Texas Music Office
The Texas Music Office (TMO) is a state-funded business promotion office and information clearinghouse for the Texas music industry. It is headquartered in the State Insurance Building in Austin. More than 14,000 individual clients use TMO resources and assistance each year, including more than 8,600 direct referrals to Texas music businesses, performers, and event planners. The TMO is the sister office to the Texas Film Commission, both of which are within the Office of the Governor. History By creating the Texas Music Commission (TMC) in 1985, the 70th session of the Texas Legislature identified music as an industry in need of state government recognition and assistance. The TMC was a nine-member advisory board appointed by the Governor Mark White that held hearings for and issued annual reports to the Legislature. Its primary advocate was House Speaker Gib Lewis, whose staff, notably Bekki Lammert, handled the support for the volunteer Commission's nine members. This was the first law passed by a state legislature in the United States creating an office promoting commercial music business. The Austin Music Industry Council initiated and the Texas Legislature in 1987 appropriated $25,000 to the new Texas Department of Commerce (TDC) to further research the music