A tale of two scenes: civic capital and retainingmusical talent in Toronto and Halifax

BRIAN J. HRACSMartin Prosperity Institute, University of Toronto

JILL L. GRANTSchool of Planning, Dalhousie University

JEFFRY HAGGETTPlanning and Development Department, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta

JESSE MORTONSchool of Planning, Dalhousie University

Although Toronto has been the centre of the Canadian music industry for many decades, recent interviewsreveal that industrial restructuring may be affecting the choices that musicians make about where to live andwork. In an era of contemporary independent music production, some smaller city-regions, such as Halifax,Nova Scotia, are becoming more attractive to musicians. This article explores the ways in which musiciansconsider the economic and social dynamics of city-regions in making their location choices. Musicians recognizeToronto’s advantages in size and economic opportunity, yet those in the music scene described it as an intenselycompetitive and difficult work environment. By contrast, respondents in Halifax talked about a supportive andcollaborative community that welcomed newcomers, encouraged performance, and facilitated creativity. In thecontemporary context, where independent musicians are adopting new strategies to pursue their vocation,communities high in civic capital may gain an advantage in attracting and retaining talent.

Keywords: music, civic capital, Toronto, Halifax, social dynamics

Un conte de deux scenes : le capital civique et le maintien des talents musicaux a Toronto et a Halifax

Meme si depuis plusieurs decennies Toronto trone au sommet de l’industrie canadienne de la musique, desentretiens recents font apparaıtre le poids de la restructuration de cette industrie sur les decisions desmusiciens quant a l’endroit ou vivre et travailler. En cette epoque de production independante de musiquecontemporaine, certaines regions urbaines de taille reduite comme Halifax en Nouvelle-Ecosse recelent unpotentiel pour attirer des musiciens. La principale question abordee dans cet article est de savoir dans quellemesure les dynamiques economique et sociale des regions urbaines ont une incidence sur les choix delocalisation des musiciens. Ces derniers sont bien conscients des possibilites economiques qu’une ville de la taillede Toronto peut leur offrir, mais les artisans de la scene musicale la depeignent comme un milieu de travailextremement competitif et ardu. En revanche, du cote d’Halifax, les repondants evoquent la solidarite et lesoutien apportes par la collectivite dans l’accueil des nouveaux arrivants, l’appui a l’organisation de spectacles,et la promotion de la creativite. Dans un tel contexte contemporain, les musiciens independants deploient denouvelles strategies de valorisation de leur metier et les collectivites qui sont dotees d’un capital civiquesuperieur sont plus en mesure d’attirer et de retenir les personnes talentueuses.

Mots cles : musique, capital civique, Toronto, Halifax, dynamique sociale

Correspondence to/Adresse de correspondance: Brian J. Hracs, Martin Prosperity Institute, University of Toronto, Ontario, CanadaM5G 1L7. E-mail/Courriel: brian.hracs@utoronto.ca

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DOI: 10.1111/j.1541-0064.2011.00364.xC© Canadian Association of Geographers / L’Association canadienne des geographes

366 Brian J. Hracs et al.

In today’s world, creativity is a necessity—a musthave, not a nice to have. There is a direct link be-tween a flourishing city and the vitality of its cre-ative sector. (Gertler et al. 2006, 3)

Creativity and innovation have become im-portant economic engines in North Americancities. Traditional industries are adopting newtechnologies and modes of production; culturalindustries—including design, new media, fashion,film, and music—are generating innovative ideas,products, and sources of employment and wealth(Scott 2000; Leslie and Rantisi 2006; Markusenand Schrock 2006a, 2006b; Wojan et al. 2007;Hauge and Hracs 2010). As a result, cities com-pete to attract and retain the highly educated,mobile, and talented individuals who catalyzethese activities (Florida 2002a; Gertler et al.2002; Delisle and Shearmur 2010; Florida et al.2010).

In the contemporary marketplace, however, notall strands of talent are created equal. Indeed, arobust literature in geography and cultural stud-ies highlights the contributions of musical tal-ent to the economic and social prosperity ofcity-regions. The iterative relationship betweenthe production of music (including lyrics, sonicstyles, scenes, and subcultures) and the produc-tion of space is particularly well documented(Halfacree and Kitchin 1996; Leyshon et al. 1998;Bennett 2001; Connell and Gibson 2003). Ge-ographers have also examined how musiciansand music scenes contribute to place makingand urban revitalization (Hudson 1995; Brownet al. 2000; Gibson and Davison 2004; Grazian2004).

The literature points to the direct and indirecteconomic benefits generated by music. WhileHyatt (2008) reported that the retail sales ofrecorded music in Canada totalled $703.7 millionin 2006, the gross revenue in Canada for livemusical performances in 2005 was estimated at$752.8 million. Power and Jansson (2004), Currid(2007), and Hauge and Hracs (2010) argue thatmusicians catalyze innovation and add value toproducts in related industries such as adver-tising, media, and fashion. With an economicfootprint of $84.6 billion in 2007, governmentsincreasingly recognize the significance of thecultural creative economy (Conference Board ofCanada 2008).

Musicians contribute to the social fabric andattractiveness of city-regions by creating vibrantmusic scenes. Although several cases, includingAtkinson’s (1997) work on jazz in New Orleansand Cohen’s (1997) work on the Beatles in Liv-erpool, demonstrate the ability of music scenesto attract tourists, research by Florida (2002a)suggests that the presence of musical talent sig-nals a high quality of place which in turn helpsto attract and retain broader strands of talent.In Ontario, for example, 47 percent of individu-als surveyed by Hyatt (2008) indicated that theyhad attended live musical performances in theprevious year. As talent magnets, musicians andthe scenes they create provide assets for citieslocked in global competition.

Despite the important role that musicians playin city-regions, we know little about the specificfactors that help to attract, incubate, and re-tain these individuals. Even defining who is andwho is not a musician proves challenging. Cen-sus figures record those who self-identified asmusicians in reporting their income; but being amusician may be a fluid identity only partlylinked to primary sources of income. Professionalmusicians who earn a living solely from perform-ing are rare in Canada. Many other people whoconsider themselves musicians combine perfor-mance with teaching, music promotion, or otheremployment strategies that give them time tomake music. In the research reported here, wecompare and contrast what musicians in the mu-sic scenes in Toronto and Halifax say as they ex-plain their locational preferences. Although eachcity is recognized for its vibrant music scenewith various musical genres, the underlying na-ture of their development differs. As the coun-try’s largest city, Toronto is the traditional centreof the Canadian music industry and boasts thelargest number of musicians and music venues.As the regional hub of Atlantic Canada, Halifaxhas recently gained recognition for its dynamicmusic scene (Brooks et al. 2009).

