Given the vibrant indie music scene in Toronto (and to a lesser extent Montreal and Vancouver), I think that there’s always room for a new site to come in and completely prove itself as the go-to place for information on what shows are happening any given night. The problem has always been there’s a myriad of sites listing classifieds and show announcements, most of which aren’t exactly aesthetically- friendly, and some of which that list shows that others don’t, and vice-versa.
Today Toronto’s de facto hipster record label Arts & Crafts has launched a spinoff website through Arts & Crafts Productions, called Do416. It’s a really well-designed site that will feature any shows or “arts and culture (which includes tech events)” events on any given day/night. It also has a pretty deep base of Canadian artists with biographical information and show dates for each.
Part of an evergrowing network of DoStuff Media properties, including Austin’s Do512, New York’s DoNYC and Los Angeles’ DoLA, Do416 “fills the city’s previous absence of a
comprehensive culture listings home, displaying the most popular events as determined by user
and Influencer votes.” Users can browse for recommendations or easily access events
by artist or venue, and flip through listings by date and location.
Business development & marketing manager Ian Kwechansky was one of the creators of Do416. He explained to us that when he first started out in the music industry, he’d hear people talking about some new and exciting concert that was coming up, but wondered where they were finding out about them. “Toronto has never had a proper, dedicated concerts+events listings website – and that’s what we’re here to change,” said Kwechansky. “We have a much more media rich experience on Do416 including bios, tour poster and even music videos in our listings. Search by day, week, month, weekend or even location – we’ve made it easy to know exactly what’s going on and who’s going!”
Do416 will also be “powering” six Torontobased music websites and blogs, bridging the gap
between the artists they talk about and those artists’ appearances in Toronto. “Being the Toronto
affiliate of an Austin based company, we’re excited to be reinforcing the sister city partnership led
by Music Canada’s 4479 in Toronto. Indie Music Filter, Sidewalk Hustle, A Music Blog, Yea?,
Ride The Tempo and PureGrainAudio will also be using our platform to help you decide what
shows to go to. Each site’s events section is a reflection of their unique interests, pulling in
events from Do416 and all of the mediarich information that comes along with it.”