Leaving The City In A Quest For New Growth Opportunity

As time goes on, performing in the same venues, to the same general crowd, inevitably hits a glass ceiling for growth.

There is almost always someone new in the room, but as time goes the % of regulars you encounter increases. It’s important to put yourself in rooms where most people are strangers. To increase your network, and net worth, you need to meet a constant influx of potential. 

The more people you meet, the more of a chance your name gets brought up for opportunity. 

The more opportunity you have to connect others to something greater. 

Being from Montreal is a lot cooler in other cities

When I go to Toronto, New York or anywhere else, the fact that I’m from Montreal is exciting.

Whereas to the people who grew up in my neighbourhood, we all share that fact in common. Almost everyone else I perform with is a Montreal artist. We’re all competing for attention among a giant mass of other Montreal artists.

In another city, I’m just a visitor. The Montreal artist part is recontextualized. Someone who lives in another city and is part of a different ecosystem. My time spent in that city is the potential to create more bridges to my city. They recognize it and I see the opportunity in building wherever I am.

I’m tired of the same old same old and am craving some new stimulation in my life.If I’m going to do showcase events, they won’t be happening in my city often/

Seeing “local” artists in another area will help broaden your scope of what’s out there

Sometimes we get caught up in the rigamaroo of what we know. 

The last time I was in Toronto we heard this dude sing so clean, without effects, that is star level was clear. His songs had power behind them and he was definitely far more talented than most people I’ve seen in Montreal. When you head out of your lands, you get a better sense of how good people are.

By the same token a lot of the time I will end up on these cards where most people are new artists. It’s kind of fun because my polished set has a larger impact, but for real, it’s not a competition. I just want to make connections in other places.

I want to find other versions of me who don’t live here. 

I will have a few plans I want to flush out that should help me sell tickets in other places. 

Or at least help me find people to back the team, elsewhere.

There’s an extra benefit of creating mystique back home

Every single time I leave Montreal, my stories and articles get more attention. 

Whether it is somewhere cool like Puerto Rico or somewhere random like Gould, Quebec, people love seeing you explore. The unique lens you put on the world is taken in. 

Often many of us can go to the same place and capture a different memory entirely.

That being said, as part of the artist journey, if we aren’t out there in new environments sharing our work, it doesn't look like we are progressing. Even if there is minimal pay and small crowds, the fact that you are out there performing in strange new lands is an asset. The best way to write cooler songs is to live in cooler moments.

Everywhere I’ve been has shared something special with me and shown me something I’ve never seen before.

Whether it’s bright lights and chopped cheese or naked hippies in a river, the world is vast.

Take your art out there and make it bigger than you can imagine.

Live Long and Prosper Everyone