Table 1 illustrates the rates of growth in thenumber of musicians in Canada, Toronto, andHalifax between 1991 and 2006. Throughout theperiod, we see that Toronto’s share of total mu-sicians in Canada grew from 16.4 percent to 19.7percent, while Halifax’s share remained relativelyconstant at about 1.9 percent. As Canada’s cen-tre for record labels and music infrastructure,

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Table 1Musicians in Canada, Toronto, and Halifax, 1991–2006

1991 1996 2001 2006 Percent change 2001–2006 Percent change 1991–2006

Canada 27,975 31,880 32,955 34,080 3.4% 21.8%Toronto 4,585 5,330 6,350 6,700 5.5% 46.1%Halifax 535 510 585 630 7.7% 17.8%

SOURCE: Statistics Canada 2008a, 2008b.

Table 2Musicians’ average incomes from 1991 to 2006 (in 2010 dollars)

1991 1996 2001 2006 Percent change 2001–2006 Percent change 1991–2006

Canada 12,131.9 10,496.9 13,511.0 11,833.2 −12.4% −2.5%Toronto 16,057.2 14,928.2 18,582.9 13,773.4 −25.9% −14.2%Halifax 12,187.5 9,396.6 13,672.2 12,625.3 −7.7% +3.6%

NOTE: Dollar amounts were adjusted to 2010 values using rates provided by the Bank of Canada (2010).SOURCE: Adjusted from data in Statistics Canada 2008a, 2008b.

Toronto’s population of musicians grew 46.1 per-cent between 1991 and 2006, while Halifax’sgrew by 17.8 percent. Between 2001 and 2006,however, the population of musicians in Hali-fax began to increase at a slightly higher rate(7.7 percent) than in Toronto (5.5 percent). Dothe shifting patterns suggest that musicians maybe reconsidering their options about where to lo-cate? What are their motivations for living in oneplace versus another?

One factor that may be growing in importanceis the affordability of place. Canadian musicianshave consistently earned low incomes, regardlessof location, but the census indicates an overalldecline after 2001. After reaching the highest rel-ative levels in the 2001 census period, for exam-ple, Table 2 demonstrates the precipitous declinein earnings that musicians experienced between2001 and 2006. For Toronto-based musicians inparticular, an average decline of 25.9 percent be-tween 2001 and 2006 may have exacerbated thedifficulty of finding affordable live/work spaceand motivated some individuals to relocate.

Although conventional economic wisdom andcensus figures privilege large city-regions as mi-gration magnets, neither theory nor statisticscan fully explain the locational choices madeby many of those engaged in the music sectorin Canada. Census data provide no insight intothe factors that produce musicians in a place,

bring musicians to particular cities, or keep themsomewhere as they build careers. Although theabsolute number of musicians in Toronto has in-creased over time, for example, the census doesnot tell us whether or not Toronto is attractingmusicians from other locations or merely addingmusicians from its own population. Similarly, al-though we might speculate that low and declin-ing incomes may motivate musicians to migrateto more affordable locations, we cannot probethis possibility without asking these individuals.Therefore, to investigate these open questionswe explored the perceptions and motivations ofmusicians in Toronto and Halifax by conduct-ing 84 in-depth interviews in 2007 and 2008.We sought to understand why independent mu-sicians1 live in the places they do and how theyexplained their choices of location. Our sam-pling strategy was purposive, or what Valentine(2005) calls illustrative: we were interested in thedepth and richness each encounter with a par-ticipant could provide. Using a semi-structured

1 We distinguish here between the music industry—which en-compasses entities such as record labels, professional associ-ations, and recording studios—and musical talent representedby individual musicians, most of whom are independent en-trepreneurs. As such, we highlight the potential redistributionof musical talent in Canada rather than minimize the eco-nomic importance or spatial dynamics of the Canadian musicindustry (which remains firmly concentrated in Toronto).

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format, we asked participants about their em-ployment experiences and geographic mobility.Specific topics included their spatial, education,and employment history; their employment ex-periences and goals; their perceptions of differ-ent locations and music scenes; and where theywould like to live and work in the future.

To get a broad cross-section of experiencesand opinions about the city-regions, we inter-viewed 64 musicians who varied in age, gen-der, training, genre, and career stage. We alsointerviewed 20 people who worked in Torontoand Halifax as music educators, producers, stu-dio owners, managers, union representatives,government employees, and executives at majorand independent record labels. These individualsprovided invaluable information about their mo-tivations for living in particular city-regions, thebroader context of industrial restructuring withinthe music industry, and the characteristics of themusic scenes in Toronto and Halifax. Figure 1outlines our research participants.

Interviews were recorded and transcribedverbatim. Throughout this article, we include ver-batim quotations as the best way to demon-strate how participants expressed meanings andexperiences in their own words. Following James(2006), we annotated transcripts and coded thedata according to the dominant themes. As iscommon with qualitative interviews, our goal wasnot to establish statistical significance or rep-resentativeness but rather analytical plausibilityand cogency of reasoning (James 2006).

Our interview results show that musicians inToronto and Halifax generally described Torontoas competitive and unwelcoming and expressedlimited commitment to the city. By contrast, mu-sicians’ comments about Halifax were positiveand musicians indicated relatively little interestin leaving. Yet census figures offer a contrastingpicture, with Toronto having many more musi-cians than Halifax. Given the differences betweenour qualitative data on musicians’ expressed mo-bility decisions and quantitative evidence fromthe census about the recorded locations of mu-sicians, we are forced, as Jick (1979, 607) notes,to ‘reconcile the differences somehow’. We arguethat the qualitative data reported here suggestthat we may be witnessing an incipient shift inpreferred mobility patterns among independentmusicians as they adjust to a new era in the

music industry. Indeed, in the contemporary mu-sic industry, new technologies and the decline ofrecord sales and recording contracts has gener-ated a growing cohort of independent musicianswho are less tied to the traditional centres of theindustry. As earning a living as an independentmusician is difficult no matter where one lives,some independent musicians may be reconsider-ing their locational choices and placing a higheremphasis on the social dynamics of place. In thatcontext, Halifax—with its dynamic community ofcollaborative musicians—enjoys some advantagesthat Toronto lacks.

In the contemporary music industry, wheredigital technologies have altered traditionalbusiness models and organizational structures(Leyshon 2009), smaller communities, which havenot traditionally been talent incubators, may be-come viable homes for musicians. Moreover, de-clining record sales and intensifying competitionmay privilege more affordable locations, whichoffer more venues and opportunities for mu-sicians to earn money from live performances(Hracs 2009a), or remote locations perceivedas authentic in an era of globalised music(Kruse 1993; McLeay 1994). Our investigationhighlights the influence of civic capital on thelocational choices of musicians. According toWolfe, ‘Civic capital consists of interpersonal net-works and solidarity within a community basedon a shared identity, expectations, or goals andtied to a specific region or locality’ (2009a 184:emphasis in original). Traditional explanationsof economic development emphasized the roleof natural endowments, geographic position, andaccess to markets in affecting growth trajecto-ries (Storper and Manville 2006). Florida (2002a,2005) and Wolfe (2009b) have highlighted therole of social dynamics within city-regions in mo-tivating talented and creative workers to locatewhere they do. Our findings suggest musicians’perceptions of the attractiveness of Halifax stemfrom its supportive and collaborative social dy-namics, but also from the opportunities it pro-vides for musicians to play before appreciativeaudiences.

