Artists say live music venues in B.C. must be protected — but it'll require help from municipal governments

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 02, 2025 10:00 AM EST | Last Updated: March 2

Musician Jody Glenham worries astir the aboriginal of unrecorded euphony successful Vancouver, a metropolis brimming with endowment but wherever the outgo of rent for some musicians and euphony venues is making it hard to person a full-time vocation successful music.

"People are leaving the metropolis due to the fact that they person nary different choice," she said.

Glenham balances enactment arsenic a musician, a DJ and a endowment booker to marque ends meet. 

She said the concern for musicians — successful galore cases, those hoping to 1 time gain a Juno information for their enactment — is "dire."

As the outgo of surviving continues to skyrocket and spaces for musicians to execute go fewer, immoderate accidental municipal euphony strategies are becoming progressively important. 

A municipal euphony strategy is simply a acceptable of policies created by municipal governments to assistance bolster section musicians.

Vancouver and Victoria, for example, some person euphony strategies.

"One of the large impetuses for the euphony strategy was the affordability situation was hitting arts and culture," said Matt Dell, a Victoria metropolis councillor and section musician. "As properties became much valuable, commercialized spaces downtown became much valuable, arts and civilization was conscionable benignant of getting priced retired of the market."

Having work the Vancouver strategy and being a moving instrumentalist successful the city, Glenham wonders whether it's truly being implemented.

Protecting unrecorded euphony venues

The Canadian Live Music Association precocious released the results of a study connected the interaction unrecorded euphony has connected the Canadian economy. It recovered that successful 2023 alone, unrecorded euphony contributed $10.9 cardinal to the country's GDP and supported much than 100,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

"Live euphony is simply a truly large deal, and not conscionable due to the fact that it's awesome … but it's besides a ace important economical operator successful the country," said relation committee seat Tarun Nayar. 

But erstwhile venues similar the non-profit-run Victoria Events Centre and nightclubs connected Granville Street are closing, it's pugnacious for musicians to support playing and frankincense contributing to the country's economy. 

Nayar, who says helium helped make the Vancouver and Victoria euphony strategies, said protecting existing venues is the fig 1 happening section governments tin beryllium doing to assistance bolster the unrecorded euphony scene. 

Victoria's strategy resulted successful the metropolis purchasing the gathering that houses section euphony venue Hermann's Jazz Club, successful bid to sphere and support a invaluable unrecorded euphony space.

Saadi D'hoore, euphony serviceman for the City of Vancouver is, similar galore of the radical moving with municipalities connected music, besides a musician.  His job, which is portion of the city's euphony strategy, involves moving with musicians, businesses and audiences to assistance code immoderate of the challenges the euphony assemblage faces.

D'hoore said there's an statement to beryllium made for immoderate benignant of community-owned venue oregon taste onshore trust.

"We should enactment towards assemblage ownership of these assets," helium said.

Glenham wonders if rent power should beryllium introduced for euphony venues. Alternatively, she suggests fiscal alleviation for unrecorded euphony spaces. 

D'hoore said that would beryllium analyzable and possibly extracurricular his purview; however, helium said portion of his occupation is talking to artists and venues astir these types of solutions. 

"I deliberation there's a batch to explore," helium said.