I’ve spent a piece of 2025 out on the street doing sold-out talking engagements, masking (thus far) Victoria and Nanaimo, B.C., to Ottawa. Fredericton, N.B., Halifax, Toronto and Whitby, Ont., are arising earlier than the top 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 possibility for like-minded music followers to collect to debate what’s on their thoughts in relation to 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 concept if something I do and say has any impression 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 completed 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 realized 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 exhausting to get a ticket today? 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 and the ticket-buying bots they must battle. Many imagine that Ticketmaster units the worth 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 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 testing, deciding to spend their after-tax leisure {dollars} on necessities fairly than enjoyable. If this sentiment spreads from my salons to the nation at giant, we might even see a whole lot of non-sellouts this summer time, together with drastic last-minute drops in live performance ticket costs simply to fill the constructing.
Canadians nonetheless hearken to radio
They usually like it. Stats say that round 85 per cent of Canadians hearken to the radio each week and contemplate it to be an essential a part of their leisure and knowledge habits. However these audiences have additionally instructed me they’re fearful about the way forward for the medium, particularly in relation to the rise of streaming. This normally results in a dialogue on how streaming doesn’t present any context to any music 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 excellent at offering that data, one thing for which music followers stay grateful.
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Canadians love Canadian music
Nearly each salon has included a dialogue of the state of Canadian music and CanCon rules. 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 thought of Canadian radio enjoying a minimal quantity of Canadian music every day — it isn’t actually a problem. In contrast to the ’70s and ’80s, when CanCon was synonymous with unhealthy music (effectively, 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.
With regards to 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 one in every 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 problem 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 generally is a great tool for songwriting and recording. We talk about how we’re on the similar stage with AI at this time as we had been with sampling in about 1987. The regulation 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.
Folks 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 podcasts, however there’s nonetheless nothing like having an actual, dwell human inform you a narrative in particular person. These are my favorite moments with these salons. I’ve additionally realized that there’s an actual thirst to know 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 completely happy. I miss my bull terriers once I’m on the street. A little bit canine time earlier than a present is all the time welcome.
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