Toronto is likely to remain the centre of theCanadian music industry: the record labels, pro-fessional associations, and major recording stu-dios are unlikely to relocate within Canada.Our research, however, identifies some of the

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Figure 1Some characteristics of the interview sample

challenges Toronto faces in attracting and retain-ing musical talent: that is, the musicians—manyof them independent entrepreneurs—whose cre-ativity generates products and performances. Wealso explore the reasons why smaller and moresocially cohesive scenes such as Halifax may bebecoming more competitive in the contemporaryera. We begin by reviewing changes in the musicindustry that are currently affecting musicians’choices about where to live and how to work.Then we describe the results of our comparativeresearch in Toronto and Halifax, profiling threeelements: the scale and function, the economicdynamics, and the social dynamics of the city-regions. In the final section, we reflect on ourfindings and suggest that contemporary condi-tions may be affecting the relative attractivenessof city-regions to musicians.

Changing Dynamics of the MusicIndustry

In the digital era of independent music pro-duction, the spatial preferences and patterns ofmusical talent are in flux. Traditionally, mu-sical talent was tied to major record labelsat established sites of music production (Scott2000; Stein-Sachs 2006): Toronto in the Cana-dian context, and New York, Los Angeles, andNashville in the American context. Until thelate 1990s, the concentrated nature of corpo-rate and physical infrastructure, including recordlabels and recording studios, positioned thesecentres as black holes for musical talent; ambi-tious musicians headed to the big scenes in largenumbers. A one-way flow typically led successfulmusicians up the entrenched hierarchy of music

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cities. Musicians discovered in the periphery relo-cated to the regional or national hub, where cor-porate executives made decisions and mobilizedall-important hard infrastructure for the musicproduction process. During this period, Torontobecame the home-base for Canadian branches ofthe major record labels.

Prior to the late 1990s, the spatial patternsdictated by recording contracts superseded in-dividual locational preferences. Although Halifaxfunctioned as an incubator of regional talentthroughout the decades, musicians relocated toToronto or another major music city to developa recording career once they signed with a la-bel. During the 1990s, the advent of compressedmusical files, or MP3s, facilitated a new regimeof music file-sharing (Leyshon 2001, 2003). Assales and profits fell, music companies consol-idated and downsized (Carniol 2005; Leyshonet al. 2005; Hracs 2009b). In the wake of in-dustrial restructuring, the Canadian IndependentRecording Artists’ Association (2010) estimatesthat 95 percent of musicians in Canada nowoperate independently of either major or inde-pendent record labels. With digital technologies,contemporary independent music production hasbecome essentially placeless, leaving musiciansfree to live and work almost anywhere. Asflows of musical talent grow more fluid, awider range of city-regions are becoming viablehubs of music production. Musicians and othercreative workers are ‘emoting with their feet’(Wojan et al. 2007, 711) in ways that favoursome city-regions over others (Florida 2002b). Al-though Toronto remains the dominant cluster ofmusical activity in the Canadian music industry,digital music production has allowed other Cana-dian cities (including Montreal, Vancouver, Hamil-ton, and Halifax) to attract, incubate, and retainmusical talent in a vibrant music scene.

Although the MP3 crisis2 hurt the major labels,digital technologies furnished musicians with thetools to become independent. Musicians can nowrecord in home studios with personal computers;this significantly reduced the cost of producing

2 The MP3 crisis refers to the introduction of file sharing net-works such as Napster, which facilitated the widespread prac-tice of illegally downloading copyrighted music files in MP3format. This practice constituted a structural shock to theNorth American music industry and over time resulted in dra-matic industrial and spatial reorganization (Hracs 2009b).

CDs. One Toronto musician we interviewed forthe research explained how easy it had becometo record music.

As digital technology developed . . . things becamemore affordable. $3,000 will buy you a really goodcomputer, software, a bunch of equipment, andway more tracks, so you can do multi-track record-ing and all that kind of stuff. So I think because itmade recording more affordable, more people areable to do it on their own. People became less de-pendent on the label deal, or the big-money con-tracts. You didn’t have to sell your soul for that$20,000 to make the record or whatever. You canactually do whatever you want at home by your-self. (8 July 2008)

In effect, digital technologies democratized theproduction of music by making traditionallyexpensive and specialized activities accessibleto more musicians (Leyshon 2009). Distributionthrough the internet and advertising through so-cial media such as Facebook and MySpace gavemusicians the means to promote their work toaudiences near and far.

Technology not only freed musicians from de-pendence on major labels but also created a newgeography of music production. Although manymusicians still choose to live and work in majormusic centres like New York and Nashville, tech-nology gives them the choice to produce, market,and distribute their music from anywhere. As aToronto-based music producer told us,

I would agree that musicians are no longer tiedas they once were to the major centres of musicproduction and the major labels. . . Now you canmake music from anywhere, even the far north.Last summer I was up in Moose Factory. We dida gig out there in an Aboriginal community andwe met some people that have a little studio and[are] recording music in their basement. Becausethey have the internet, they don’t have to go to acity or a major centre to record or to distributetheir music to the world. (8 July 2008)

As the range of places musicians can conceiv-ably live and work increases, what factors influ-ence their locational choices? In the next sec-tions, we compare and contrast what musiciansand others in the music industry said aboutToronto and Halifax as places to be a musician.

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Comparing the Cities and Scenes

With a population of 5,113,149 in the 2006 cen-sus and with several leading sectors including fi-nance, telecommunications, media, and culture,Toronto is Canada’s largest metropolitan areaand economic capital (Statistics Canada 2007a).Much smaller, with a population of 372,858, Hal-ifax is the capital of Nova Scotia and the regionalhub of Atlantic Canada (Statistics Canada 2007b).Halifax’s economy features strong creative andeducation sectors anchored by the city’s six uni-versities (Grant and Kronstal 2010). People inToronto and Halifax achieve similar educationand income levels: for instance, the median in-come of people over 15 was $24,212 in Hal-ifax (Statistics Canada 2007b) and $24,314 inToronto (Statistics Canada 2007a). In other as-pects, however, the city-regions differ: for exam-ple, the average dwelling value in Halifax was$212,942 (Statistics Canada 2007b) but $403,112in Toronto (Statistics Canada 2007a). Moreover,on the measure of population diversity, whichFlorida (2002a) argues helps to attract talent, thepercentage of Halifax’s population that was for-eign born was 7.4 (Statistics Canada 2007b) whileToronto’s was 45.7 (Statistics Canada 2007a). Onthe one hand, Toronto was larger, more diverse,and economically more robust than Halifax; onthe other hand, house prices were significantlylower in Halifax.

