Two weeks ago, as trade tensions between Canada and the United States reached a boiling point, the Canadian Live Music Association launched its #CanadaIsLiveMusic campaign to highlight its sector's vitality to the Canadian economy. Now, with an election nearing, the organization hopes the campaign will frame live music as an economic driver in Canada.
Listed among the campaign's goals are to "position Canada’s live music industry as a strong, resilient, reliable, economic partner" and to "encourage more music tourism by incentivizing tourists to choose Canada (or for Canadians, to stay in Canada) for the best live music in the world."
The campaign comes on the heels of the CLMA's recent Hear and Now study, which found that live music contributed $10.92B to Canada's GDP in 2023—a contribution they noted is greater than those made by some other sectors more apt to receive political attention, such as fisheries.
Furthermore, the live industry manages to make these contributions without heavy government subsidies, something that was emphasized at the CLMA's unveiling of the Hear and Now study in late January.
The implication in making this point is clear: what economic benefits could greater public support yield?
In advocating for ways to "support risk-taking among venues & promoters with strategic initiatives", the CLMA is hoping that more robust policy and greater industry support will allow the live sector to create even more jobs than the 101,604 its study found the industry already provides.
With new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stating that "we can give ourselves more than [anyone] can take away", the CLMA's hope will be for live music to become a pillar in Canada's strategy to boost its economy internally.
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