Live music executives in Canada have warned the touring industry faces a “climate of uncertainty” due to Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.

The US president imposed sweeping tariff hikes on Canada and Mexico last week, although some have been paused until 2 April. He also raised levies on Chinese imports to 20%.

Trump, who has called for Canada to become America’s 51st state, previously said he was taking action “to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country”.

A 25% tax on steel and aluminium products from all countries was imposed last week, with Canada and the EU both announcing retaliatory tariffs in the developing trade war.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said 2 April would be a “liberating day” for the US, with a new wave of levies to be introduced.

“It’s going to be reciprocal — in other words, whatever they’re charging, we’re charging,” he said. “Then in addition to that, on autos, on steel, on aluminium, we’re going to have some additional tariffs.”

“The current tariff war will create a climate of uncertainty for venues in the United States who hire artists”

Amid the ever-changing situation, Robert Baird, president of Toronto-based BAM! Baird Artists Management Consulting, advises on the likely consequences for live music.

“The current tariff war will create a climate of uncertainty for venues in the United States who hire artists: their funding may be in jeopardy and their clientele may be diminished simply because people will have less discretionary income,” he tells IQ. “A depressed economy due to the tariff will not allow for the flourishing of live performing arts.”

A former president of North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA), Baird also points to potential additional hurdles for international touring acts.

“I am concerned that there may be additional rules coming which would limit the entry of foreign artists into the United States, whether by increasing the costs of work permits or putting increasing impediments on the entry visa process,” he adds.

“We could see increased costs for goods and materials such as building materials, technology, food and beverage, and merchandise”

Chris May, general manager of Vancouver’s BC Place stadium, which has hosted acts such as Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and U2, as well as the finale of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, breaks down some of the more granular implications.

“The potential impacts of tariffs on the live events industry will depend on each venue or company’s specific operations,” he says. “However, as with many industries, we could see increased costs for goods and materials such as building materials, technology, food and beverage, and merchandise.

“Fortunately, BC Place has always prioritised working with Canadian suppliers whenever possible, which puts us in a strong position to mitigate the effects of tariffs and limit any associated cost increases.”

May offers his thoughts on how the situation could play out from here – both for better and for worse.

“BC Place is thankful to have strong relationships with many Canadian partners and suppliers, and we remain committed to supporting the local economy,” he notes. “However, the worst-case scenario would involve a decline in tourism to British Columbia, which could result in fewer visitors for events, especially those travelling from the US. Depending on the event, many of our attendees come from south of the border, contributing not only to our ticket sales but also to the local economy.

“While it’s difficult to predict how things will unfold, we remain optimistic and committed to maintaining BC Place as an open, inclusive space. We look forward to continuing to welcome our friends from the US and showcasing the beauty of our province.”

“The past few years have shown us how resilient and adaptable our industry can be in the face of global uncertainty”

BC Place is gearing up to welcome AC/DC next month in advance of a multi-night run by Canadian homegrown hero The Weeknd this July, and May is determined not the let the outside issues distract from the venue’s core focus.

“Our goal of providing exceptional experiences for our guests and continuing to host world-class events remains the same,” he tells IQ. “While tariffs may present some challenges, our team is proactively working on solutions to ensure we continue delivering value for both our fans and partners.

“The past few years have shown us how resilient and adaptable our industry can be in the face of global uncertainty, and we have come out the other side stronger. BC Place’s commitment to overcoming challenges and evolving with the changing landscape has always been key to our success, and we’re confident that we’ll continue to thrive despite any external challenges.”

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) today (17 March) published its latest Interim Economic Outlook. It projects the tariffs will lead to global growth slowing to 3.1% in 2025 and 3% in 2026, while revising its inflation forecast upwards by 0.3 percentage points to 3.8%, compared to its Economic Outlook in December.

Due to being hardest hit by the tariffs, the impact on Canada and Mexico is expected to be the most substantial, with the OECD now predicting Canada’s economy to expand by 0.7% this year and next, down from the previous forecast of 2% for both years.

Meanwhile, Mexico is projected to contract by 1.3% this year and a further 0.6% in 2026, having previously been expected to grow by 1.2% and 1.6%, respectively.

The US’ forecast has also been downgraded to 2.2% for 2025 and 1.6% for 2026, compared to 2.4% and 2.1% in the last outlook.

“The global economy has shown some real resilience, with growth remaining steady and inflation moving downwards. However, some signs of weakness have emerged, driven by heightened policy uncertainty,” says OECD secretary-general Mathias Cormann. “Increasing trade restrictions will contribute to higher costs both for production and consumption. It remains essential to ensure a well-functioning, rules-based international trading system and to keep markets open.”

