Take a bow, North Grandview-Woodland: you鈥檝e been crowned B.C.鈥檚 capital of cool.
That distinction was recently anointed by SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) and based on the amount of new members who joined the artists鈥� organization last year.
Seven of the top 10 creative corners in B.C. are located within Vancouver, and the list is broken down by postal code prefix. Thirty-two SOCAN newbies were accounted for in the V5L last year, while central (V6K) and western (V6R) Kits rounded out the top three.
鈥淲e know most cities pride themselves on their culture and the amount of music that鈥檚 being played 鈥� it鈥檚 kind of like bragging rights,鈥� said SOCAN spokesperson Andrew Berthoff. 鈥淚t鈥檚 anecdotal but we can deduce from this study that the cool factor goes up in those places.鈥�
North Grandview-Woodland was the lone neighbourhood outside of Toronto or Montreal to make the same top 10 list, but on a national scale. The East Van hood placed sixth in the Canada-wide context.
SOCAN鈥檚 membership hovers somewhere around 150,000, and Berthoff did see some trends come to bear during the number-crunching process. And surprise, surprise, musicians tend to flock towards the most affordable areas of a given town.
鈥淲e see that across the country and there are parallels, but we can鈥檛 scientifically deduce the causes of it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat parallel with the cool factor is that non musicians tend to want to move there and it becomes a popular place to live. Then it becomes unaffordable for music creators, musicians and artists of all kinds. And then the cool factor kind of goes down.鈥�
Katie Gravestock, guitarist for Mint Records recording artists Supermoon, can attest to that cross-town migration. Over the last 12 years she鈥檚 watched her music and artist friends make their way from Main Street east towards their current digs in North Grandview-Woodland. Gravestock and two of her Supermoon bandmates live in the vaunted V5L, largely because of its relative affordability.
鈥淎 lot of my friends who are musicians want to do music full time but we just can鈥檛 because it鈥檚 so hard to make money these days. We all have multiple jobs,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e definitely noticed a high concentration of musicians in the area and there are lots of rehearsal spaces.鈥�
The SOCAN study is the society鈥檚 first attempt at sifting through the numbers to see where their members are popping up. In total, roughly 500 members live in North Grandview-Woodland, while around 400 call Kitsilano home.
鈥淭he ancillary benefits of musicians being there is that they are part the scene, and that creates economic value because of that cool factor,鈥� Berthoff said. 鈥淚t becomes a desirable place to live for a lot of first-time buyers or even second-time buyers. They want to be close to the action and the fun in the city.鈥�
SOCAN top 10 areas in B.C with the most new songwriters, composers and music publishers:
1.听听听 North Grandview-Woodland, 麻豆传媒映画(Postal code prefix V5L)
2.听听听 Central Kitsilano/ Greektown, 麻豆传媒映画(V6K)
3.听听听 West Kitsilano/ West Point Grey/ Jericho, 麻豆传媒映画(V6R)
4.听听听 Nanaimo (south) (V9R)
5.听听听 East Fairview/ South Cambie, 麻豆传媒映画(V5Z)
6.听听听 Delta (Southwest), 麻豆传媒映画(V4M)
7.听听听 Coquitlam (South) (V3K)
8.听听听 NW West End/ Stanley Park, 麻豆传媒映画(V6G)
9.听听听 NW Shaughnessy/ East Kitsilano/ Quilchena, 麻豆传媒映画(V6J)
10.听 East Mount Pleasant, 麻豆传媒映画(VST)
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