Known for its history of Celtic music andfiddling traditions, today Halifax is home tovarious musical genres including indie rock,singer/songwriter, pop, and hip hop (Grant et al.2009). The city hosts two major regional musicfestivals: The Halifax Pop Explosion and the JazzFestival, as well as the East Coast Music Awards(Morton 2008). During the 1980s, the rise in thenew-wave and punk musical genres was a depar-ture from Halifax’s Celtic roots. The music scenediversified in the 1990s with the rising promi-nence of the grunge genre: bands such as Sloanand Thrush Hermit became national stars dur-ing this time (Knox 2007). More recently, indieartists such as Jill Barber and Matt Mays andrappers Classified and Buck 65 gained nationalsuccess in Canada, while rock artists, such asJoel Plaskett and pop artists, such as Wintersleepearned international acclaim in the 2000s (Knox2007; Morton 2008). Rock music emerged as a

new and dominant style during the 1990s. To-day, the rock, pop, and singer/songwriter genresdominate Halifax’s music scene while rap has de-veloped as a smaller but important contributionto the city’s musical landscape.

Toronto has long been recognized as thelargest and most diverse music centre in Canada.The city features several important institutionssuch as the Royal Conservatory (founded in1886) (The Royal Conservatory 2011), the Fac-ulty of Music at the University of Toronto (1918)(Green and Spier 2011), the Toronto SymphonyOrchestra (1922) (The Toronto Symphony Or-chestra 2011) and the Canadian Opera Company(1946) (Morey and Morris 2011). Toronto has alsohad a long and illustrious history of record-ing studios including some of Canada’s oldestand most renowned recording facilities. For in-stance, McClear Studios was built in the late1940s by CHUM for its radio station; by 1972Billboard magazine declared Toronto the record-ing capital of Canada (Dale 2010). McClear hasproduced albums for Gordon Lightfoot, Rush,and the Rolling Stones. Several other studios in-cluding Phase One, Metal Works, and Number 9Studios have produced the bulk of the albumsrecorded in Canada. Toronto is the home of na-tional music video channels, such as Much Musicand MTV Canada, and all of the Canadian majorlabels (Berman 2009). Given its size and infras-tructure, Toronto continues to support a diversearray of popular genres including jazz, classical,blues, rock, pop, country, hip hop, and electronicas well as niche genres, such as goth and punk(Berman 2009).

The scale and function of the city-region

Underlying conditions influence the ability ofcity-regions to attract, incubate, and retain musi-cal talent. In this section, we describe differencesin the scale and functions of the Toronto andHalifax music scenes before considering how theeconomic and social dynamics of the city-regionsaffect the choices musicians make.

The largest city-region in the country, Torontohas the largest number of venues and greatestshare of musicians. Musicians from all musicalgenres and from most parts of Canada are foundin Toronto. As the national hub for the musicindustry with significant publishing, managing,

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and recording functions, Toronto remains a des-tination for many Canadian musicians hoping tomake it in the industry. The city-region servesas a stepping stone to even bigger scenes: musi-cians looking for better opportunities may moveon to cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, orNashville.

Toronto has a range of cultural activities thatoffer patrons many options. Live music com-petes with theatre, nightclubs, hockey, basket-ball, and other entertainment choices. Despitethe city’s size, however, the number of per-formance venues for some musical genres re-mains small; young musicians, in particular,find few all-ages outlets where they can per-form. By attracting a large number of musicians,respondents complained, Toronto ends up withan over-supply of musical talent. With the mar-ket responding to conditions of surplus labour,the rewards decline for individual musicians,as one Toronto music manager interviewedexplained:

Toronto is the anomaly in the rest of this countryas far as how the business of art is conducted. Thesimple fact is that in Toronto, we have a plethoraof talent, and all of that talent you can go and seefor the same price as the beer you drink when youget there. This undervaluation drives me insane. . .

I will never promote a show that is a five-dollarshow, because I believe that the audience expectsa $5 show. (20 March 2008)

Given widespread gentrification in parts of theinner city once occupied by artists and musi-cians (Slater 2004; Hracs 2007), musicians livewherever they can find affordable housing: in-creasingly that forces them to suburban locations(Hracs 2009a). Moreover, the size of Toronto,the demands of independent production, and in-creasingly hectic schedules combine to limit theability of musicians to network within communi-ties. As a musician explained,

I sometimes wonder if I should network morehere in Toronto to do more of this other work inToronto but the other part of my reality is that Ihave a family that is important to me, too. I wantto spend time with my children and my wife. Iwork long hours as it is. . . The work that I haveis mostly evenings, so the idea of taking anotherevening off from my family and going somewhere

else to do networking starts to seem problematic.(28 April 2008)

Those playing in different musical genresrarely encounter each other. Thus, the scale ofthe Toronto city-region limits social integrationwithin the music scene.

Until the 1990s, Halifax had a regional mu-sic scene that drew talent generally from At-lantic Canada. After the success of bands, suchas Sloan, Halifax became a destination and in-cubation site for Canadian grunge rock3 bands.In the wake of industrial restructuring, Hali-fax has emerged as a boutique national musicscene attracting independent artists from acrossCanada and beyond (Grant et al. 2009). Halifaxhas a reputation as a live music city. A musicianinterviewed in Halifax put it this way: ‘It’s a so-cial town; it’s a drinking town; it’s a universitytown. It’s historically a navy port town that hasalways had live music in the pubs. That’s alwaysbeen a part of the fabric here’ (11 June 2007).Musicians looking for a city-region where theycan find places to play come to Halifax to re-fine their performances in front of appreciativeaudiences.4

Musicians noted that strong connections withthe arts community enhance creativity in Halifax.Musicians easily bridge musical genres that inmany cities remain quite segregated. The smallscale of the city centre creates conditions withinwhich those in the music community see eachother with great frequency and are able to formcross-cutting social networks. One musician ex-plained:

It is easy to move from field to field, in that it issmaller scale. It is—I say this kind of flippantly—easy to do. . . three-quarters of my networking andbusiness comes from just walking down the street.I get a good chunk of my gigs this way. “Hey,how’re you doing? Want to play with us tonight?”Or “Somebody is looking for someone to do this.”

3 Grunge rock features heavily distorted electric guitars and isoften associated with bands emerging in from Seattle in theearly 1990s including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Sound Garden.

4 Although respondents highlighted the variety and abundanceof performance venues in Halifax, many also worried that thenumber of venues seemed to be declining, and said the cityneeded more good-quality venues (see Morton 2008; Haggett2009).

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I get work walking down the street: that’s reallypositive. (13 August 2007)

Halifax remains a regional hub for musical tal-ent in Atlantic Canada but has also become adestination for Canadian talent more broadly,especially singer-songwriters.5 Music producerscommented that although bands used to go toToronto to get noticed, now musicians come toHalifax to get recognized. Several respondents re-ported that musicians often see Halifax as homeand continue to return to the city-region for re-newal and inspiration even if they go away insearch of success.

