Major artists are speaking out about the state of concert tickets.
“The current system is broken,” says a new letter signed by over 250 artists including Billie Eilish, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Cyndi Lauper, Lorde and more. The letter, called “Fix The Tix,” addresses pervasive issues in the ticketing industry, including counterfeit tickets, deceptive marketing strategies and unclear pricing.
Addressed to Maria Cantwell and Ted Cruz, the respective President and US Senate Member for Commerce, Science and Transportation, the letter calls on lawmakers to support the Fans First Act. The law will take a number of steps to make ticketing more transparent for consumers, including banning “deceptive marketing tactics” that trick fans into “paying more for tickets that may never get them to a show” .
“Predatory resellers are unregulated while siphoning money from the live entertainment ecosystem for their sole benefit,” the letter states. “As artists and members of the music community, we rely on touring for a living and we value music fans above all else. We stand together to say that the current system is broken.”
Although the letter is addressed to US lawmakers, ticket resale practices are not limited to the US, and several Canadian acts have signed on to support the letter's goals, including Blue Rodeo, The Sadies, Cowboy Junkies, Suzie Ungerleider and Alvvays' Alec O' Hanley.
“Ticket marking is indicative of another layer in a broken system,” Canadian singer-songwriter Lauren Spear, who releases music as Le Rennes and signed the letter, he says Billboard Canada. “It's hard enough to make money with streaming services that take revenue away from artists. Markups create an invisible hand that holds the door to the public and pockets money that should go to the work of the musicians and crew.”
The Fans First Act would require ticket sellers to display the full price of a ticket from the start of a purchase, addressing hidden fees that often surprise consumers at the end of a transaction. – Rosie Long Decter
YouTube aims to support Canadian artists in the age of artificial intelligence
Like many major companies and streaming companies, YouTube has a large presence in Canada. For artists and content creators, it provides access to an audience that spans borders.
“When you think about YouTube, the beauty for all artists and Canadian artists is the global reach,” says Vivien Lewit, Global Head of Artists at YouTube, in an interview with Billboard Canada, following a recent trip to Halifax for the Juno Awards. “There are over two billion connected viewers watching music videos every month on YouTube. The exposure is huge.”
As the Online Streaming Act becomes law, digital media distributors and outlets will soon face updated government regulations and possible new forms of Canadian content requirements. YouTube and its parent company Google have criticized the act since it was introduced as Bill C-11. However, much of the criticism of the company revolved around user-generated content, which has since been clarified to be immune from some forms of regulation. YouTube maintains an ongoing partnership with record labels in Canada, led by Canadian Director of Music Partnerships, Gabriel Obadia.
YouTube has a number of marketing and support initiatives and programs, and Lewit says they make sure to promote Canadian artists as part of all of them. These include features such as Artist on the Rise and Fifty Deep, a grant program to support black artists. This year, French-speaking Quebec rapper Lost participated.
YouTube Shorts was also a big driver the punjabi wave, including BC-based Karan Aujla, Ikky's partner. Together, they made YouTube's list of the most viewed music videos in Canada in 2023and Aujla has 1.66 billion global plays in the last year. Such numbers are hard to ignore, and they, along with stream counts, proved the potential of Punjabi music long before the Canadian music industry started supporting it.
“It's exciting because I hear about the rapidly growing popularity of Punjabi music in Canada from both our teams in India and our teams in Canada,” says Lewit.
In Canada these YouTube numbers will now be recognized by Music Canada's Gold/Platinum Singles Program. So, as in the US from 2020, an artist with a high number of streams on YouTube (or other digital service providers such as Apple Music) could win a gold or platinum record.
Read more here about how YouTube is working with Canadian labels on another potential thread and opportunity: Generative AI. – Richard Trapunsky
