“Young People Snub Québécois Culture.” “These Youth Who Ignore Québécois Culture.” “Bro, Young Kebs Aren’t Into Keb Culture!” If you live in Québec, you probably saw headlines like these last fall, when the Institut de la statistique du Québec, through its Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec, published the results (in French only) of its 2024 Québec Survey on Cultural Leisure and Entertainment.
For example, it reveals that only 4 percent of 15- to 29-year-olds “mainly listen to music by Québécois artists.” However, the word “mainly” is ke, here, because if we include young people who listen to as much music by Québécois artists as by non-Québécois artists, that rises to 31 percent.
Still, these figures, and the often alarmist media shortcuts they trigger, sparked strong reactions across Québec’s music ecosystem, which has been struggling to find solutions to reverse the decline in its market share when it comes to online music listening.
Last November, during ADISQ Week, we took some time to speak with several SOCAN members about young people’s music consumption habits, and the initiatives being implemented to spark greater interest in local music, such as L’ADISQ à l’école, Le Festif à l’école, La culture à l’école, Une chanson à l’école, Inouï (formerly known as Ateliers Speech), and even a platform like MUSIQC.CA. All aim, in their own way, to encourage the discovery of local music through school-based learning at the elementary, high school, and CEGEP levels. But are they effective? Are they worthwhile avenues? That’s what we asked Lou-Adriane Cassidy, Alexandre Poulin, Naomi, Klô Pelgag, Viviane Audet, Rymz, Ariane Roy, thaïs, Debbie Tebbs, Shah Frank, Pierre Kwenders, Samian, and Velours Velours.
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But who better than young people themselves to tell us how they discover local music, and whether it’s a professional path in which they’re interested? That’s exactly what we asked a group of Grade 10 students from Polyvalente Bélanger in Saint-Martin, Beauce, who had the chance to attend the ADISQ Gala on Nov. 9, 2025, at Place des Arts in Montréal, thanks to a contest organized by the L’ADISQ à l’école program.
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To find out more about the ADISQ à l’école program, read the article we wrote about it and visit the official website (in French only).