The economic dynamics of the city-region

Although musicians in Canada often have highlevels of education, they tend to earn lowincomes. As previously shown in Table 2,musicians in Toronto and Halifax earned averageincomes of $13,773 and $12,625, respectively, in2006, placing them below the low income cut-off.6 Finding affordable space to live and work iscrucial for musicians in both scenes. In a contextof low wages, musicians may choose to locate incity-regions where they can optimize their earn-ing potential, their standard of living, or theirchances for success (Hracs 2009a).

In response to the devaluation of recorded mu-sic, independent musicians now focus on liveperformances to make money. Musicians in Hy-att’s (2008) study earned 3.4 percent of their in-come from selling CDs and 48.5 percent fromperforming live shows. We might expect a largercity like Toronto to offer more opportunities.Despite the large consumer market in Toronto,however, the finite number of venues and largenumber of musicians produces intense competi-tion between musicians. As one musician put it,‘Getting paid for gigs is a treat because thereare so many musicians now and bands in thecity and the majority of them are half decent sothere is a lot of competition, but nobody’s pay-ing. You go to the club and they say “Yah, you

5 Halifax musicians such as Joel Plaskett and David Myles woninternational song-writing competitions in the late 2000s, help-ing to raise the profile of the city.

6 In 2005, the low income cut-off for a family of two was$25,867 in Toronto and $22,276 in Halifax; a single personearning less than $20,778 faced poverty in Toronto (Face ofPoverty Coalition 2007; Toronto 2010).

are going on at this time but don’t expect anymoney”’ (7 June 2007).

The sheer number of bands competing for gigsin Toronto means that venue owners can con-trol the value of live music. The options opento musicians in Toronto are paying to play (typ-ical for new musicians just trying to get onstage), sharing a percentage of ticket sales (arisky proposition for musicians who struggle tomaintain consistent fan bases in the saturatedmarket), getting paid at the discretion of theowner (based on alcohol sales the band gener-ates), or accepting a minimum guarantee (moreestablished bands can ask for a minimum be-tween $150 and $300). A Toronto musician toldus,

It is common to not get paid or to have to payto play which of course makes no sense at all.Now (after three years) we are getting paid moreconsistently but it is a maximum of $50 or $60divided amongst the members in the band. Thatdoes not even really cover the cost of equipmentand rehearsal time. Usually it will buy you dinnerfor that night, and maybe the gas to get to theshow. (20 March 2007)

Facing these challenges, many musicians ac-crue large personal debts, struggle to pay theirbills, and ultimately consider leaving Toronto orabandoning the industry.7 Many rely on flexible,part-time work in unrelated jobs to cover livingexpenses. Abundant alternative employment op-portunities have been the saving grace of theToronto city-region for many trying to pursue ca-reers in music while still paying their rent. As aToronto musician explained, ‘If you’re going tomake a living as an artist, you pretty much needto be in a big city. If you’re going to be a free-lancer, you need a thick labour market. . . The va-riety of work available is also important’ (3 July2008).

For its small size, the Halifax city-region hasmany live music venues, including Gus’ Pub(Figure 2), where musicians get paid for perform-ing (Haggett 2009). None of the respondents sug-gested that the market for musicians was over-supplied in Halifax. With six universities and

7 The experience of risk and self-exploitation is often associatedwith work in cultural industries such as fashion and advertis-ing (see McRobbie 1998 or Banks 2007 for a review).

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374 Brian J. Hracs et al.

Figure 2Gus’ Pub is a premiere venue for up and coming performers in Halifax’s north end. The second floor consists of small rental apartment unitsSOURCE: Photo by J. Grant 2011.

major military facilities in the city-region, youth-ful audiences are abundant and receptive; in thesummer, tourists take seats in the pubs and cof-fee shops. A range of music festivals bring per-formers and audiences throughout the year. Amusic manager in Halifax remarked, ‘Out of anyprovince in Canada, this province—one of thebackbones of its culture is its music. I really be-lieve that and I hear that all the time—on streetcorners, down on the waterfront, everywhere—music is just so prevalent’ (6 August 2008).

Finding supplemental work to help cover livingexpenses can prove challenging in Halifax whereeconomic opportunities may be fewer. Also, bycomparison with salaries paid for such thingsas music teaching in larger centres like Torontoand Vancouver, salaries in Halifax prove low. Onemusician told us, ‘In my academic work, I amthe lowest paid in the country. Having a post-graduate degree and making $18 an hour, whenmy friends in Vancouver are making money like$35 an hour doing the same thing with fewerqualifications, is really frustrating’ (13 August2007).

The Province of Nova Scotia has establishedfunding programs and support services for themusic sector in the last decade. These initia-tives provide assistance for musicians to go ontour and to improve their business skills for self-management. Several respondents interviewed inHalifax pointed to the key role that provincialfunding and support played in helping local mu-sicians remain in the region while exporting theirproducts.

Musicians often allocate their limited earn-ings from live performances to the costs as-sociated with independent music production.These costs include equipment, transportation,rehearsal space, and recording fees. Indeed,the musicians in Hyatt’s study (2008) reportedspending one-third of their income on expensessuch as instruments and transportation. Duringinterviews, respondents complained of out-of-pocket money they had to spend on music-related expenses. As one Toronto musiciannoted, ‘One year I did my taxes and I claimedthese music related expenses on my taxes and Ithink I spent about $8,000 that year on equip-

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ment. When you sit there and work it out, whenyou are working part-time or minimum wagejobs then you think, “Where is all my money go-ing?”’ (4 April 2007).

Musicians in the Toronto city-region often re-ported paying for rehearsal space, recordingtime, and putting on shows. Inflation in accom-modation and production costs in Toronto hashit musicians hard. As one musician explained,

The biggest cost for us is rehearsal space; we rentspace for $1,300 a month. Everything for the bandto try to establish yourself is ridiculously expen-sive. Albums and recording is crazy: the minimumis $10,000 per album. We have put on shows inToronto, and one of them cost us $4,000 to puton. We knew we weren’t going to get the moneyback, but we did it to get our name out there.(18 May 2007)

Of course, at the same time as musicians haveto invest limited revenues in their work theyhave to find suitable residential accommodations.Musicians reported that they are influenced bythe availability of affordable spaces to live, re-hearse, and record. According to the CanadaMortgage and Housing Corporation (2009), theaverage rental cost of a two-bedroom apartmentwas $877 in Halifax and $1,069 in Toronto:the average rent would consume 87.5 percentof the average musician’s income in Toronto,and 78.3 percent of it in Halifax. The availabil-ity of affordable and artist-friendly living andworking spaces is crucial to incubating and po-tentially retaining musical talent, but both citiesface wide gaps between average incomes andaccommodation costs.

