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Mapping Montreal’s music scene – just how different are we?  

By Russ Cooper

When most people go out to hear music in Montreal, they might bring along comfy shoes or a friend. Geography, Planning and Environment master's student Thomas Cummins-Russell might bring a map.

As his thesis, the 24-year old is examining the social networks underpinning the economic interaction between the many facets of the Montreal music industry (musicians, venues, promoters, etc.) in relation to the unique characteristics of the city. His goal is to give an accurate geographic depiction of how Montreal sets itself apart from other cities.

And he's setting himself apart in the process. Cummins-Russell has earned over $56 000 in private, provincial and federal funding for his two-year study.

For his thesis supervisor, Cummins-Russell [BA 07] was paired up with Assistant Professor Norma Rantisi, whose work examines creative industries through a geographic lens (ie. the video game industry or Cirque du Soleil). Equipped with ideas for her students to examine related subjects, Cummins-Russell and Rantisi refined the focus of the study together, choosing to investigate the music community in Montreal.

"I never had aspirations to get into the music business, but I wanted to look at something that was fairly concrete," he says. "At the end of my study, I wanted to be able to say, 'I know something about the industry.'"

He's closely examining the idea of 'clustering' – the close physical proximity of artists within a certain area that are able to create a personal and direct form of collaboration influenced by the time and place in which the artists are part of. A human network, or 'buzz,' if you will. This type of collaboration, Cummins-Russell stresses, is not possible through electronic means. "Try having a band practice over the phone or email," he says.

Having completed the interview and data gathering portions of his research (42 interviews in total; roughly half musicians and half venue owners/promoters, etc.), he is currently in the process of distilling the information to defend the thesis in April or May of this year.

He points to the diversification of the music business as key among his findings. Musicians, he uses as an example, are performing in numerous groups, promoting and booking their own concerts, facilitating recording sessions, etc.; aspects of the business traditionally handled by other people.

Choosing Montreal for the study was not only due to it being his adopted home, Cummins-Russell believes the city is extremely unique for many different reasons. He recognizes Montreal's controlled rent, its long history of creative openness, and its historical links to New York and Toronto as contributing factors – the "place-based attributes," as he calls it.

"It's a secondary-sized city, meaning it's not as big as the country's biggest. It's an amazing place to cut your teeth and collaborate, but Montreal can't holistically sustain enormously popular bands due to the relatively small size of its industry."

That said, Cummins-Russell credits the province of Quebec for its unparalleled support of cultural expression. "Quebec really values protecting its culture. It helps give rise to programs that truly help artists," he says. "There's real solidarity here."

However unexpected his study path and success has been, Cummins-Russell is able to put a family spin on the saying, 'dance with the one that brung ya.' His father, a musician originally from Louisiana, plays Cajun and Quebecois folk and his mother is a professor at the University of Laval.

"You could've pretty much predicted I'd do what I'm doing," he says.