“Today’s political reality creates an opportunity for our industry to help lead through these turbulent times”

Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) president and CEO Erin Benjamin says the trade war is quickly raising significant concerns within Canada’s live music industry.

“Tariffs are expected to have multiple direct and indirect impacts on live music businesses and organisations, including increased operational costs,” she says.

“Today, one of the greatest worries – which has broad economic implications – is that the trade war will lead to decreased overall consumer spending on entertainment, affecting ticket sales and attendance at live events.”

However, Benjamin is keen to accentuate the positives amid the ongoing uncertainty.

“These three things are as true today as they ever have been – Canada’s live music industry is a cultural and economic powerhouse, our incredible home-grown artists embody the essence of Canadian identity, and, concerts have always meant positive impact for tourism, job creation, artist development, and economic growth,” she says.

Benjamin references the CLMA’s public awareness campaign, #CanadaIsLiveMusic, which was recently launched “to better highlight the potential for growth our sector represents”.

“Today’s political reality creates an opportunity for our industry to help lead through these turbulent times,” she continues. “With new, compelling economic data in hand, #CanadaIsLiveMusic sends a strong signal that our industry is more than ready to be an even stronger catalyst for, and champion of, a resilient Canadian economy.”

In closing, Benjamin extends a warm welcome to Canada’s new prime minister and Liberal Party leader Mark Carney, who succeeded Justin Trudeau as PM earlier this month.

“The CLMA welcomes Mr Mark Carney as the new leader of the Liberal Party, and looks forward to working with all political parties to harness the true power of live music, creating a legacy of cultural vibrancy, increasing jobs, economic resilience, and community connection for generations to come,” she finishes.

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The Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) says it is monitoring the conversation around Donald Trump’s tariff threat “very closely” amid the potential implications for Canada’s touring business.

The US president has agreed to pause his proposed 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico for 30 days after reaching temporary deals with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum.

Trump previously said he was taking action “to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country”. He has imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese imports.

“We are obviously monitoring the tariff conversation very closely,” CLMA president and CEO Erin Benjamin tells IQ. “Whether directly or indirectly, should tariffs come into place, the live music and entertainment sectors will be impacted. We are quickly aligning with the broader tourism industry, and working in close collaboration with others to plan, monitor, and respond/react, as necessary.”

Meanwhile, Ottawa-based CLMA this week released the findings of its economic impact study Here and Now: understanding the economic power and potential of Canada’s live music industry.

The benchmark report found that the country’s live music industry supports more than 100,000 jobs and attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists year over year.

“The numbers in it have been achieved largely in the absence of any dedicated fiscal policy frameworks aimed at incentivising growth”

In 2023, festivals and concerts in Canada together brought in 19.69 million visitors, with live music operations contributing €2 billion (€1.3bn) to GDP. Furthermore, it says the combined impact of live music company operations and tourism spending amounted to an economic contribution of $10.92bn (€7.34bn).

“The incredible small, medium, and large venues, clubs, concert halls, festivals, arenas, and other live music spaces that connect artists with their fans form a vast, complex, indoor and outdoor ecosystem,” says Benjamin. “This is the system that facilitates live music–and its massive supply chain across Canada, be it a national arena tour, or a one-off local show in a 120-cap independent venue and everything in-between.

“Understanding and harnessing this system creates a significant and scalable competitive advantage for Canadians and for all levels of government and is essential for our artists so that they can continue to share the music we love and need. And why wouldn’t we? This study is a benchmark, the numbers in it have been achieved largely in the absence of any dedicated fiscal policy frameworks aimed at incentivising growth. $10.92bn in combined impact from live music and tourism spending – without trying.”

5X Festival co-founder and CLMA board chair Tarun Nayar says the report’s findings “make it clear that protecting and growing Canada’s live music infrastructure directly results in more jobs, major economic impact for cities and towns, and more performance opportunities for Canadian artists”.

“It means more fans choosing Canada when deciding where to spend their (billions of, as it turns out) music tourism dollars,” adds Nayar. “It means sold out hotels, fully booked flights, bustling shops, and restaurants. It means togetherness and social cohesion. It means better mental health. It means thriving downtowns. It means attracting and retaining other industries and talent to our cities. It means more revenue for artists and musicians. It means more music and memories with family and friends that change our lives.”

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Citing feedback from its members, UK performance rights organisation PRS for Music has amended its controversial tariff for small-scale livestreamed shows to exempt artists performing their own material.

The new ‘small-scale Online Live Concert licence’ – which levies a minimum 9% fee on events generating less than £500 – has been sharply criticised by the industry for punishing grassroots venues, artists and promoters, and has reportedly already led to a number of cancellations.