Although Toronto traditionally offered a stockof affordable live/work space to musicians, rentsare increasing rapidly, pricing musicians out ofthe downtown core. One musician said, ‘WhenI first moved to Toronto from Guelph in the1990s, I got a room for $150 a month right onQueen Street. But that would never happen now’(15 May 2007). Another musician lamented theloss of an apartment to gentrification: ‘I lived ina very roomy apartment for 24 years and it wasso spacious, and had a great view, and reallycheap rent. But we finally had to leave that andmove into this tiny house because the owners de-cided that they wanted to renovate and raise theprice’ (9 June 2008). As musicians relocate to the

suburbs, they face added time for commuting togigs in the city; some have refocused their inter-est on suburban venues (Hracs 2009a).

Musicians are well aware of the relative costsof housing and rehearsal space in other Cana-dian cities. Many respondents contrasted costs invarious places, often pointing to Montreal as theleast expensive of the cities with a substantialmusic scene; however, language barriers limit theinterest of English-speaking musicians in movingto Montreal. Respondents indicated that whilethey want to locate within a music scene, theytake costs seriously in considering their options.

Although respondents suggested Toronto islosing some of its musical talent to smaller pe-ripheral towns and larger international musiccentres, they said that Halifax is attracting andoften retaining musicians from across the coun-try. The affordability of housing and studio spaceand the vitality of the artistic community in thenorth end of the city proved especially impor-tant to many respondents. A Halifax music pro-ducer explained his good fortune: ‘I’ve got a stu-dio here. I have about 1,400 square feet . . . Theactual rent is about $1,000 a month. In anothercity, that would be pretty hard to do. . . It’s a per-fect mixture of the size of the community whereit’s still cheap enough that you can live here af-fordably’ (3 August 2007).

Some respondents noted that housing costswere climbing in Halifax, and gentrification wasappearing in districts popular with musicians.They evaluated their choices, however, in termsof what they knew about other cities. In Hal-ifax, they said, reasonably successful musicianscan afford to buy a home from which they tour.When asked about the potential of moving toToronto, musicians in Halifax often expressedeconomic reservations. As a musician noted, ‘Ijust don’t know how people afford to buy ahouse in a place like Toronto: it seems insane.I mean I feel so fortunate to have scraped it to-gether here. . . But I don’t know, I think it wouldseem like your mortgage would be paralyzing ina place like Toronto’ (11 June 2007).

In the world of art, the boundary betweenprofessional and amateur has always been diffi-cult to identify. In the contemporary era of in-dependent music production, these distinctionsare complicated by the fluidity of musical ca-reer paths. According to respondents, musicians

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376 Brian J. Hracs et al.

residing in Halifax fell into two general groups:(1) those working to develop their talent, supple-menting their income with other activities, andconsidering relocating at some point to enhancetheir options; (2) those working as full-time mu-sicians, earning a reasonable living by touring,and eager to retain creative freedom by stayingin Halifax. For the former, Halifax is a comfort-able incubation site that comes to feel like home.For the latter category of musician, moving toToronto in the hope of signing with a major la-bel would entail sacrificing artistic control: sell-ing out. In this context, musicians who choose amiddle-class life in a less economically dynamiccity-region make a cultural and political state-ment. Musicians’ decisions to remain in smallercities repudiate a music industry system that de-fines large cities and major record deals as sym-bols of quality and success.

In comparing the economic dynamics of themusic scenes in Toronto and Halifax, we foundthat musicians could expect to earn low in-comes from music in the two cities, but thelower cost of housing and rehearsal space inHalifax appealed to musicians trying to de-vote themselves to their art. Part-time jobsare easier to find and essential to paying thebills in Toronto, leaving some musicians withless time to practice and perform than theywould like. Moreover, although Toronto hasmore performance venues in absolute terms,the competition for opportunities to play provesmore intense than the situation in Halifax.Oversupply of musicians in Toronto under-mines the precarious pay scale for performers.A sorting process works to distribute musiciansto the locations they feel best support theirmusical engagement. Quantitative data from thecensus indicate that Toronto generally won inpulling musicians in the past, but the qualitativedata suggest that musicians’ previous consensusabout the desirability of Toronto may be unrav-elling. While the lure of lucrative record con-tracts once pulled and kept talent in Toronto,the contemporary realities of the music indus-try may be reducing Toronto’s economic advan-tage and attractiveness to independent musicianswho see opportunity in other places. As musi-cians evaluate their options for where to live andwork, smaller cities like Halifax may be gainingan edge.

The social dynamics of city-regions

In assessing the social dynamics of Toronto andHalifax, musicians repeatedly commented on twosignificant factors: the extent to which the lo-cal community values music and the extent towhich music scenes are permeable and sociallysupportive. Indeed, many respondents indicatedthat they wanted to live and work in a commu-nity that appreciates music. Beyond their obvi-ous need for patronage, musicians want to feellike important contributors to the vibrancy andoverall quality of the communities in which theychoose to live. Moreover, the nature of the mu-sic scene affects social integration within and thequality of the work environment for independentmusicians.

Almost everyone interviewed in Halifax at-tested to the local community’s respect for mu-sic. Respondents indicated that Halifax has atradition of live music that some ascribed to itshistory as a military and university town, and itsrecent experience as a tourism destination. Onerespondent characterized Halifax as a ‘pubby’town; another called it a party town. Althoughbar crowds in some communities can be rudeto musicians, respondents told us that audiencesin Halifax appreciate the bands and singers whoplay for them. As a music manager said, ‘Thefact is that people respect music and culture inthis city, in a way that doesn’t happen in a lotof cities. . . It’s a way of life here, I guess’ (15August 2008). Respect from audiences helps thecity-region to attract and retain musical talent.

Musicians find themselves easily able to inte-grate into the local community in Halifax. Onemusician told us,

When I compare Halifax to, say, Vancouver, andmaybe to a certain extent Toronto, Halifax is muchmore socially permeable. In Halifax, it is very easyto move from one circle to the other. It is veryeasy to meet people you need to meet. That reallyis Halifax’s strength. “Oh, I know somebody whodoes X” or “I don’t do X, but my friend so-and-sodoes. Talk to them.” In that sense it is very good.(13 August 2007)

While those not born in Nova Scotia are stilldescribed as ‘come-from-away’, most are readilyembraced into social networks through work orrecreational activities.

