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International Regional and Local Music Scenes
Local Toronto, Canada Music Scene




The local music scene of Toronto covers a wide range of talent, since it's one of the biggest cities in the nation. Many of the bands in Toronto play regularly in Montreal and on the Canadian circuit. Some of the top artists in the region's history have included Rush, Neil Young, Steppenwolf, Gordon Lightfoot, The Band, Cowboy Junkies and Our Lady Peace. Toronto generates a healthy percentage of national acts, many of which have become internationally known.

Many Toronto bands try hard to have fancy websites when they should concentrate on building simple user-friendly websites. There's a tendency for unknown bands with resources to overdo it with their websites and try to create a complex multimedia experience or a graphic-intensive website that loads too slowly. It's much better to have a quick loading website where it's easy to find song links right away.

One of the best places for Toronto artists to submit their music for radio airplay is Indie 88.1 (CIND), which plays all indie rock. The station is owned by Rock 95 Broadcasting and Central Ontario Broadcasting. Another station to consider is college station CIUT (89.5 FM), based at the University of Toronto. The station's diverse programming mixes talk and music.

A local band website should definitely contain contact information. You never know who might come across your site and want to know more, whether it's a fan, musician, club manager, music professional or investor. They may like your music or want to connect with you because you make music. It's possible to create an entire fan base on the web through platforms like ReverbNation and SoundCloud. But it's more likely that a band will develop a local live following first. Some of the best live venues in Toronto include Horseshow Tavern, Lee's Palace, Dakota Tavern, Mod Club and The Garrison.

Most Toronto local music sites do not get high rankings in search engines, do not gain significant traffic and do not make money. Part of the problem is that there are now millions of bands. Every major city now has thousands of bands and a list that extensive is too hard for people to keep up with. Most people might know a few bands personally and like a few others. Not too many people can call themselves local music experts in their own hometown, other than local record store owners, night club owners, the bands themselves and local radio personnel.





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