By Daniel Silver and Jonathan Bunce
School of Cities and Wavelength Music Arts Projects
September 2023
This innovative report underscores the importance of fostering an adaptable and resilient live music ecosystem in Ontario. Professor Dan Silver and Jonathan Bunce explore the struggles of Ontario’s live music venues, identify five novel venue models that intertwine preservation and innovation, and recommend a three-step policy platform that provides practical paths forward to revitalize the Ontario live music scene.
The report first explores the increasing difficulties faced by Ontario’s live music venues and artists and finds five key challenges: the financial constraint faced by artists and venue owners prevents them from diversifying the industry; the pressing market dysfunction that results from audiences feeling overcharged, musicians feeling underpaid, and venue owners/operators burdened with high costs; the declining number of active venues and shows; the downtown concentration of music venues, which excludes diverse artists and audiences from the music scene; and the lack of venues that preserve local culture, are accessible, and provide a healthy and clean environment.
With these findings in mind, Professor Silver and Jonathan Bunce stress the need for novel venues that intertwine preservation and innovation. Five of these innovative venues are detailed in the analysis, such as mobile stages that provide live music to areas outside of the downtown core, music events in alternative spaces (such as parks and churches), multidisciplinary art centres in partnership with diverse artistic disciplines, music-specific centres that provide multi-use infrastructure (venue stages, recording studios, rehearsal spaces, etc.), and cultural land trusts.
Lastly, the report recommends to the provincial and municipal governments a three-step policy process that consolidates the existing music scene;, constantly evaluates the progress of music venues;, and implements four initiatives that could consolidate existing efforts into more effective platforms for supporting live music. These proposed policies aim to offer a transformative blueprint to uplift and revitalize the Ontario live music scene.
