Got the Music in You?

Toronto’s most prominent mayoral candidates have actually found themselves some common ground – music. Loving music for its own sake is great, but it’s the economic impact of being a music-lover’s haven that has politicians excited.

“Despite a small population, Austin generates three times the economic activity from music as we do,” Olivia Chow said in a recent release in which she endorsed the creation of a music office in the same vein as our film office. The Texas capital has been uniformly lauded for its lucrative music scene. She wants to hire a music commissioner, which, with the office, would cost about half a million a year. Chow says she would generate funds by indexing the city’s billboard tax, which was put in place last year to redirect money from billboard advertising to the arts sector; it generates more than $10 million a year for the city. Austin’s music scene generated about $1.6 billion in 2012, more than three times what Toronto’s did.

John Tory endorsed the music office in May, saying it would help reduce the bureaucracy such as obtaining licences and adherence to postering bylaws for organizers of live events and festivals. He said he would work with live music venues to attract more tourists and to expand Toronto’s outdoor festival schedule.

Rob Ford even pulled off a trip to Austin last fall to see first-hand what makes it such an industry icon. His objective, he said, was to “tell people how great the city is. Tell them that we have the venues, that we have the recording studios. Show them Toronto. We have to sell our city, and I’m a great salesman.” (He also said, after taking in a high school football game, “I just want to get people in Toronto to see that they can blend music and football together like they do here,” adding that music and football have a lot in common, but that people don’t see that. Aside from the fact that he likes both, and that both can fill stadium seats, I’m not sure exactly what they have in common, but I digress, as did Ford.)

“Our economy is built on many pillars, and the creative industries are one of the most important,” Chow said. Toronto spends about $22.25 per capita on arts funding, compared to the $55 they spend in Montreal, she said.

If a music office does for the sector what our film office has done for our standing as Hollywood North, it’s hard to argue against it. The film office, Chow rightfully pointed out, has a clear mandate to promote screen-based entertainment, helping us build a reputation as one of the world’s most film-friendly cities. Toronto has not only become the host of one of the world’s premier film festivals, but also home to some of the best artists, digital effects studios, and artists working in the medium. “We should build a sector this important and successful,” she said. “And the city can help by being a good partner and a strong advocate.”

Toronto’s North by Northwest festival, modelled after Austin’s South by Southwest, the largest music festival in the world, generates $50 million, where the Texas event, the largest single event contributing to Austin’s economy, generates closer to $200 million.

I’m all for music festivals, but there are a few fundamental problems with the whole scheme, not the least of which is that music festivals, unlike film festivals, are weather-dependent. Toronto’s summer festival schedule is already pretty full. The bigger problem is that nobody needed a trip to Austin to decide to throw a party in a park. That’s a job any competent concert promoter can do. Austin isn’t a festival. Austin is a city that embraces the musical arts.

To put Toronto’s music scene on the level with its film scene takes creating more than another festival: it takes creating a music-friendly, and therefore musician-friendly, city. All year round. Part of how you do that is making it affordable for musicians to live here. In Toronto, we tend towards putting upscale condos in the middle of the Entertainment District, which attract exactly the sorts of residents who complain about loud music.

We do make good musicians, and long have, from the folkies in Yorkville in the ‘60s to the punks of the ‘70s to the synth-pop acts of the MuchMusic era to today’s Drake, Feist and F**ked Up. Owing a lot to our multicultural influences, Toronto doesn’t particularly lean towards one sound – and that’s a good thing. When we think Seattle music, we think grunge, but what’s been happening since? Yeah, I don’t know either.

Feist - via blogto.com

If we really want to make Toronto a world-renowned music city, it’s going to take more than festivals. It’s going to take incentives for entrepreneurship that encourage indie record labels. It’s going to take easing up on some of the red tape that prohibits busking. It’s going to take the cooperation of the business and arts sectors, encouraged by funding through such organizations as Business for the Arts and its artsVest grants.

A music office is a great start. But it’s just a start.

What do you think is the role of government in the arts? Do you think Toronto’s got what it takes to be a world-class music destination? Canada Council for the Arts research estimates that cultural tourists spend on average four times as much as others, likely owing to the grouping of activities (a concert, dinner, plus an overnight stay). Should government get involved to attract those tourist dollars?