At the hundredth paid subscriber

Back to school special!

Dear reader,

Thank you so much for reading this newsletter, which is now 10 months old and approaching its 100th post.

Some transparency and gratitude:

Hundreds of you have signed up, which is amazing to me. At least 60% of you open any given newsletter, which my Substack overlords tell me is very impressive. Each post gets at least 700 views, often 800+; obits get 1,500+.

Nearly 100 of you have shelled out for a paid subscription, which is even more amazing and shows me this work is valued. I also, of course, appreciate when people tell me personally how much it’s valued. This has happened to me many times via email and several IRL as well — from people I don’t even know! Often at gigs, but sometimes at funerals! Thank you!

And an enormous thank you to those who signed on to the “founding member” rate. That floors me. But, as it’s taken me way too long to learn: if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

I’m always hustling for freelance work to make up my income. Starting this newsletters was, among other reasons, meant to contribute to that pool. It’s now at the point where I’m almost making as much here as I did as a weekly columnist for the Waterloo Record. (Which, frankly, was not much — and I didn’t get a raise during the 19 years I did that. But still…)

Actual photo of my vacation fund

So in the spirit of self-promoting hucksterism inherent to today’s gig economy: HELP ME GET TO 100 PAID SUBSCRIBERS! And if you’re already paying for this, then please help spread the word. Look, here’s a deal to make it easier:

Maybe this will happen before I write my 100th post (which is coming up)!

Now that summer’s over I’ll be posting more content for paid subscribers. Listings will remain free. All posts go behind a paywall after being up for two weeks. If enough paid subscribers sign up, I might start cross-platforming some streaming playlists.

Meanwhile, let me know what you’re listening to. Chime in on the comments. Does anyone use the Notes feature here? Should I be instigating the Chat feature? Tell me what you’re excited to see live. Tell me what you went to see live because you read about it here. Let’s chat.

And the next time you’re having that inevitable conversation with a friend about how they don’t know where to find out about live music in Toronto, please tell them about this newsletter.

Much love.

mb