I want to use today’s blog article to present an idea for how we should think about the branding of our local scene. The way I see us approaching it is in these narrow silos. You’ll see pockets of artists, and their friends, but there is very little that represents the scene as a whole. There’s no banner for the fans across Montreal to fly.
Sometimes those pockets of artists will actively paint the broader scene in a negative way. Dirty laundry gets exposed and overall the perception of the scene gets tainted. Unfortunately everything said publicly, can be seen by literally everyone who has access to those sharing their opinions. All it can take is one post to make a person never want to go to any local shows, ever.
I think we need to take our roles in music and create a parallel with professional entertainment organizations. An example would be the NHL or the WWE, either would apply to illustrate our failure as a group. This blog will bridge the gap, showing how hockey and music are similar reputationally speaking.
There are layers to a cultural movement
In order for someone to become a star, there has to be worse versions of them. While there may be this new phenomenon that starts a wave, in order for it to be a wave there will be many who bring mediocrity. There will be an entire ecosystem that people, fans and participants alike, can buy into. Something that can become a label for their identity. It definitely needs a singular label.
This label will be the thing people care about. We’ll use hockey as an example. Hockey is a sport, and the people who like hockey become fans of that sport. They may not like other sports. While they may also play the game for fun, whenever they consume hockey in an organized capacity, there will be a league behind it. The big league is the NHL. However there are some international tournaments that hold their own weight.
The first decision people need to make with regards to participating in the sport as a fan is what league they care about. This is based on the reputation and overall standing of the teams as a whole. A big contributor to the leagues are the teams. These are made up of the individual players and their support staff that allow the game to play in the first place.
An individual team’s popularity will have a big impact on how many people choose to watch their games. Still, the best team in Norway will not have any popularity (outside of Norway) compared to the worst team in the NHL (in North America at least). Teams are comparable within a league, but the league is what governs the overall popularity cap that team has.
Finally there is the ecosystem around the leagues and teams. This may be merchandising companies, media outlets & gambling sites. They are all the pieces that help glue the community together from the outside, generating a hype cycle. When you bet on a game, you are a lot more likely to watch the game.
Each one of these things has a reputation, but if the reputation of the league goes down. It tanks the entire movement. Let's bring this back to local music scenes.
Independent local music scenes are like sports leagues
I’m part of what I call the “Old person English Hip Hop” scene in Montreal. This is a subgroup of the greater “English Hip Hop” scene in my city. This differs from the Hip Hop scene at large which is predominantly French. While the future may be bilingual, for now this is a way to look at it.
Now our local independent music scene has to compete with all the other live music that exists in this city. You can think of it like, the NHL has to compete with the NFL, NBA and MLB. We need to compete with punk, jazz and EDM. When you stop a Montrealer and check their playlist, they listen to all the genres of music. We no longer live in a world where musical purists dominate. People like songs, they can barely tell you the last time they bumped an album in full.
The way a lot of people operate when they choose to go out, they are checking for what’s popping that night. They aren’t exclusively checking for rap shows.They are likely going to something that interests them specifically or somewhere they expect a lot of people to be at (think sex potential). It’s worth remembering that one of the leagues independent music competes against is Montreal Tourism. I went to a local show the same day The Roots performed for free at Jazz Fest. The Roots won that battle.
When we present the culture at large in a negative light, we may believe that the only people reading the posts are involved in the scene. Probably based on who comments, but that’s a lie. In truth, many many people see our bickering. While there are those who present the scene in a wonderful light, many more (myself included) have put out a lot of negative shade.
Imagine if all the players constantly shat all over the NHL. Then some other league had happy players. It would take time, but inevitably the NHL would lose its clout and that league would be popping. While the WWE is a powerhouse, New Japan and AEW are serious business now.
Either way in music, you need to sell a good time. That’s why people go out. If we publicly don’t like each other for realsies, why would anyone think it’d be fun to come out and be around us?
The artists, designers and engineers (etc.) are the teams
I see the artists like the players on the ice. There are many levels to the game now, like how in Hockey there are all those letter leagues. You need to improve and earn your spot on better teams. Unlike in hockey, there is really no structure in our city for that type of growth.