These small-scale events will now be covered by a free licence, available “throughout the period the live sector is forced to close due to the Covid-19 crisis where the qualifying member is the performer”.

According to PRS, the benefits of the new mechanism are that it “allows performing writers the latitude to test the online concert market to find a model which works for them”, as well as to allow writer-performers to “more easily hold a concert in support of others in the industry, such as charity gigs”.

“The change announced today we hope addresses many of the concerns expressed to us”

PRS says it will also be “accelerating its ongoing dialogue” with the industry about a fair interim rate for other live streams, including large shows, while physical live concerts are not possible. “We are committed to agreeing a discounted rate for larger concerts as soon as possible to make these licences available to the market,” reads a statement.

“We are committed to making sure that our songwriters, composers and publishers are well supported, so it is essential that all our members share in the value being generated by online livestreamed concerts when their songs are performed,” says Michelle Escoffery, president of the PRS Members’ Council.

“The change announced today we hope addresses many of the concerns expressed to us over the last few days. PRS will continue to listen to the views of our members in these most difficult of times.”

Mark Davyd, CEO of Music Venue Trust, comments: “We warmly welcome this logical revision to the previously announced tariff which has already seen hundreds of live events lost, costing performers and songwriters vital opportunities to generate desperately needed income during this crisis. The announcement of the online small-scale tariff last week, without prior consultation or discussion, was ill conceived and poorly executed. It is good to see PRS for Music acknowledging their error by immediately removing this charge.

“We note that once again the statement is issued to press without consultation or discussion with the sector most impacted by it. A long-term solution that ensures that songwriters whose work is performed in the grassroots sector are recognised and rewarded is achievable. It requires PRS for Music to enter into serious discussions in good faith, prepared to listen and prepared to consider evidence that can result in positive, forward-facing solutions for all stakeholders.

“We look forward to a full and inclusive consultation on these matters in the days and weeks ahead”

“Grassroots music venues want to pay the right songwriters an appropriate fee for the use of their material. The creation of songs is the beating heart of what our sector is about. Let’s work together to fix a broken system that recognises and rewards that.”

I a joint statement, David Martin, CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition, and Annabella Coldrick, CEO of the Music Managers Forum, add: “We are pleased that PRS for Music have listened to calls from artists, managers and others across the industry. It is a welcome step forward that writer-performers playing their own material will be exempted from paying for a licence at small-scale livestream shows.

“We also welcome that PRS will now begin dialogue with artists, managers and other key stakeholders about the licensing of larger livestream events, and commit to agreeing a discounted rate while ‘in-person’ shows remain closed. Decisions around collection and distribution of revenue impact cross-sections of the music industry and cannot be taken on a unilateral basis. Therefore, we look forward to a full and inclusive consultation on these matters in the days and weeks ahead.”

Qualifying members can obtain a free PRS licence for small-scale online ticketed events by emailing [email protected].

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Key organisations from the UK’s music industry have criticised PRS for Music for its new “ill-conceived” licence for small-scale livestreamed gigs, following last year’s backlash about the proposed tariff for larger livestreamed events.

The UK performance rights organisation has today launched a new licensing portal for music creators, venues and promoters wanting to stage livestream small-scale events, which will impose a flat fee equating to a minimum 9% tariff on events generating less than £500.

The blanket rate for a show that generates less than £250 is £22.50, and £45 for an event that generates between £250 and £500.

The move follows the last year’s proposal that larger livestream events should be subject to a tariff of between 8% and 17% of gross revenues, compared to 4.2% charged at normal in-person live shows.

This prompted Music Managers Forum (MMF) and Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) to send a joint letter – countersigned by more than 50 artist managers – to PRS for Music CEO Andrea Martin last month urging her to reconsider the move.

“[PRS] need to commit to a full and transparent industry-wide consultation before issuing invoices to cash-strapped artists”

PRS says it will not be actively pursuing licences for livestreamed events that took place prior to the launch of the new portal, which would have qualified for the fixed fee licence.

Commenting on the new licence for small-scale livestreamed concerts, David Martin, CEO at FAC, and Annabella Coldrick, chief executive at MMF, say: “All of us want songwriters and composers to be paid fairly and efficiently for the use of their work, but this is not the way to go about it. Once again, we would urge PRS for Music to stop acting unilaterally.

“They need to urgently listen to the growing concerns of artists and their representatives during the pandemic, implement a waiver for performer-writers to opt-out of such fees, and commit to a full and transparent industry-wide consultation before issuing invoices to cash-strapped artists.”

