Higher dollar could bring more acts

Sheri Levine
CanWest News Service; The StarPhoenix, file

While the Canadian film industry could be hampered by the loonie's parity with the U.S. dollar, the music industry is singing a much different tune. On Friday, the loonie closed at 99.92 and concert promoters say it's the best thing that could happen to them.

"It's fantastic for the concert industry," said Jacob Smid, who, along with his company Emerge, produces concerts for Toronto.

Since a majority of artists are paid in U.S. dollars, a stronger loonie means concerts will be cheaper to book and, according to Smid, bigger names will be more enticed to play places they would never have considered before.

Although ticket prices won't drop -- "artists won't make this a feasible option," said Smid -- prices aren't going to go up, either. And, according to Smid, a lot more artists are already considering Canada in their touring plans.

In Saskatoon, concert activity has picked up during the last three years -- partly on the back of the stronger dollar -- but the city's booming economy hasn't hurt ticket sales, either.

While Saskatoon's census metropolitan area is about 234,000, people from Saskatchewan will come to the city for a big show.

So far this year, Credit Union Centre, the city's largest venue, has hosted the Juno Awards as well as concerts by Beyonce, Hilary Duff, Rascall Flatts and others. Still coming up are Brad Paisley, Heart and Def Leppard.

Shania Twain, Elton John, Cher, Aerosmith, Sting and Annie Lennox, 50 Cent and Metallica are among the other acts that have played CUC in the last few years.

Scott Ford, marketing manager at Credit Union Centre, remembers booking shows 10 years ago when the exchange rate was 1.46 to 1.5. At that time, the venue hosted 14 concerts a year.

That number has risen to 22 concerts per year over the last two years.

"This year we're actually going to hit 30 concerts for our building," said Ford. "Last year we made the top 100 busiest arenas in the world, and it looks like we're going to make that number again.

"We had some huge shows, and we've got more shows coming. It's a fabulous position to be in when you have a hot economy and a strong Canadian dollar.

"Concerts are all making money here. We're getting the big shows like Cirque du Soleil, and Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and Ozzy Osbourne. We're getting a lot of interest from American promoters."

Ford is also talking to more promoters than he has in the past, who handle acts like Blue Man Group, Andre Rieu and Osbourne.

"It's a perfect climate for them to do business in Canada," said Ford. "When they're doing well it just means we're going to get more business."

However, it's a different story for Canada's film industry. American film and TV studios often head north of the border to shoot their projects because it's less expensive.

But with the loonie and U.S. dollar on par, Hollywood filmmakers may choose to stay home.

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007