Scene directory
The Vancouver organizations this publication depends on. Campus radio, other outlets, labels, record stores, and the non-profits that keep all-ages shows and safer spaces going.
Nothing here is paid, traded, or submitted.
UBC's campus and community station, on the FM dial since 1982 and broadcasting more than a hundred locally focused programs in seven languages. Volunteers from the campus and the city make the shows, and the station trains anyone who wants to host one.
SFU's volunteer-run campus and community station, broadcasting from the Burnaby Mountain Student Union Building to the eastern half of the region. Its music programming digs into the indie, underground, and world sounds commercial radio never touches.
A listener-owned co-operative on air since 1975, with 300-plus volunteers producing 140 hours of original programming a week from the Downtown Eastside. Its music show collectives take direct submissions from local artists.
A long-running Vancouver concert-photography and review crew shooting rooms from the Rickshaw to Rogers Arena, publishing full galleries within days of the show. Plainly, the other photographers in the pit.
CiTR's print arts magazine, published continuously since 1983 and the longest-running independent arts and culture magazine in Vancouver. Six issues a year, free, distributed across the Lower Mainland.
The city's broadest event-listings platform, with a daily music calendar that runs from arena tours to record-store in-stores. If you want one page of everything happening tonight, this is it.
Vancouver's alt-weekly institution, covering the city's arts and music since 1967. The monthly Van Jams column and can't-miss concert lists remain a reliable read on what is moving in local music.
A digital magazine devoted entirely to independent arts journalism in Vancouver, from new-music season announcements to venue-policy news. Some of the most consistent long-form culture coverage the city gets.
Chad Kroeger and Jonathan Simkin's independent label, named for the area code and home to Marianas Trench, Theory of a Deadman, and Carly Rae Jepsen's early records. Runs 604 Studios, a full production facility, on the side.
A DIY label pressing small-run vinyl for Vancouver artists since 2011, right down to an annual Christmas single. The label layer of the local scene at its most personal.
604's indie-minded sibling imprint, launched in 2010 with its own mandate and a roster that includes the Zolas, Hotel Mira, and Fake Shark. The bridge between the DIY layer and the industry proper.
Vancouver's flagship indie label since 1991, where the New Pornographers, Neko Case, and cub all started. Signing and releasing new local records every year.
Founded in Vancouver in 1984 and the launching pad for Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk completed a management-led buyout in early 2026 and remains an independent, distinctly Canadian company. The biggest label story this city has produced.
Commercial Drive
East Van's go-to shop since 2001, hailed by the CBC as one of Canada's top ten record stores. Buys collections of any size, any day, and stocks everything from must-own classics to the esoteric end of the aural experience.
Downtown
A West Hastings fixture since 1996 that grew out of skate culture into one of the city’s best crate-digging rooms, especially for hip hop, jazz, and electronic. Listening stations and a deep used wall reward the patient.
Commercial Drive
On the Drive since 1982, with a hand-picked selection that runs from Tom Waits to Tinariwen and a till that sells local show tickets. World music is the specialty; the whole shop is the point.
Main Street
Vancouver's oldest independent record store, running since 1981, with in-store shows and release parties that make it a small venue in its own right. New and used vinyl, 45s, posters, and deep local memorabilia.
Commercial Drive
New and used vinyl on Commercial Drive, with a stage at the back that makes it a working small room as well as a shop. Rock, jazz, R&B, hip hop, classical and electronic, plus the rare end of the racks.
Main Street
Musician-owned and self-described as Vancouver's community record store, a longtime hub for local releases, consignment, and show tickets. The Hastings satellite closed in 2020; the Main Street original carries on.
Kitsilano
The West 4th institution since 1981, survivor of more than one brush with closure, with a deep new-and-used wall. A pillar of the Kitsilano block that once defined Vancouver record shopping.
The charitable society behind the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, running since 1985 and one of the largest independent arts organizations in B.C. Its festival puts on dozens of free and pay-what-you-can shows across the city each summer.
A volunteer-run non-profit building self-esteem in girls and non-binary youth aged 8–17 through music creation and performance, with year-round programming at the Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre. The next generation of the scene starts here.
Safer-spaces training for nightlife, music, and hospitality: consent education, bystander intervention, and harm-reduction workshops for venue staff and event crews. They train restaurant, bar, and nightclub teams, and run their own workshops for bands, DJs, tour managers, and festivals.
The province's music industry association: travel grants, the ARC artist accelerator, and professional development for both the for-profit and non-profit sides of the business. The first stop for any B.C. artist looking for funding.
A Vancouver charity funding certified music therapists in hospitals, hospices, schools, and seniors’ care across B.C. and Canada since 2012, with over $4 million granted to date. Where the scene’s money does the quietest, most direct good.
The non-profit behind the Folk Fest at Jericho Beach Park, staged since the 1970s. Members vote at the annual general meeting and can stand for the board, and volunteers put the weekend on.
The non-profit society presenting experimental and contemporary sound in Vancouver since 1973, anchored by its annual festival each fall. Recent seasons have brought artists from as far as Japan, Korea, Egypt, and Australia.
The all-ages advocacy organization that ran shows and pushed the city on venue regulation through the 2010s, seeking a permanent alcohol-free space. Its channels have been quiet since 2019, and the all-ages arguments it started are ongoing.
Written from each organization's own site. Last reviewed August 2026.