What Is Music Row?

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Music Row is Nashville’s music business district. It is centered on 16th and 17th Avenues South, which are called Music Square East and Music Square West within the district, plus several side streets (Wikipedia). It began developing in 1954, when the first commercially successful recording studios and music offices opened along 16th Avenue South. By the early 1960s, national labels were recording a significant share of their country releases there. The district holds RCA’s Studio B and Studio A, record labels, publishers, and studios. At one end sits Belmont University, home of the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business, and Vanderbilt is next to the area. It is a working business district of labels, publishers, and studios, so the way to see it is a walk or a studio tour.

Music Row at a Glance

What the source says
Streets 16th Avenue South (Music Square East) and 17th Avenue South (Music Square West), plus side streets
Began 1954, with the first commercially successful studios and offices on 16th Avenue South
Landmarks RCA Studio B and Studio A; streets named for Roy Acuff and Chet Atkins
Roundabout the Music Row Roundabout where Demonbreun Street, Division Street, 16th Avenue South, and Music Square East meet, with Owen Bradley Park to the west
Old Hall of Fame site the first Country Music Hall of Fame stood at Music Square East and Division Street from April 1967 to December 2000; the museum moved downtown in May 2001
Neighbors Belmont University across Wedgewood Avenue; Vanderbilt University adjacent

Source: Wikipedia.

Visiting Music Row

  1. Tour a studio: RCA Studio B, established in 1957 at 1611 Roy Acuff Place, is owned by the Country Music Hall of Fame, which offers scheduled tours (Wikipedia, RCA Studio B); its story is in the history of RCA Studio B.
  2. Walk the roundabout end at Demonbreun Street and Division Street, and Owen Bradley Park.
  3. Respect the offices: label and publishing buildings are workplaces, so do not expect to walk in.

The style that came out of these studios is in what the Nashville sound is.

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