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A common theme in the Halifax interviewspointed to lifestyle factors in the city-region.Many musicians talked about the beautiful set-ting and laid-back pace of life. They appreci-ated the ability to walk to work and to focuson their own artistic production, as one musicianexplained:

The advantages of being in Halifax are that it’s ob-viously cheaper. The rent is cheaper and the costof living is cheaper than Toronto. The relaxed na-ture of a smaller city is just better. You don’tspend all your time on the street in a car. Youdon’t spend all of your time in the subway. Youcan be home; you can be thinking and writing.It’s just a lot easier to get things done artistically.(18 August 2008)

In contrast with the support musicians foundfrom residents in Halifax, several respondents inToronto complained about the lack of respectthe public holds for music and musicians. Someresented seeing music treated as a commodityrather than as a cultural experience. Because mu-sic in Toronto competes with a range of lifestyleamenities, some consumers undervalue the ser-vices provided by musicians. One musician de-scribed the problem:

I think people have too many alternatives inToronto. People get blase about it, because whenI was growing up in Ottawa it didn’t matter whatkind of music was coming through, if a band wascoming through everybody went out. People here,maybe they are too cool to clap, but unless youare really well known they just sit there with theirarms crossed. (6 June 2007)

Musicians find it dispiriting to play to audi-ences who show little interest in their work. Asone musician noted, ‘In Toronto sometimes I feellike the general public does not appreciate theamount of hard work and dedication it takes tobe a musician and the hardships. I mean theylook at us like we are bums!’ (4 April 2007).Even members of the Toronto Symphony Orches-tra reported experiencing a lack of respect fromaudiences.

Toronto has gone to great efforts to brand it-self as a diverse and creative city, which val-ues talent. That brand helps to attract musi-cians from other parts of Canada, North Amer-ica, and Europe. Evidence offered by Toronto

musicians suggested that performers experienceddisinterest and disrespect, but they appreciatedthe social diversity in Toronto and access toits wide array of cultural and entertainmentactivities.

Another important social dynamic is theextent to which musicians in the city-regioncooperate with each other. Faced with dwin-dling employment opportunities, low incomes,the need to secure functional live/work space,and the demands of independent music produc-tion, some musicians choose to cooperate whileothers compete for opportunities. The risks as-sociated with independent music production caneither strengthen the solidarity and collective re-solve of music communities or pit individual mu-sicians against one another.

Our interviews in Halifax suggested that thecity’s music scenes are supportive and thatthe degree of personal competition among mu-sicians remains low. As one musician put it,‘Generally speaking it’s an incredibly support-ive and nurturing community, unlike some citieswhere there may be more of a competitive thinghappening’ (18 June 2007). Respondents oftencontrasted the music scene in Halifax with con-ditions in Toronto or Vancouver. For instance, amusic promoter said,

I mean Halifax is, like, so in the 60s. . . I meanthat’s a broad generalization, and it’s probably abit optimistic. But Jill Barber moved back herefrom Toronto because it was so dog-eat-dog, andshe just didn’t feel like the people there: every-body was her competition. And I think people liketo be part of this community. They want to movehere because they feel like they’re a part of some-thing. (23 July 2007)

Rather than viewing other musicians as di-rect competition, musicians in Halifax spoke ofthe value of reciprocal exchanges of knowl-edge, resources, and support. Collaboration andcommunity building has given Halifax a nationalreputation for encouraging creativity and appren-ticeship.

The accounts of musicians in Toronto paint astark contrast. In Toronto’s music scene, musi-cians experience employment risk in an increas-ingly individualized way. Reports of networking,sharing resources, and cooperating provedmuch less prevalent. Indeed, in addition to

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378 Brian J. Hracs et al.

exacerbating the poor working conditions formusicians in Toronto, musicians suggested thatthe competition produced by overcrowding inthe scene is eroding the traditionally supportivenature of the industry and contributing to socialsegregation and exclusion. Intense competitiondiminishes the collegial atmosphere amongstmusicians and leaves individuals less inclined toshare information about employment opportuni-ties and knowledge of risk mediation strategies(including government grants). A Toronto musi-cian argued, ‘There is a lot of cliquishness inToronto’s music scenes. . . I have found certainscenes very insular and difficult to break into. . . Ifound that insularity to be largely manufactured.There were people in the city that would say“I don’t like you because you are this kind ofperson, or you play a certain kind of music”’ (6June 2007).

As digital technologies increase the spatialfreedom of independent musicians, a key de-terminant of locational choice is the degree towhich a city-region allows musicians to plug-ineasily. In ideal circumstances, musicians want toarrive in a new location and quickly access per-formance venues, networks, collaborative initia-tives, and sources of employment. In Toronto,musicians found it difficult to penetrate localnetworks. As one musician noted, getting a footin the door can be a challenge. ‘The city is veryvibrant but it can also be very cliquey at thesame time. I can see how newcomers find it hardto get into the business or to meet people toplay with. It is all about the community: if youdon’t have the connections it is not an opendoor’ (15 May 2007).

The exclusionary nature of Toronto’s musicscene may hinder the ability of incoming musi-cians to join the local community. As indepen-dent musicians face enormous pressures to gettheir entrepreneurial operations up and runningquickly, the lack of social connectivity may pushsome musicians to other scenes. In the age of so-cial media, word spreads about which places wel-come and which communities have little interestin new talent. As independent musicians makenew calculations about where they can best pur-sue their avocation in an era where traditionalmusic industry conditions are floundering, theydescribe Toronto as a place to avoid because itdoes not welcome musicians.

In sum, then, the social dynamics between thewider communities in Toronto and Halifax dif-fer, as do the social dynamics within the musicscenes. We found resonance between the char-acter of social relations within the local com-munity and within the music scene: in Halifax,respondents described both in positive terms,sometimes alluding to Maritime hospitality; inToronto, those interviewed perceived social dis-tance from local residents and competitionwithin the music scene. Those in the music scenein Halifax pointed to the nurturing and sup-portive community of musicians as a key factordrawing talent to Halifax, helping musicians de-velop their competencies, and keeping musiciansin the city-region. Major markets like Torontohave more performance venues and musicmanagers than Halifax, but they lack the so-cial connectivity that engages musicians in Hal-ifax. Musicians moving to Toronto do so withthe hope that access to opportunities in the mu-sic industry will provide them with a chance atfame: in that context, others are their competi-tion. By contrast, musicians move to Halifax tolearn from each other and enhance their creativeopportunities: in that context, other musiciansare colleagues and friends.

Placing the Narrative in Context

Our qualitative data suggest that Halifax musi-cians cite economic and social factors as influ-encing their choices of where to live and work.For instance, respondents explained that Hali-fax has a lower cost of living than Torontoand provides more opportunities to earn music-related income. In a context where the censusshows that musicians’ incomes are precari-ous wherever they live, we must be cautiousin interpreting the nature of the advantages par-ticular city-regions confer. Further research toidentify the income and expenditures of mu-sicians in these cities could help to clarifywhether independent musicians do better eco-nomically in Halifax or Toronto. We need tobetter understand how migration patterns areinfluenced by career stage, life cycle attributes,non-economic factors including social networks(Lepawsky et al. 2010), and the evolving dynam-ics of independent music production in Canada

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and beyond. We need updated mobility data totrack a population that proves especially foot-loose: we know relatively little about which musi-cians are migrating, when, and for what specificopportunities.

Despite these caveats, the stories told bythose involved in the music scenes in Halifaxand Toronto offer valuable insights into recentchanges in the music industry. Although it seemsunlikely that Halifax will offer Toronto the kindof competition that Nashville created for Detroitand Chicago in the United States (Florida andJackson 2010), respondents’ perspectives help usto understand the way that participants in thescenes may structure their migration and em-ployment strategies in response to social andeconomic dynamics.

