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Touring
Exclusive: CIMA and MusicOntario Launch LIVE Music Toronto Collective
Elevating Toronto-based independent venues, festivals, promoters and presenters with support from Tixr and the City of Toronto, LIVE Music Toronto marks the first formal association for live music in the country's biggest hub.
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For a new industry collective, Toronto’s independent live music scene is taking centre stage.
The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) and MusicOntario have announced LIVE Music Toronto, a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to represent the city’s independent live music sector.
The collective will provide resources to local independent venues, festivals, promoters and presenters, while cultivating a collective voice on local policies relevant to Toronto’s burgeoning independent live music spaces.
Global ticketing platform Tixr will provide financial support to boost LIVE Music Toronto, onboarding initial registrants over the next year. Currently, over 40 venues, presenters and promoters have opted in as founding members.
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To qualify, members of LIVE Music Toronto must be independent Canadian-owned and controlled venues, promoters, presenters or festivals operating in Toronto and not affiliated with the major institutional ecosystem. They can’t be owned or operated by the municipal, provincial or federal governments, either.
In recent years, the city’s independent live music economy has raked in millions of dollars and thousands of opportunities. According to the Re: Venues 2023 study — which used 2020 data — Toronto’s music venues generated an estimated $850 million in annual economic impact and approximately 10,500 full-time jobs.
On a national scale, the Canadian Live Music Association's Hear and Now report found that the Canadian live music industry added almost $11 billion to the country’s economy in 2023.
The collective’s local focus reflects other community-centered initiatives throughout the country and globally, including Quebec’s Les SMAQ, the U.K.’s Music Venue Trust and the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) in the U.S.
“CIMA members know that a thriving local live scene sets up the entire music ecosystem for success,” says president & CEO Andrew Cash.
Founded in 1975, the not-for-profit national trade association represents over 700 Canadian-owned music companies connected to over 6,000 artists and music industry workers across the country — many of which are located in Toronto, one of the industry’s biggest music hubs.
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“With the creation of the LIVE Music Toronto membership tier within CIMA not only are live sector independents in that city connecting to each other, there is now a bridge between them and the broader CIMA community of music companies, which include labels, managers, publishers and artists themselves.”
Emy Stantcheva, MusicOntario’s executive director, details the city’s impact: “The live music industry animates our city day and night, creates countless jobs, drives tourism and hospitality and is a core feature of any world-class metropolis.”
The initiative is already gaining praise from some of local music venue owners.
“Toronto’s independent live venues mobilized to generate significant support during the pandemic, including the City of Toronto’s creation of a property tax exemption for music venues,” says Shaun Bowring, owner and operator of Dundas West’s The Garrison and The Baby G and Transmit Presents, a local promoter. “It’s fantastic to see the establishment of LIVE Music Toronto as a formal initiative with the support of CIMA and MusicOntario.”
Camille Neirynck-Guerrero, programmer of Queen West’s venue and promoter Drom Taberna — the space that recently hosted members of. Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars’ bands during the latter’s record-breaking run at Toronto’s Roger Stadium in May — co-signs the initiative, too, saying it’s already benefitted their event space.
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“Being a part of LIVE Music Toronto has already hugely expanded both our community and our access to resources and networking — just through connecting us with our neighbours right here in Toronto.”
To learn more, Toronto-based independent venues or presenters can click here.
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