Our geography lottery has a lack of stars in the city. This means there is a lack of experience trickling downhill. One day I see guys like Shabbo and Husser playing that role, but they are still in the climbing phase themselves. This leads to a lot of movements out there but no scope of where anyone stands.
There are also designers and engineers and videographers and a list of other people who make money off artists (as they should). These remind me of the physiotherapists, maintenance staff and other people that help keep a hockey team alive. These people often work freelance with artists rather than squadding up. This may be because most of the art here doesn’t really make money like that and everyone got to eat.
I think a lot of times artists group together out of circumstance. The teams that form are based on the fact that we end up performing at the same stuff over and over again. There is an organic feel to it all. The problem is a lot of our shows don’t really attract fans. It’s artists performing to artists and their entourages. The teams lose sight of the bigger league and the potential out there.
I think I’ve seen over 1000 artists in person over the last 2 years. (The next time you read something I wrote and feel targeted, it’s probably not about you, now if the shoe fits…). I think there are few people that have put the time into listening to a large number of the city’s artists. Funk Lo is a name that comes to mind for someone that does listen like that. I do not believe most people here put that much effort into seeing what comes out beyond the people they know.
Basically to make it shorter, since we don’t know what’s actually out there, the teams don’t know where they stand and can’t organically move up from like a CCC to a AAA or however letter ranking in sports works.
Check out The Litty Montreal Playlist, see if anyone would be well suited to working with you.
The media and everything that surrounds the scene
That classic lyric “Let’s give them something to talk about” popped into my head. I interviewed a lot of people. I tried to play my part in building something. Clearly I did not succeed despite all the niceties people say to me about it. We made all that content and the public found it boring.
People kept telling me to find better folk to interview. I was trying to interview our peers. I still haven’t solved the puzzle of how to make local people care about local people. Outside of Kevin Calixte’s 50th anniversary run last year and the SIN awards, I can’t think of anything that was like super hype. Where people came out in droves. Maybe Hussers basketball tournament.
Obviously I wasn’t at everything and missed a lot. But in order for the media to talk about stuff and people to tap in around the culture, there needs to be some exciting stuff playing out. This is not meant to knock anyone doing things, building waves. DMS puts hella work into being a pillar. Folk are leveraging weed store money to bring out of towners here for us to open at. There is a lot of foundational stuff underway and everyone deserves their credit.
Still we need to face a reality check. I remember once before MTL Blog had their reputation that the main dude and I chopped it up. He had seen me perform at Hip Hop Karaoke and was generally cool with me. I vividly remember we ran into a girl who had stolen a bottle of vodka and we all did shots on St Laurent. I digress, he made it clear that 250 people made it barely worth his time to come out.
Merch companies may throw a couple of prizes, but most companies aren’t excited at sponsoring an event for 250 people either. You should still chase them, but curb your expectations and ask accordingly. 250 people is not a lot (I picked 250 arbitrarily). Bacardi and them do sponsor events that have 50-60 guaranteed people over time.
We don’t see the ecosystem because there is not enough for the parasites to eat off of. Although shoutout Big Mitch on the French side, he really puts his work in.
The reputation of the league matters the most
If you got this far you can see how the media and ecosystem that artists are craving can’t exist, because there aren’t enough fans in the scene. My main theory is that if we, the artists, make a better effort of solidarity in promoting each other, even when we hate each other, we’d create more fans.
Sometimes people’s entire online gimmick is to shit on the efforts of others. They may be talented and have fans. But often their fans like all the people they are dumping on. It just creates a weird dynamic that isn’t helping us all sell more tickets.
We need to think about the bigger picture.There are a lot of things happening in the city. Most of us don’t put any real effort into staying informed on what else is happening. We dunk on what we see immediately, but a random Facebook post may influence people to not buy tickets to future shows, for any of us.
I know there’s a conceit that certain artists will rise above the league, on sheer talent and leave the rest behind. History doesn’t really show it working like that. To blow past everyone, there has to be a pretty healthy scene bubbling for you to become the star, next to all the jabronies you hate.
I will admit I’ve played my part in doing harm. I’ve spent the last few years trying to be better and promote growth. Even if sometimes I fail.
I was at Witness’ album listening yesterday at 180G and it was beautiful. Like 50 people congregating and celebrating a love of art. We need to share that the vibe is hype, and fun. So others want to come.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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