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FYI

Government Support Urgently Needed For Live Music Sector

Like most in the world, Canadians in varying degrees have been wrestling with the new world order where facemask, lockdowns, fear and mixed governmental messages have created turmoil in our persona

Government Support Urgently Needed For Live Music Sector

By David Farrell

Like most in the world, Canadians in varying degrees have been wrestling with the new world order where facemask, lockdowns, fear and mixed governmental messages have created turmoil in our personal and professional lives.


Now over a year into pandemic mode, we find ourselves wrestling with the uncomfortable shadow of doubt that our leaders have a strategy and aren’t playing pin the donkey on a problem that is beyond vexing and for many, ruinous.

For the live music industry, the vagaries of policy mandates are reaching a boiling point. Concert promoters, club owners and the acts that have relied on income from live performances have been dealt a heavy hand. While understanding that isolation orders bring down the contagion numbers, we have scratched our heads over how factories have largely been immune from shutdowns, and how big box stores until recently benefitted financially at the expense of a great many small stores that have been forced to close or awkwardly fill curbside orders.

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The Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) is asking us all to write our member of parliament asking for further financial support for the live industry, and venue owner Lisa Zbitnew explains in detail the issues she and her peers face in running business with threadbare or zero revenues. It’s a must-read written by Postmedia entertainment writer Jane Stevenson.

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Sum 41 photographed by Lane Dorsey on Jan. 27, 2025 at Canada Life Place in London, Ontario. Left to right: Deryck Whibley, Frank Zummo, Tom Thacker, Jason "Cone" McCaslin, Dave "Brownsound" Baksh
Sum 41 photographed by Lane Dorsey on Jan. 27, 2025 at Canada Life Place in London, Ontario. Left to right: Deryck Whibley, Frank Zummo, Tom Thacker, Jason "Cone" McCaslin, Dave "Brownsound" Baksh
Sum 41 photographed by Lane Dorsey on Jan. 27, 2025 at Canada Life Place in London, Ontario. Left to right: Deryck Whibley, Frank Zummo, Tom Thacker, Jason "Cone" McCaslin, Dave "Brownsound" Baksh
Culture

A Sum 41 Exhibit Is Coming To Calgary's National Music Centre

The exhibit launches on March 26, ahead of the rock group's induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

The National Music Centre is telling Sum 41's story.

A new exhibit about the iconic Canadian rockers will launch at the Centre's Studio Bell in Calgary on March 26. That comes just ahead of the group's final-ever performance at the 2025 Junos, which will mark their induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. The band played their final shows in January, where Billboard Canada joined them for their final digital cover shoot and interview.

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