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Live Nation Canada unveils plans for Rogers Stadium, a new seasonal concert venue in Toronto
Live Nation Canada has unveiled plans for Rogers Stadium, a new seasonal outdoor concert venue that will open at YZD (formerly Downsview Airport Lands) summer 2025. With a capacity of 50,000, Rogers Stadium will become Toronto and the GTA’s largest purpose-built music venue hosting fans and artists from around the globe. Built as a unique open-air experience, the facility will become one of Canada’s newest landmark concert destinations, reinforcing the city’s reputation as a must-play market on the global music scene.
“The number of stadium-level acts touring today is unprecedented, with more acts than available nights at existing venues. That’s why we’re making this investment—to ensure Toronto fans don’t miss out on world-class artists. Rogers Stadium will not only meet this demand but also offer a premium stadium show experience, combined with the festival vibe that our fans love,” said Erik Hoffman, President, Music, Live Nation Canada. “This a natural evolution of our stadium programming and we’re excited to bring this new venue to life with our partners at Rogers while continuing to book world-class shows at Rogers Centre, as well.”
“As Canada’s leading communications and entertainment company, we’re proud to partner with Live Nation to bring the country’s newest landmark concert destination to Toronto,” said Tony Staffieri, President and CEO, Rogers. “Rogers Stadium will attract the best artists from around the world and provide concertgoers with a premium entertainment experience in a unique festival atmosphere.”
“I’m so pleased to welcome Live Nation and the future Rogers Stadium to YZD,” said Premier Doug Ford. “This exciting venue will bring even more tourists and investment to our province, boosting local businesses, creating new jobs and drawing in artists and events from around the world.”
Rogers Stadium will be strategically positioned at the north end of the former airport’s runway, serving as a temporary fixture as Northcrest’s $30B transformative masterplan unfolds over the coming years. The stadium is centrally located, with easy access to 400-series highways and public transit connections, making it easily accessible. This landmark will not only visually anchor the evolving 370-acre site but play a crucial role in energizing both the city and the region’s economy. By hosting a wide range of concerts and music acts, Rogers Stadium’s construction and operation will generate thousands of jobs, boosting tourism, supporting local businesses and injecting an estimated $80-$100M into the local economy.
“This new music venue will enhance Toronto’s reputation as a world leading destination for the biggest touring acts from around the globe,” said Mayor Olivia Chow.
“Rogers Stadium is a testament to our vision for this masterplan, which includes a series of communities, creating a space where people come together to experience the best the city has to offer,” said Derek Goring, Chief Executive Officer of Northcrest Developments. “Our 370-acre project’s scale and impact are unprecedented. With development plans for these lands years away, this new venue serves not only as a premier concert venue but also reflects Northcrest’s commitment to creating a seasonal destination that brings much-needed infrastructure for the city’s arts and culture sector. This partnership is one of the many ways we continue to shape the soul of this community before development even begins, ensuring that YZD becomes a beacon of cultural and community life for years to come”.
The YZD transformation project, spearheaded by Northcrest Developments, represents one of North America’s largest mixed-use redevelopments. Over the coming decades, YZD will evolve into a connected series of communities with seven new neighborhoods, accommodating over 55,000 residents. The development includes more than 28 million square feet of residential space, seven million square feet of commercial and cultural spaces, and nearly 74 acres of parks and green spaces.
How Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Is Boosting Local Economies
Hotels & Accommodation
- Revenue: Hotel bookings for out-of-town visitors attending the concert.
- Where it goes: Local hotels, Airbnb hosts, and other lodging services benefit from increased bookings.
Restaurants & Bars
- Revenue: Fans dining before and after the concerts at local eateries.
- Where it goes: Local restaurants, bars, cafés, and fast-food outlets.
Transportation
- Revenue: Spending on taxis, ride-sharing services (Uber, Lyft), public transportation, and parking fees.
- Where it goes: Local transportation services, parking lot operators, and ride-sharing companies.
