Live music in Canada is a more than $10B industry, new study finds

Live music in Canada is a more than $10 billion industry, according to a first-of-its-kind report published by the Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA). 

"It's so exciting to be able to shine a light on the opportunities we represent," said Erin Benjamin, CEO of CLMA. "When there's live music activity, what this report shows is that there are more jobs, more money and more opportunities for artists and workers." 

According to the CLMA report's economic impact assessment, in 2023 the live music sector contributed $10.92 billion to Canada's GDP as well as $3.73 billion in tax dollars. It also created more than 101,640 jobs across the country, contributing $5.84 billion in labour income.

Data that never existed before

Apart from numbers and percentages pertaining to the live music industry's impact on the country, the real value of the study lies in the fact that it is the first of its kind to be published in Canada.

According to Benjamin, the reason it took so many years to get this data is because, for so long, the biggest players in the industry worked in silos.

"This is an industry that didn't necessarily collaborate. There was no united voice," she said. "There was an absence of focus when it came to advocacy and working together."

As a result, industry representatives were not always present at decision-making tables, and even if they were, Benjamin says they didn't have the data needed to quantify the industry's value for the country. 

"We haven't been able to tell our story effectively. The data piece has been missing so there's been a disconnect," she says. 

Music tourism 

According to the study, in 2023 live music festivals and live shows at venues in Canada brought in an estimated total of 19.69 million visitors. 

Of those, it is estimated that 1.47 million were visitors from the United States, 3.18 million travelled from other provinces, 14.5 million travelled within their own province and 550,000 were from abroad. This led to spillover into other industries including hospitality, transportation and retail.

Visitor spending associated with live music tourism was estimated to be $9.9 billion, which equates to approximately 10.8 per cent of total tourism expenditures in Canada for 2023.

Nate Sabine, the director of business development of Blue Print, one of the largest entertainment, lifestyle and event organizations in Western Canada, says that when reading the report, there's a tendency to think only bigger artists like Taylor Swift are driving such large tourism expenditures. But the reality is that all types of artists are contributing factors. 

"When somebody like Taylor Swift comes to Canada, there's so much activity around it. There are people doing Taylor Swift drag shows and cover bands performing. It's a net positive for everybody," said Sabine, adding that mid-tier artists are the ones consistently touring in Canada and attracting fans from all over the globe. 

"You're not going to have an artist like Taylor Swift touring every year, but you have all of these other bands driving the industry all the time, and then you have the local people doing their thing as well." 

Much-needed policy 

Now that the study exists, Kelly Langard, the CEO of the Toronto Arts Foundation, hopes it will inspire governments to establish more rules and regulations when it comes to live music in the country. 

According to the CLMA report, in 2023 artist entrepreneurs earned an average salary of $17,500, while the average income of all full-time employees in the live music industry was just over $31,000.

Meanwhile, according to national survey findings, 54 per cent of companies, organizations and artists relied on public grants to subsidize at least part of their revenue in 2023, while 79 per cent of people surveyed who received grant funding said it represented up to half of their revenue. 

Langard believes that policies could improve the working conditions of those workers. 

"There could be more rigorous taxing and regulations around venues to ensure their ability to exist and to thrive in the city," she said. "We could also endeavour to implement a fixed wage for performing artists, or at least wage recommendations."

Benjamin also hopes the CLMA report will lead to the private and non-profit sectors wanting to collaborate with the live music industry, especially once its leaders realize the impact it can have on people.  

"Live music makes up happier, healthier people. It addresses mental health and loneliness," she said, quoting the study. "It can be used to solve society's most complex problems."