“There’s no people like show people, they smile when they are low
Yesterday they told you you would not go far, that night you open and there you are
Next day on your dressing room they’ve hung a star, let’s go on with the show!!”

— Irving Berlin

For the last couple of years there’s been no shortage of sniping from the cynics about Edgar Bronfman Jr. It’s been amplified by the New York Times, which on Sunday called Mr. Bronfman, 48, “Wall Street’s favorite whipping boy.”

But Mr. Bronfman doesn’t seem interested in listening to those who tell him he won’t go far. A songwriter himself, he has a passion for the music business. And last month, in a bold move, he pulled off a $2.6 billion deal that gave him, together with Thomas H. Lee Partners, control of the Warner Music empire.

It’s a deal that means a lot to New York, which, with venues from Central Park and Carnegie Hall to Madison Square Garden, the Village Vanguard, and the Blue Note, has a reputation to uphold as a capital of the music industry. Warner Music has its own storied history to match New York’s. Its roster of recording artists includes R.E.M., Emmylou Harris, Tracy Chapman, and Madonna. Its catalog includes such all-time greats as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Frank Sinatra, as well as the music to classics like George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” The group includes the Atlantic and Elektra music labels.

This all could have landed in the hands of EMI Group Plc, a British company. It might have been folded into the new music group of Bertelsmann, the German publishing and music conglomerate, and Sony, the Japanese technology company. Instead, the Warner Music business ended up in the hands of Mr. Bronfman and Mr. Lee, both New Yorkers.

We can’t help but cheer to see the music business — which is at bottom, for all the marketing and technology and distribution challenges, about creativity — remain centered in New York. One of this city’s great strengths, after all, is as a creative capital. It all underscores the message Mr. Bronfman sent by getting back into the game — that success in business isn’t only about economics and money, but about creative genius, grit, and gumption. It will be a great thing for New York if he succeeds.