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I live in Berlin myself, and have spent a fair amount of time in Austin. I made a few records there with my old band, the Christal Methodists, in the 1990s, and have returned a few times since. I think the bottom line is that parallel industries and music scenes aside, Austin is simply more wealthy. Exponentially so. Berlin doesn't have any industry, whatsoever. WWII wiped it all out, and it hasn't been revived since the wall fell, in 1989. It's just government and the arts. The city government looks to US cities, like Austin, and Portland, where there are thriving digital scenes, and imagines that this would be the fastest and most complementary way to revive.