Now that Mayor Greg Nickels has conceded defeat in the primary election, what will become of the two-term incumbent’s “Seattle City of Music” initiative launched last October?

And what will become of the Office of Film + Music that Nickels created in 2002 when he became mayor?

Hopefully the latter will keep humming along. But will the “City of Music” program survive a new administration? Or will it continue to grow?

“We’ve worked with the community in a number of different ways to try to recognize that we are a city of great music,” Nickels said at the “Seattle City of Music” news conference last fall, “and that our attitude as a city ought to be welcoming and encouraging more music in the city.”

Nickels’ 12-year program was intended to boost Seattle’s national standing as a music town, despite all the notoriety it had already received during the rock explosion of the early ’90s. Nickels cited Travel + Leisure magazine’s No. 7 ranking of Seattle as a hotspot for live music, saying he thought the city could do better.

The Seattle City of Music initiative called for an admission-tax exemption for live-music venues, more music education in public schools and other programs overseen by the Seattle Music Commission. The program was a turnabout for a mayor that had been criticized for launching a “war on nightlife” with fines and club closures.

The next City of Music event is scheduled Oct. 29, according to the Web site. That’s right before the November election that will install a new mayor.

The two mayoral candidates, businessman Joe Mallahan and environmentalist Mike McGinn, haven’t said much about their plans to support Seattle’s vibrant music community, let alone much else. But let’s hope the winner doesn’t take us a step backward.