Canada Fee

[Pro Sound Guy]

I ran across this

https://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/canadian-government-to-charge-international-touring-artists-425-per-band-member-per-performance-in-canada-previously-a-1-time-150-fee

 

[nchangin]

Wow. So what if it's a small gig? It's just a flat rate period? for International touring artists. I suppose you could somehow change the verbage that it's not an actual "tour" to bypass it? Obviously aimed at touring artists only. USA have such a fee?

[Mogwix]

I heard about this, I think this is insane.

How do they enforce this outside of booking agencies? I wasn't even aware of the original performance fee.

[StratGuy22]

I believe the USA has a similar visa for bands playing in the USA from Canada. I think it's a one time thing that's cheaper though....

[Shaster]

I haven't played in the States in over ten years but from what I can remember (when my band went from Canada to the U.S.A.) we did it through the American Federation of Musicians with a visa called a P2. I used to play about six to eight weeks a year in Portland OR and about eight weekends a year in some of the border towns.

IIRC it was a one time processing fee, that was not all that onerous. Closer to what the one time fee mentioned in the article was.

But this new fee for American artists would be crazy. It might be doable for some major A and B acts but it would be prohibitive for many others. And would this fee be based on a per day or a per venue fee?

I've heard of artists like Ellen Mcllwaine (who still tours Canada), that travel by car from gig to gig picking up a band in each city (don't know if she still does that). I can't imagine her paying $425.00 per gig. Countless other bands and artists would also be prohibited from playing in Canada, strictly from a financial point. And this would certainly effect crew hiring decisions.

What I'm hoping is that the AFM will step in, or already has a process in place to lessen the blow. I know that when I did tour the U.S., the cost was much greater if we didn't go through the AFM.