I passed a 2025 piece on the road to speech for closed counters, covering (so far) Victoria and Nanaimo, British Columbia, in Ottawa. Fredericton, NB, Halifax, Toronto and Whitby, Ontario, arrive before the end of the month (Only Fredericton still has tickets) And we are talking about doing something in Quebec in addition to points in the east in the fall.
I call these conferences “Salons”, an opportunity for music fans with similar views of gathering to discuss what is in mind with regard to the current state of music, industry, radio, technology and more. I also find them very useful because I spend most of my time in an soundproofed room to talk to me without any idea if I do and that I say an impact on the public. As I tell the public, there is nothing like having a piece full of foreigners tell you the truth about your work in real time.
I have made more than a hundred salons in the past five years, and I always find informative to learn what the spirit of Canadian music fans. Here is what I have learned so far.
The price of concert tickets is too high
It is a subject that appears almost every time. Why is it so difficult to get a ticket these days? Why do they cost so much? And how the prices go? Canadians like their live music and they are extremely frustrated by the hoops they have to jump and the tickets for the purchase of tickets they have to fight. Many believe that Ticketmaster Defines the price of a ticket (this is not the case; this is the only area of the artist) and hates the concept of dynamic price (another decision taken only by the artist). I am also surprised to see how many people believe that Ticketmaster has Stubhub (this is not the case, although Ticketmaster is involved in the resale of tickets on his own platform).
How long will the Canadian public be willing to pay higher and higher prices for concert tickets? If the people I have spoken to are an indication, they already check, deciding to spend their dollars on leisure after tax on the essentials rather than pleasure. If this feeling is spreading from my salons to the country as a whole, we can see a lot of non-sales this summer, as well as last-minute drastic cuts at the price of concert tickets just to fill the building.
Canadians are still listening to the radio
And they love it. Statistics say that around 85% of Canadians listen to the radio every week and consider that it is an important part of their entertainment and information habits. But these audiences also told me that they are concerned about the future of the medium, especially with regard to the rise of streaming. This usually leads to a discussion on how streaming does not provide any context to a song served by algorithms. Music fans always want to know the stories behind artists, songs, albums, scenes and sounds, something that you don’t just get a flow. The radio is very good to provide this information, something for which music fans remain grateful.
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Canadians love Canadian music
Almost all salons have included a discussion on the state of Canadian music and Cancon regulations. The long and the short is that there is a very, very A strong love for domestic music combined with frustration always present that some great Canadian artists do not seem to break it in the United States. As for Cancon – The idea of Canadian radio playing a minimum of Canadian music every day – it’s not really a problem. Unlike the 1970s and 80s, when Cancon was synonymous with bad music (finally, in the ears of some), there is a strong musical nationalism in this country. And when I point out that Canada is the eighth largest music market in the world (and the country in the top 10 with the smallest population), there is always cheers.
Regarding Cancon and Streaming, there is a real concern that Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and the others do not get their weight when it comes to promoting Canadian music. If people behind Bill C-11 want to know if their efforts have support, they should go out in one of these salons. They will be happy. And when I tell them that the government will hold public hearings on the future of Cancon, they are very excited. They want to provide an entry.
Artificial intelligence is a real concern among music fans
Every night, someone raises the question of how IA affect music. The crowd is appropriate that they do not want to be bamboozes to like something that has been made by software, although discussion leads to situations where AI can be a useful tool for writing and recording. We discuss the way we are at the same stage with the AI today that we were with the sampling around 1987. We will get there. I hope.
People love the narration in music
Each evening, I inevitably have stories about artists, songs, albums and various personal experiences that I have lived during my 44th birthday in the company. Can Spotify Provide this service? Perhaps through podcasts, but there is still nothing like having a real human human tells you a story in person. These are my favorite moments with these salons. I also learned that there is a real thirst to understand how music and the music industry really work. The explanations behind the functioning of star machines are welcomed by delighted attention.
Many places I appeared have a resident dog
It makes me happy. I miss my bull burrows when I’m on the road. A little dog weather before a show is always welcome.
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