Speaking at UK Music’s Wish You Were Here event – which revealed the contribution that music makes to the economy and cultural scene of the Liverpool City Region – the pair pledged their support for a new Music Board, inspired by similar initiatives in San Francisco and London.
The Music Board would be community and industry led, aiming to nurture homegrown talent and cement Liverpool's place as one of the world’s music capitals.
Plans to safeguard the city's music scene could include improving transport links, protecting music venues and increasing rehearsal spaces.
Dugher said: 'Liverpool has a fantastic musical heritage. Its continuing success is clear to see in our new report which shows almost one million people enjoyed live music events in 2016, helping generate £135m for the Liverpool City Region’s economy.
'The Liverpool City Region’s devolution deal recognises the need to place culture and creativity at the heart of a strategy to accelerate economic growth, attract investment and improve skills.
'I strongly believe that under the fantastic leadership of Steve Rotheram, we now have a golden opportunity to set up a Music Board to seize the moment and grow the music industry across every corner of the Liverpool City Region.'
He added: 'We can use this new Music Board to create an environment where people can create music that changes the world and attract visitors from across the globe to enjoy and work with the talent on offer here.
'We know from London and from cities around the world that a Music Board gets the right people around the same table to deliver real change to protect venues, promote talent, widen access to music and boost jobs and growth.'
Rotheram said that he would be contacting the leaders of all city region local authorities, 'to ask them to nominate members for the Board, as well as to members of the advisory panel for Culture Liverpool’s recent music strategy.'
Describing his biggest ambition as Metro Mayer, he said it was to, 'harness the talent and creative energy of our people to ensure that it can thrive and prosper here.'
He added: 'In truth, artists from every part of our City Region have contributed to the lustre of Liverpool’s musical reputation.
'I want music to be an essential thread of our Fourth Industrial Revolution economy; it’s integral to who we are, so we need to ensure it is a fundamental component of what we will be in the future.'