“Unilaterally announcing ill-conceived new tariffs in a crisis is not such a discussion”

Mark Davyd, CEO at Music Venue Trust, added: “The live music industry, including grassroots music venues, artists and promoters, is in crisis mode and pulling together. The team at MVT have been in regular correspondence with PRS for Music throughout this crisis on how we can work together to ensure everyone emerges from this crisis and we can get back to work. At no time during those conversations has anybody suggested that a new tariff for streaming would be created. We have not been consulted on this, advised of it, or even notified of it prior to a press release being issued.

“The principal beneficiaries of paid streaming during this crisis have been artists. The beneficiaries of charitable streaming, online broadcasts by artists to raise money for causes, have included venues, crew, artists, and the wider community, including healthcare workers, food banks and homeless charities.

“It is unclear from this press statement whether PRS for Music wishes to clampdown on artists paying themselves or on artists supporting charities, but we would strongly suggest that neither should have been advanced to the stage of an announcement of a Tariff without understanding the most basic economics of what streaming is actually doing during this crisis.

“We remain available to discuss the realities of streaming during this crisis with PRS for Music if they wish to have an informed discussion on it. Unilaterally announcing ill-conceived new tariffs in a crisis is not such a discussion.”

“[PRS] is continuing to work to agree a range of licensing options for larger events, including a proposed discount”

Andrea Martin, CEO, PRS for Music, says: “We recognise the importance of providing simple licensing solutions wherever possible and the licensing portal for small-scale online events is an example of this. We are continuing to work hard to agree a range of licensing options for providers of larger events, including a proposed discounted rate during the pandemic.

“This is a part of the market which has seen exponential growth and is itself constantly evolving, meeting the expectations for worldwide blanket licences is alone no small feat, but we are committed to finding solutions which ensure members can be paid fairly when their works are performed.”

John Truelove, writer director, PRS Members’ Council, says: “Composers and songwriters have faced monumental challenges this past year. So, the huge surge in the online live concert market beyond anyone’s expectations, is positive news all round. It is great that so many artists are performing online concerts to stay connected with fans, to earn a living, and to promote new releases.

“Anyone wanting to hold small online ticketed gigs can now get a PRS licence in a simple and straightforward way. This will create even more opportunities for artists, musicians and writers to thrive together while ensuring that songwriters and composers are being properly paid when their music is performed.”

PRS is proposing to apply temporary discounted rates on livestream licensing for bigger events until the live sector can reopen – though these are yet to be determined.

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Last year’s unpopular hike in live music tariffs by Sabam constituted unfair commercial practices, a Brussels court has ruled, handing a legal win to the Belgian festival sector.

A coalition of Belgian festival and concert promoters filed a lawsuit against Sabam, Belgium’s performance rights organisation (PRO), last May after tariffs were increased across the board, with the largest festivals seeing their payments to Sabam increase 30% as of 1 January 2017. The increase in both the festival and concert tariffs – slammed by Rock Werchter founder Herman Schueremans as a move that would “kill the goose that lays the golden egg” – were pushed through by Sabam after negotiations with industry groups failed.

In addition to increasing tariffs for events of all sizes, Sabam (Société d’Auteurs Belge/Belgische Auteurs Maatschappij) also began including sponsorship and subsidies in festivals’ revenues, “when these revenues are clearly related to the event”.

According to Jan Vereecke of Night of the Proms promoter PSE, who brought the suit along with Live Nation Belgium/Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop and GraciaLive, in unilaterally imposing the new fees, Sabam is “simply abusing its monopoly” while “offering no additional services in exchange for the price increase”.

Vereecke’s viewpoint is one shared by the Commercial Court of Brussels (Tribunal de Commerce de Bruxelles), which has found the PRO “guilty of unfair commercial practices by significantly increasing festival fees (up to 37%)”, according to court documents.

“The promoters have offered to renew the dialogue with Sabam – a proposal we will be happy to accept”

Sabam has been ordered to pay a fine of €5,000 for each day the newly illegal tariffs have been in force, up to a maximum of €1 million.

Responding, a Sabam spokesperson defends the new fees – 3.25%–6% for festivals and 3.5%–8% for concerts – which it says were implemented following a “comparative study” that showed Belgian songwriters and publishers were receiving a “lower salary than their colleagues in neighbouring countries”.

However, the PRO stresses it is willing to work with the wider industry on a number of points highlighted by the judge, such as the process by which minimum fees are set and how to take into account the exact share of Sabam repertoire played at their events.

“The organisers of festivals and concerts have offered to renew the dialogue with [Sabam] – a proposal we will be happy to accept […] on behalf of our members,” it says in a statement.

The decision comes as Sabam’s UK sister society, PRS for Music, continues to negotiate with industry groups over the rate of the new popular music tariff in Britain.

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