I’ve spent a bit of 2025 out on the street doing sold-out talking engagements, protecting (to this point) Victoria and Nanaimo, B.C., to Ottawa. Fredericton, N.B., Halifax, Toronto and Whitby, Ont., are arising earlier than the tip of the month (solely Fredericton nonetheless has tickets) and there’s speak of doing one thing in Quebec in additional factors east within the fall.
I name these talks “salons,” a chance for like-minded music followers to collect to debate what’s on their thoughts in relation to the present state of music, the trade, radio, know-how and extra. I additionally discover them very helpful as a result of I spend most of my time in a soundproof room speaking to myself with completely no concept if something I do and say has any influence on the general public. Like I inform audiences, there’s nothing like having a room filled with strangers inform you the reality about your work in actual time.
I’ve carried out greater than 100 salons during the last 5 years, and I all the time discover it instructive to be taught what’s on the minds of Canadian music followers. Right here’s what I’ve discovered to this point.
The worth of live performance tickets is simply too excessive
It is a matter that comes up virtually each single time. Why is it so arduous to get a ticket today? Why do they value a lot? And the way excessive will costs go? Canadians love their stay music and so they’re extraordinarily pissed off by the hoops they’ve to leap by way of and the ticket-buying bots they must battle. Many consider that Ticketmaster units the value of a ticket (it doesn’t; that’s the only area of the artist) and hate the idea of dynamic pricing (one other choice made solely by the artist). I’m additionally shocked at how many individuals consider that Ticketmaster owns StubHub (it doesn’t, though Ticketmaster does interact in reselling tickets by itself platform).
How lengthy will Canadian audiences be prepared to pay larger and better costs for live performance tickets? If the individuals I talked to are any indication, they’re already trying out, deciding to spend their after-tax leisure {dollars} on necessities slightly than enjoyable. If this sentiment spreads from my salons to the nation at massive, we might even see loads of non-sellouts this summer season, together with drastic last-minute drops in live performance ticket costs simply to fill the constructing.
Canadians nonetheless take heed to radio
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And so they find it irresistible. Stats say that round 85 per cent of Canadians take heed to the radio each week and contemplate it to be an necessary a part of their leisure and knowledge habits. However these audiences have additionally advised me they’re fearful about the way forward for the medium, particularly in relation to the rise of streaming. This often results in a dialogue on how streaming doesn’t present any context to any track served up by algorithms. Music followers nonetheless wish to know the tales behind artists, songs, albums, scenes and sounds, one thing you don’t get from simply listening to a stream. Radio is superb at offering that data, one thing for which music followers stay grateful.
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Canadians love Canadian music
Virtually each salon has included a dialogue of the state of Canadian music and CanCon rules. The lengthy and wanting it’s that there’s a very, very sturdy love for home music mixed with the ever-present frustration that some nice Canadian artists can’t appear to interrupt it in the USA. As for CanCon — the concept of Canadian radio enjoying a minimal quantity of Canadian music every day — it isn’t actually a problem. Not like the ’70s and ’80s, when CanCon was synonymous with unhealthy music (nicely, within the ears of some), there’s sturdy musical nationalism on this nation. And once I level out that Canada is the eighth-largest music market on the earth (and the nation within the high 10 with the smallest inhabitants), there are all the time cheers.
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In the case of CanCon and streaming, there’s actual concern that Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and the remainder of them aren’t pulling their weight in relation to selling Canadian music. If the individuals behind Invoice C-11 wish to know if their efforts have help, they need to come out to certainly one of these salons. They are going to be happy. And once I inform them that the federal government goes to carry public hearings on the way forward for CanCon, they get very excited. They wish to present enter.
Synthetic intelligence is an actual concern amongst music followers
Each evening, somebody brings up the difficulty of how AI is affecting music. The group agrees that they don’t wish to be bamboozled into liking one thing that was made by a software program program, though the dialogue does result in conditions the place AI is usually a useful gizmo for songwriting and recording. We talk about how we’re on the identical stage with AI right this moment as we have been with sampling in about 1987. The legislation must catch as much as the know-how to forestall abuse, rip-offs and the passing off of machine-made music as human. We’ll get there. I hope.
Individuals love storytelling in relation to music
Every night inevitably has me telling some tales about artists, songs, albums and varied private experiences I’ve had over my 44 years within the enterprise. Can Spotify present that service? Possibly by way of podcasts, however there’s nonetheless nothing like having an actual, stay human inform you a narrative in particular person. These are my favorite moments with these salons. I’ve additionally discovered that there’s an actual thirst to grasp how music and the music trade actually work. The reasons behind how the star-making equipment works are greeted with rapt consideration.
Many venues I seem at have a resident canine
That makes me blissful. I miss my bull terriers once I’m on the street. A bit of canine time earlier than a present is all the time welcome.
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