Toronto as Stepping-stone, Halifaxas Home

In the digital era, as soft infrastructure replaceshard infrastructure, musicians are exceptionallymobile and music scenes compete in an increas-ingly global struggle to attract and retain musicaltalent. Our analysis compared the economic andsocial dynamics of the music scenes in Torontoand Halifax to argue that independent musiciansmay see smaller, affordable, and socially cohesivescenes as more attractive, leading different citiesto become competitive choices for migrants.

Although Toronto offers musicians manyvenues, a thick labour market conducive to mul-tiple job holding, and a large and diverse creativesector, our findings suggest that musicians seeits music scenes as highly competitive and seg-regated by genre. The lack of connectivity acrossmusical scenes and between cultural industrieslimits the attributes that musicians value: op-portunities for collaboration and creative engage-ment across the arts. Various creative practicesin fashion, theatre, and music may not easilyshare social or physical space in Toronto in thesame way that they do in smaller communities.Musicians in Toronto suggested that cultural di-versity in the city does not readily translate tocreative diversity. Moreover, interviews revealedthat many musicians struggle to find affordableplaces to live and work within the city.

By contrast, respondents suggested that Hal-ifax provides steady and better paying per-

formance opportunities for musicians. AlthoughHalifax has a smaller range of musical gen-res and creative activities, the permeability andproximity of these activities generates abundantopportunities for creative experimentation andcollaboration among musicians. Furthermore, asthe musicians in Toronto and Halifax earn rela-tively similar (very low) incomes, musicians per-ceived Halifax as more affordable and manage-able. The lower cost of living allowed musiciansin Halifax to dedicate more of their time and en-ergy to their musical and creative careers. More-over, those earning relatively modest incomesfrom music in Halifax could aspire to home own-ership, a milestone denied those in Toronto.

Although Toronto has high amounts of hu-man capital (in talent), social capital (in associ-ations), and industrial and management capital(in the infrastructure of the music industry),it proves low in what Wolfe (2009a; Wolfeand Nelles 2008) calls civic capital: that is,regionally based social networks. Musicians inToronto are isolated by distance, individualizedby the demands of independent music produc-tion, and ultimately pitted against each anotherby cut-throat competition. They feel unwanted. InHalifax, the city’s smaller size and less compet-itive marketplace produce a welcoming environ-ment for incoming musical talent. The musicalcommunity features inclusive networks and sup-port at multiple scales. Our interviews suggestthat established musicians willingly support andmentor emerging talent while the broader Halifaxcommunity appreciates and patronizes musicalperformances. Moreover, government considersmusic an important pillar of the regional econ-omy and provides funding and support whenpossible. Halifax has attracted more than its pre-dicted share of independent musical talent bygenerating civic capital, and in particular, devel-oping a local culture that focuses on welcomingand integrating talented newcomers. As a result,Halifax has generated a reputation that beckonsup and coming talent while also retaining a loyalcadre of well-known artists.

Unlike Halifax, which offers a viable homefrom which independent musicians can basetheir music careers, Toronto draws limited com-mitment from many musicians. Evidence fromthe Toronto interviews positions the city-regionas a stepping stone for musical talent. The city

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380 Brian J. Hracs et al.

has no trouble attracting musicians but unsup-portive community conditions and overt compe-tition within the sector may hinder Toronto’sability to successfully mentor and ultimately re-tain musical talent over the long term. Indeed,musicians interviewed who complained about thecompetition, high cost of living, and lack of re-spect reported a desire to leave Toronto. In somecases, the preferred destination is a smaller com-munity like Halifax, in others a suburb or smalltown outside the city. As a Toronto musiciannoted,

The music scene in the slightly less populated ar-eas north of the city is getting to be really good. . .

In the northern areas, the kids have less to do.There are fewer entertainment options for them.In Toronto, there are one million things to do, soif there is a live band, those kids are gonna go. Soyou can sell tickets easier. The highest turnouts toany of our shows have all been in Newmarket andKeswick. (25 March 2007)

In explaining that many musicians interviewedare considering their locational options in a con-text where the music industry offers new choices,we recognize that for other musicians the lureof large cities remains linked to ideas of eco-nomic success and creativity. Our sampling strat-egy inevitably selected for those who stayed: thecensus results remind us that clustering may oc-cur despite the stated intentions of many localactors. Certainly some musicians we interviewedsaid that they want to move to larger centresin search of greater opportunity. As one Torontomusician put it,

People in Los Angeles are way more aware of theworld market. In Canada, people think of mak-ing it in a little section of Toronto, but it is sotiny: one neighbourhood within Toronto. But theydon’t really think big. If you go down to Los Ange-les, first of all everybody there is looking for thenext best thing. People here are a little bit com-placent to that. I went down to Los Angeles andstarted playing, just solo piano and open mic: pi-ano and singing. In two months, I had played formore people in Los Angeles than I had in Toronto.There is buzz; they are more into creative and cul-tural activities. . . It is this Mecca of people fromall over the world who are pursuing their dreams,who know that they have to come to Los Ange-

les to do it. It is a really, really incredible energythere. (26 October 2007)

The music industry is in flux. As hard infras-tructure and the presence of major labels be-come less important and independent musiciansadjust their spatial calculus, musicians have newoptions in pursuing their passions. AlthoughToronto continues to attract musicians with starsin their eyes, our findings suggest that, unlikeHalifax, Toronto may not offer the ideal socialdynamics for musicians trying to make a mod-est living within the new economic realities ofindependent music production. Furthermore, un-like Los Angeles or New York, Toronto may lackthe creative energy and attentive audiences thatinspire musicians. Despite the recent work ofLeyshon (2009) and Florida and Jackson (2010),which argues that the music industry is con-centrating spatially even as it becomes morevertically disintegrated, our research identifiesincipient challenges to Toronto’s hegemony asthe go-to music centre in Canada, at least forindependent musicians who can develop careersfrom other city-regions. In the competition formusical talent, the attractiveness of city-regionsdepends on social dynamics as well as the cul-tural lore and creative opportunities embeddedwithin specific music scenes. Ultimately, in anera of unprecedented spatial and creative free-dom for independent musicians, smaller centres,which offer supportive social and economic dy-namics, may gain advantage in attracting and re-taining musical talent.

Acknowledgements

Funding for the research came from SSHRC Major ResearchCollaborative Initiatives grant 412–2005-1001. The authorsare grateful to David Wolfe (principal investigator on thenational project) and to research assistants Aaron Pettmanand Rebecca Butler (for the Halifax interviews). The authorswould also like to thank Deborah Leslie, Kevin Stolarick,Allen Scott, Ian MacLachlan, Mark Denstedt, Joe Minichini,and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. Weowe a debt of gratitude to the many participants in the mu-sic scenes who donated their time and their ideas to theresearch.

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