Canadian live music contributes over $10B to GDP

Canada’s live music impact

The study also found that the live music industry supports over 100,000 jobs – from artists, performers and technicians to venue staff, promoters, production crew and service workers – and attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists year over year.

In 2023 alone, concert and festival activity in Canada together brought in a total of 19.69 million visitors. In addition to the live music and artistic experience, the economic benefits of live music spill over directly into other industries, helping the creation and sustainability of jobs in sectors like hospitality, transportation and retail.

"The findings in 'Here and Now' 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,” Tarun Nayar, artist and CLMA board chair, said.

“It means more fans choosing Canada when deciding where to spend their music tourism dollars. It also has immeasurable effects on social cohesion and better mental health, and thriving, safer downtowns."

The study calculated that Canadian concert bookers and promoters booked an estimated 18,945 live music shows in Canada in 2023 – that figure can roughly be broken down into 50 shows per day across the country.

Canada is home to over 3,750 venues.

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Key contributions of the live music industry

The report also found that the live music industry supports approximately 9.9 billion in visitor spending, resulting in an estimated $3.73 billion in taxes and $5.84 billion in labour income.

Live music operations alone contribute:

• $2 billion contribution to GDP
• 27,490 jobs created
• $513.5 million in taxes
• $1.17 billion in labour income

Statistics Canada calculated that the national contribution from all culture and sport in 2023 was $60.8 billion, implying that live music operations contributed approximately 3.3% of Canada’s culture and sport GDP impact.