I’ve spent a bit of 2025 out on the street doing sold-out talking engagements, overlaying (thus far) 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 discuss of doing one thing in Quebec in additional factors east within the fall.
I name these talks “salons,” a possibility for like-minded music followers to assemble to debate what’s on their thoughts on the subject of the present state of music, the business, 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 thought if something I do and say has any influence on the general public. Like I inform audiences, there’s nothing like having a room stuffed with strangers let you know the reality about your work in actual time.
I’ve performed greater than 100 salons during the last 5 years, and I at all times discover it instructive to study what’s on the minds of Canadian music followers. Right here’s what I’ve discovered thus far.
The worth of live performance tickets is simply too excessive
This can be a subject that comes up nearly each single time. Why is it so arduous to get a ticket nowadays? Why do they price a lot? And the way excessive will costs go? Canadians love their dwell music and so they’re extraordinarily pissed off by the hoops they’ve to leap by means of and the ticket-buying bots they need to battle. Many imagine 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 resolution made solely by the artist). I’m additionally stunned at how many individuals imagine that Ticketmaster owns StubHub (it doesn’t, though Ticketmaster does have interaction in reselling tickets by itself platform).
How lengthy will Canadian audiences be prepared to pay greater and better costs for live performance tickets? If the folks I talked to are any indication, they’re already testing, 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 may even see a number of non-sellouts this summer season, together with drastic last-minute drops in live performance ticket costs simply to fill the constructing.
Canadians nonetheless hearken to radio
And so they adore it. Stats say that round 85 per cent of Canadians hearken to the radio each week and think about it to be an vital a part of their leisure and data habits. However these audiences have additionally instructed me they’re nervous about the way forward for the medium, particularly on the subject of the rise of streaming. This often results in a dialogue on how streaming doesn’t present any context to any tune served up by algorithms. Music followers nonetheless need 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 excellent 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 laws. The lengthy and in need of 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 US. As for CanCon — the concept of Canadian radio taking part in a minimal quantity of Canadian music every day — it isn’t actually a difficulty. Not like the ’70s and ’80s, when CanCon was synonymous with dangerous music (properly, 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 planet (and the nation within the prime 10 with the smallest inhabitants), there are at all times cheers.
Relating to CanCon and streaming, there’s actual concern that Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and the remainder of them aren’t pulling their weight on the subject of selling Canadian music. If the folks behind Invoice C-11 need 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 need to present enter.
Synthetic intelligence is an actual concern amongst music followers
Each night time, somebody brings up the difficulty of how AI is affecting music. The group agrees that they don’t need 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 could be a useful gizmo for songwriting and recording. We talk about how we’re on the similar stage with AI at the moment as we had been with sampling in about 1987. The legislation must catch as much as the know-how to stop abuse, rip-offs and the passing off of machine-made music as human. We’ll get there. I hope.
Folks love storytelling on the subject of 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 means of podcasts, however there’s nonetheless nothing like having an actual, dwell human let you know 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 business 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. Just a little canine time earlier than a present is at all times welcome.
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