The CLMA Calls on Government to Urgently Prioritize Canadian Artists at Home
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10th, 2025 - Ottawa, Ontario — The world is witnessing seismic shifts in political climates, social tensions, growing concerns over safety, and dramatically escalating costs of living. Canadian touring artists and musicians are caught in the crosshairs. Every day brings another headline of an artist cancelling a U.S. tour, tough decisions that trigger a cascade of lost opportunities for career development and revenue generation (for artists, their teams, musicians, and crew) that help to sustain livelihoods and families.
Touring and live performance fees, along with sale of merchandise at shows, can equal - or exceed - upwards of 75% of an artist's annual income. Any reduction in live performance will have an immediate and catastrophic impact on an artist’s ability to earn a living. If swift action isn’t taken, we will watch our artists work and earn less. To counteract this, some may choose to leave the business entirely. Others may decide to permanently relocate to Europe or other artist-friendly countries, exacerbating our cultural brain drain. As dire as this moment is, we have the chance, right now, to reimagine Canadian opportunities - to become as competitive with, and as desirable to, the U.S. – to leverage the growing global music tourism industry, and to protect our treasured artists. We undervalue their contributions to our cultural, social, and economic lives at immeasurable cost, impossible to truly recover.
Today, the CLMA is calling on the Government to step in, working with Canada’s venues, festivals, and concert promoters, and create more opportunities for Canadian artists to perform here at home. An expedited coordinated effort will help to offset and minimize lost or cancelled performance revenues. In doing so, we should also recognize that we have a generational opportunity, right in front of us, to position Canada as a global music hub — a place where artists from around the world will come to succeed.
With quick action, we can build a future where Canada is not only a home for all Canadian artists but also a growing destination for international talent. We can offer a safe, thriving environment for musicians from every corner of the globe, while helping to cultivate a vibrant cultural ecosystem that will attract world-wide audiences and elevate Canada’s standing in the global music scene.
The CLMA is calling on the Canadian Government to:
Make an immediate investment to increase the number of performance opportunities available for Canadian artists through programming support to Canadian venues, festivals and concert promoters.
Support international marketplace activities on Canadian soil such as conferences, award shows, and showcasing events.
Canada has always been a land of opportunity for artists to express themselves and connect with their audiences, telling our stories and changing our lives with their music. Our live music industry can be harnessed for action and growth. By strengthening our commitment to domestic touring and live performance, we can ensure that Canadian artists and musicians can continue to flourish and grow their careers here, while simultaneously taking definitive action to build up Canada as the premier destination for live music and music tourism - positioning our country as a global live music epicenter.
#CanadaIsLiveMusic
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Key Live Music Statistics:
The current combined impact of live music company operations and tourism spending related to live music:
$10.92B GDP
101,604 full-time equivalent jobs.
Total labour income of $5.84B.
$3.73B in taxes (including income, property, and consumption taxes)
19.69M visitors
For recommendations found within the Federal Election 2025 #CanadaIsLiveMusic campaign, visit this web page.
Read more about the economic impact of Canada’s live music sector here.
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About the Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA)
The CLMA is a national, member-based, not-for-profit trade association. Founded in 2014, it represents the stages upon which our artists stand and the workers and supply chains that surround them. “Behind the people behind live music”, the CLMA works to entrench the conditions for concerts to thrive from coast to coast to coast. Members include organizations whose core business is live music: clubs, venues, concert promoters, music festivals, performing arts centres, talent agents, suppliers, production crew, and more.
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For more information, please contact Erin Benjamin, President & CEO, CLMA at: ebenjamin@canadianlivemusic.ca.