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One post on the club’s Facebook page by Rajiv Naidoo read “if this ban on EDM at the ex was a ploy to increase revenues… well, it wasn’t a very good ploy.”

In a letter to city councillors on Jan. 14 regarding the ban Mr. Starkovski mentions the $15-million Muzik Clubs has invested on the premises over the last 12 years. He adds, “Exhibition Place has seen several competing events in both the Better Living Centre and Direct Energy Centre. If there is similar content and acts being hired on another or the same night, in the same location, we will not be able to continue our successful programming.”

Kendra Kleiner, a 26-year-old who works in marketing is a member of the Facebook group Toronto Rave Community, calls the ban unfair. “They are discriminating against one genre and protecting a private business owner,” she says. Her group has almost 20,000 members, many of whom are supporting and sharing the petition.

Ms. Kleiner says electronic music concerts at Exhibition Place won’t cause competition for the nightclub. “Muzik is a bottle service club, a high rollers club, it’s not designed to compete with all ages shows,” she says.

Mr. Starkovski and Ms. Kleiner agree on this point. “People are trying to mix the message that I’m going to benefit,” Mr. Starkovski says, adding that he has no intention to compete for an under-age audience. “My biggest concern is that [electronic dance music concerts] are mixing 12-year-old girls with 50-year-old men.”