spaces are appropriated to give it substance. We conclude that ACM has injected resources into the Auckland music ‘scene’ but fails to represent faithfully its vitality and complex ecology.