Retail & Merchandising
- Revenue: Purchases of concert-related merchandise (T-shirts, posters, etc.), as well as shopping at local stores.
- Where it goes: Concert venues (for official merchandise sales), local malls, gift shops, and retail stores.
Event Tickets
- Revenue: Ticket sales for the concert itself.
- Where it goes: Ticketmaster, the artist, the concert promoter (Live Nation), and the venue.
Tourism
- Revenue: Revenue generated by tourists visiting local attractions, museums, or cultural sites before or after the concert.
- Where it goes: Local tourism boards, museums, attractions, and cultural venues.
Hospitality & Services
- Revenue: Additional services like tour guides, salon/spa visits, and other luxury experiences.
- Where it goes: Local businesses providing these services.
Venue Operations
- Revenue: Income from concessions (food, drinks) and VIP packages at the concert venue.
- Where it goes: Venue operators, concession providers, and service staff.
Temporary Employment
- Revenue: Jobs created by the concert, such as security staff, ushers, parking attendants, and clean-up crews.
- Where it goes: Local event staffing agencies and individuals hired temporarily for the event.
Advertising & Marketing
- Revenue: Spending by local businesses on advertising to attract concertgoers.
- Where it goes: Local marketing agencies, media outlets, and billboard companies.
Air Travel
- Revenue: Flight bookings for fans traveling from other cities or countries.
- Where it goes: Airlines and related travel services, as well as airport vendors.
These revenue streams create a ripple effect, benefiting a wide range of local industries and driving significant economic activity.
SoundExchange Developing Global AI Sound Recording Registry
SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe yesterday announced that the company is developing a global artificial intelligence (AI) registry for sound recording creators and rights owners. Huppe shared the information during a discussion with multi-platinum, GRAMMY® Award-winning producer and artist Timbaland about music rights in an evolving creator landscape at the annual Fast Company Innovation Festival in Manhattan.
The registry will provide a much-needed resource for creators and rights owners to protect their rights related to the use of their content in AI models, allowing them to “reserve” those rights (if they so choose) against training by AI algorithms. While U.S. law does not require such a reservation to protect creators’ rights, the global registry will be another tool to help AI companies properly handle their training data and to help facilitate similar protections in Europe and elsewhere.
Expected to launch in the first quarter of 2025, the registry is an evolution of systems purpose-built by SoundExchange for the collection and distribution of recording royalties and will utilize SoundExchange’s authoritative and comprehensive international standard recording code (ISRC) database. Companies building AI training models will be able to reference the database of authorization declarations before ingesting recordings, helping to ensure appropriate permissions before capitalizing on others’ intellectual property.
“The rapid proliferation of companies building and leveraging AI music models demands creators have an ability to declare easily whether or not they want their work used in that process,” said Michael Huppe, President and CEO of SoundExchange. “Our driving mission is to simplify the music industry and protect the value of music. Because of our role in the music industry and our authoritative data, SoundExchange is in a unique and trusted position to create an AI sound recordings registry. We see this as another opportunity to bridge the information gap while keeping control in the hands of the creators and rights owners and providing AI companies with a centralized resource for researching consent.”
Record labels and other rights owners would still have the ability to undertake a reservation of rights individually with each AI company (as some have done). The SoundExchange AI registry will supplement that ability and facilitate economies of scale in the notification process. The database will be a voluntary tool, and rights owners will maintain all legal rights to their recordings regardless of their listing in the registry.
As the sole organization designated by the U.S. government to administer the country’s non-interactive streaming license, SoundExchange maintains the world’s largest and most comprehensive music rights catalogue, comprised of more than 126 million sound recordings. The organization is designated by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to maintain U.S. ISRCs and operates the industry’s largest sanctioned ISRC database.
SoundExchange is a founding member of the Human Artistry Campaign, a global alliance of more than 170 organizations from 34 countries that recognizes the value of AI as a tool for artists, but fundamentally believes that AI can never replace human expression, creativity, and artistry.
