Toronto’s Mar Sellars thinks earlier concert times would improve attendance to small live music venues and help stave off the trend of closures (photo provided).
In cities across Canada, local live music venues are struggling and in some cases closing. Toronto is considering a proposal to extend the hours of liquor licensing as a possible solution, but Mar Sellars argues moving concerts to earlier time slots might have a bigger impact.
The other week I had a +1 on the guest list for a show featuring Dude York from Seattle and Paws from Glasgow. The set times were listed as 11:30 pm and 12:30 am on a Wednesday night. Let me be clear. I was offering a free ticket, but I couldn’t find anyone to go with me. I even asked a 25 year old friend who works at VICE and she politely declined. She said it was too late for her. If it’s too late for a 25-year-old working in music media, no wonder music venues are struggling in cities like Toronto and Vancouver. – Mar Sellars
Sellars, who has been playing in bands and promoting or attending shows for almost two decades, says when she goes to see a band during the week she knows she’s noticed they’re rarely at capacity.
“Most Canadians go out on the weekends because most people in Canada work Monday to Friday,” she says adding that if you go back to the same venues on a Friday or Saturday night, they’re much busier.
In Sellars’ view, that business model isn’t sustainable.
With rising rent costs, music venues and bars need audiences and patrons seven nights a week, not just on the weekend nights. – Mar Sellars
Instead, she suggests venues in Canada should take a cue from those in Japan or the UK, who have created a live music culture that still allows people to get to bed by 11 pm and work the next day.
And she argues there’s the added benefit of attracting a more diverse audience too.
“Commuters could catch their last train home, students with early morning classes wouldn’t be falling asleep at their desks, and parents could pay for babysitters.”
To Sellars, it shouldn’t be too difficult of a shift given most major sporting events, live theatre, and arena concerts typically start at earlier times.
No one should have to be exhausted to enjoy live music. – Mar Sellars
[Editor’s note: Several years ago I suggested to several bar owners to start the bands at 7 – to make their money from 7-11, instead of trying to get people in from 11 until 2 a.m., especially on a week night. One did start presenting games, etc., from 7 until 9 but went back to the old way of having bands play from 9 until 1:30 – and, of course, the crowds all left at 11.]
[Thanks to Annette of J-Moon Productions for submitting this article.]