Country Profile: Canada

An enormous country with a relatively small population, Canada is also a tale of two markets. The English- speaking part is dominated by Toronto (6.3m people), while the largest city in the Francophone area of Quebec has 4.3m inhabitants.

While the biggest artists tend to fare equally well in both territories, there are marked taste differences between the two language zones. Nonetheless, Live Nation dominates here, responsible for the majority of national tours by international artists.

It has forthcoming shows with Louis Tomlinson, Shania Twain, Arctic Monkeys, and Crowded House. In 2021, the company announced plans to redevelop Budweiser Stage, a semi-enclosed outdoor concert venue in Toronto, into a modern, year-round live music and performance venue with a 20,000 outdoor capacity and 9,000 indoor.

It has forthcoming shows with Louis Tomlinson, Shania Twain, Arctic Monkeys, and Crowded House.

It is due to open in 2030, and adds to the company’s Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, Midway in Edmonton, Danforth Music Hall, Velvet Underground, and the newly opened 2,500-capacity venue in Toronto, History.

Quebec’s leading promoter is evenko, which in 2019 signed a “strategic partnership” with Live Nation, “to combine evenko’s expertise in the market producing and promoting live entertainment and developing emerging local talent and their world-class festival portfolio with Live Nation Entertainment’s extensive reach and resources to bring the global stage to Quebec and Atlantic Canada,” according to a joint statement.

The deal will see evenko retain its brand and continue to oversee more than 1,500 shows per year it promotes,

The deal will see evenko retain its brand and continue to oversee more than 1,500 shows per year it promotes, alongside running festivals Osheaga Music and Arts Festival, îLESONIQ and LASSO Montréal, plus running its venues Bell Centre, MTELUS, Place Bell, and the Corona Theatre.

“This is great news for evenko and music fans throughout Quebec, who will now enjoy a broader range of concerts and shows with Montreal becoming a must stop on major international artists’ world tours,” says Jacques Aubé, president and CEO of evenko.

“This partnership brings with it a beautiful synergy and a shared belief in bringing the biggest concerts to Quebec and Eastern Canada,” says Riley O’Connor, chairman, Live Nation Canada. Among other promoters is Toronto-based Collective Concerts, which was started in 2010 and produces events in various venues including clubs, arenas, and outdoor spaces
across the country.

“This partnership brings with it a beautiful synergy and a shared belief in bringing the biggest concerts to Quebec and Eastern Canada,”

It has shows with Ezra Collective, Andrew Bird, Belle & Sebastian, and Death Cab For Cutie coming up. With offices in Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Victoria, Calgary, Montreal and Miami, MRG LIVE produces over 1,000 events a year.

A new promoter company, F7 Entertainment Group, was recently opened by Sarath Samarasekera, Emmanuel Patterson, Nhaelan McMillan, Timur Inceoglu, and Ryan Penner, with the intention of promoting music across all genres.

“At our core, we are an organic group of music lovers and professionals who have seen a gap in how music is being promoted in Canada and, in particular, how emerging music markets across the country are being underserved,” Samarasekera told Pollstar.

“At our core, we are an organic group of music lovers and professionals who have seen a gap in how music is being promoted in Canada and, in particular, how emerging music markets across the country are being underserved,”

“We aim to bring a more holistic, enjoyable, and affordable experience to Canadians while exposing them to new and exciting forms of music.” Erin Benjamin, Canadian Live Music Association president and CEO, told Pollstar in March that the market is “so much better than it was.”

She added: “There’s still lingering challenges coming out of Covid, like accessing an affordable commercial liability insurance is next to impossible for many. We still have this very hard market in Canada where live music venues have been lumped in with nightclubs, which is problematic.

“We have also had significant labour shortages and massive, maybe even monumental, consumer confidence challenges. The shows that you’d expect to sell out seem to be selling out, like the international touring acts and the headline shows, but it’s the discovery pieces that seem to be lagging, and we’re finding that people are buying tickets last minute.

“We have also had significant labour shortages and massive, maybe even monumental, consumer confidence challenges.”

Maybe they’re buying tickets, and they’re not showing up, so we’re seeing really soft-looking houses. Not across the board, and it depends where you are in this country… But on the whole, I would say we’re better than we were; we’re happy to be open. We are so happy to be open.”

Global sports and entertainment company Oak View Group announced the launch of a division in the country following a first foray through a partnership with Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group on the redevelopment of the downtown arts and entertainment district in Hamilton, Ontario.

The link-up served as the launching point for the Canadian office and will include the renovation of the 19,000-capacity FirstOntario Centre, which will be privately funded with more than CA$50m. Construction is anticipated to begin in the autumn.