How Blues Musicians Can Do Remixes For Their Single
Blues music has always been a genre rooted in emotion and storytelling, but remixing it can open up exciting new possibilities. Whether you’re looking to give a track a modern electronic edge, a laid-back lo-fi vibe, or infuse it with elements from genres like funk, jazz, or even reggae, there’s no limit to how a blues song can evolve. Here are 10 creative remix ideas that can take your favorite blues track in fresh and unexpected directions, while still staying true to its soulful roots.
Austin City Limits Announces 50th Birthday Bash featuring Willie Nelson & Family on October 17, 2024
Iconic live music television series Austin City Limits (ACL) was born on October 17, 1974, when Willie Nelson taped the pilot episode. That now legendary debut became the cornerstone for 50 years of groundbreaking, award-winning music television. Now Willie returns on the 50th anniversary of that taping to commemorate Austin City Limits’ remarkable half-century milestone with a Texas-sized outdoor concert on October 17, 2024, at Austin’s Long Center for the Performing Arts. Austin originals Asleep at the Wheel get the party started Lone Star style with an opening set for the occasion. The western swing legends appeared in the very first official episode of Austin City Limits Season 1. Austin City Limits 50th Birthday Bash presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka is open to the public and free; fans must register with Fair AXS for a chance to attend. Registration opens at 8AM CT Friday, September 20th through 10PM CT Monday, September 23. Those selected to attend will be notified between September 26 and September 27 and will be required to opt in. Full details are available here. The performance will be taped; musical highlights will air as a special hourlong broadcast of Austin City Limits to air in early 2025 as a season highlight of the program’s golden anniversary Season 50.
There’s a good reason why a bronze statue of Willie Nelson stands at the entrance to ACL’s studio home on the Austin street that bears his name: in the 50-year history of Austin City Limits, no artist has personified the music series’ eclectic, freewheeling spirit more fully than the man with the braids, the beard and the guitar named Trigger. His pivotal 1974 full-set performance served as a dispatch to the world declaring Austin’s place as a pioneering music city; the trailblazing live music program was then given the green light, premiering on PBS in 1975. “The house that Willie built” is now an institution that has become the longest-running music series in television history.
“There would be no Austin City Limits without Willie Nelson – simple as that,” says longtime ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “He launched ACL into the television universe in 1974, and has helped keep us going for 50 years.”
Willie Nelson has longstanding ties to Austin City Limits with eighteen appearances on the series, more than any other performer; he last appeared in 2018 for Season 44. He was the inaugural inductee into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2014. Asleep at the Wheel, led by founder Ray Benson, and celebrating a 50-plus year run, also have a shared history with Austin City Limits, appearing eleven times over five decades, including a pair of appearances joined by Willie. Asleep at the Wheel was inducted into the ACL Hall of Fame in 2015, and honored in a 50-year career retrospective broadcast in 2020 as a special episode of Austin City Limits.
The anniversary concert also celebrates the city and community that plays a starring role in the series. The Austin skyline is the famous backdrop for the weekly show and Austin music fans comprise the audiences featured in each episode’s trademark crowd shots.
Austin’s Long Center concert lawn, situated on the banks of Lady Bird Lake and offering stunning views of the Austin skyline, will be the setting for this one-of-a-kind concert event. Austin City Limits 50th Birthday Bash featuring Willie Nelson & Family is produced by Austin PBS, the producing station of Austin City Limits and made possible by the generous support of Tejemos Foundation, Central Texas Chevy Dealers, Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Visit Austin.
As ACL turns 50, the series extends its legacy providing viewers a front-row seat to the best in live performance. Austin City Limits continues its extraordinary five-decade broadcast run with its landmark Season 50 premiering September 28, 2024 on PBS featuring an hour with Kacey Musgraves. The upcoming season features an all-star slate of returning favorites and highly-anticipated debuts. ACL has earned its place in history.