Overlooking the Scene: Electronic Music and Toronto’s Music City Project (1999–2019)

Abstract

Numerous Toronto music venues led the way to an electronic music scene that became more permanently housed within music venues and provided space for intercultural unity and musical innovation. These spaces served as entry points for a generation of electronic music lovers, who later then experienced the loss of those same venues. During the 2000s, the scene ran up against city policies intended to suppress its development, notably the so-called Rave Ban. Culture-led redevelopment policies now see Toronto curating a desire to achieve UNESCO “Music City” status. Recent policy changes influenced by the work of Toronto’s Music Advisory Council, like its revised noise bylaw and incorporation of the Agent of Change principle, carry the potential to shape the future sustainability of Toronto’s electronic music scene(s).