JP Saxe Warns Fans That Upcoming Shows Could Be Cancelled Due to Low Ticket Sales

Billboard charting artist JP Saxe is sparking conversation about the sustainability of the music touring scene after the Toronto singer-songwriter admitted to fans that his forthcoming shows may be cancelled due to low ticket sales.

"I'm extremely embarrassed to tell you this, but I'm going to tell you anyway," he said in a TikTok video posted on July 28. "If I don't sell twenty or so thousand tickets to my tour in the next 48 hours, it's going to be cancelled."

"If we're just not in a place yet to sell out these two or three thousand cap venues, that's fine. It's always been my goal to connect deeply not widely, and I stand by that," Saxe explained. "But just in case you were waiting 'till the week of or night of to buy a ticket, that approach just isn't going to work."

This fall, Saxe is scheduled to perform shows in support of his recently released album, Make Yourself At Home, which is set to kick off at Midway Music Hall in Edmonton, Alberta, on September 9.

His earnest TikTok request amassed over a million views, with the Saxe posting a follow-up video yesterday (July 29) of a crowd singing one of his songs with the overlaid text: "i thought it was impossible but there's a chance you're saving this tour."

“woke up baffled and grateful… if people keep getting tickets like this it could actually happen,” read the caption.

Earlier this month, Saxe shared an Instagram post about feeling nervous for the tour. “nervous abt playing the biggest rooms I've ever played and no one showing up. nervous I really shldn't ask u to spend $40 rn in the middle of... everything,” he wrote. “If you've been meaning to get a ticket, now's the time. I'd really love to share this show with you.”

Currently, Saxe's concerts remain on sale, with no update on whether enough tickets have been sold for the tour to proceed.

In a post-pandemic world, many musicians have been forced to cancel tours due to the massive financial undertaking, with artists often struggling to break even, let alone turn a profit. Last year’s first-ever Hear and Now report from the Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) found that global live music events in 2024 didn't live up to projected performances, citing “cancelled tours and festivals due to lower ticket sales, rising costs and environmental impacts.”

Many Canadian music festivals have scaled back or shut down after facing tough post-lockdown circumstances, including rising production costs, fewer corporate sponsorships and hesitant audiences. "COVID ripped up the playbook," Erin Benjamin, President & CEO of CLMA, told Billboard Canada earlier this year. "The cost of goods and services and labour and talent is extremely high — and it continues to go up."

While recently-opened venues, including Toronto’s Rogers Stadium and Hamilton’s TD Coliseum, are hosting megastars Coldplay and Paul McCartney, smaller artists, like Saxe, continue on an uphill touring battle.