Published by Leonardo Calcagno
#RIP Voir … The “death” of Voir is not surprising for those of us following the business of media but I hope it is a wake-up call for the industry, the government, and the public that cultural independent media in Québec is a blood sport and changes are needed to survive.
The “death” of Voir, a cultural & society free French newspaper with over 30 years of existence, has been
6 months after launching Bang Bang, an indy French free music print newspaper celebrating Québec’s indy emerging music scene in 2000, we got an email from Pierre Paquette, the former owner of Voir, inviting us to meet and talk about business. 9 months before we ditched our magazines to launch BangBang during a sangria and nachos summer evening at Casa Popolo. I published a stoner rock-tattoo English magazine called Motel & Lamb, Nelson Roberge a punk French mag called Rien à Déclarer, and Patrice Caron aka PatK was called Bazooka.
Less than a year after Bang Bang was launched, we had a corner office at the Voir office on Bleury street and our life as a DIY media owner changed. The Voir gave us the means and chance to start experimenting and grow as publishers. For 3 years at the Voir, we learned how to become stronger editors, how to pitch ad agencies (thank you, Paul Cassar, for your help and mentoring), to make money with our media, and to think outside the box. They open door to their contacts (I still remember having dinner with Nick Fargas at a great restaurant and talking about music and marketing) and always
We went to SXSW and covered the first year of La Maison du Québec showcase, featuring Malajube, We Are Wolves, and tons of poutine. We had a live radio show at Les Francofolies de Montréal for 2 weeks in a tent, we used a portable Rogers internet device for interviews (thank you again ). Did a weekly show at Sirius Radio called Bang Bang te Mort. A daily music online TV show’s, if you ever have the chance talk to Nelson about the sleepless night editing the show with video cassettes. We launched la GAMIQ ( ) a music gala celebrating Quebec’s indy bands, a shout to PatK for keeping the GAMIQ alive after all these years. and so much more.
My 2 cents