Andy McLean may have one of the hardest jobs in music.

The co-founder and managing director of the North by Northeast festival, McLean has the unenviable task of convincing music fans to pay to see bands they probably haven't heard of.

After all anybody can sell tickets to the Rolling Stones or the Eagles; it takes someone like McLean to do the same for an obscure indie rock band from Winnipeg or an up-and-coming folk singer from Montreal.

"For the first 10 years it was always like ‘That's great you have 300 bands, but who are the big names?,' MacLean told CP24.com recently. "It has always been about discovering new music, though. We just had to get that message out."

The 17th annual edition of North by Northeast (NXNE), which also includes a film component and industry conference, runs June 13-19. It will see 650 bands perform at about 50 venues throughout the downtown core. Organizers say 280,000 people will attend shows, generating an economic spinoff of about $45 million.

Sure, some of the bands have had major label success – Montreal rockers Men Without Hats of "Safety Dance" fame, will play a free show at Yonge-Dundas Square – but most haven't.

Somehow it hasn't hurt ticket sales.

Last year the festival saw an 18 per cent increase in attendance.

This year ticket levels may drop of slightly, but are still expected to be quite strong, says McLean. Free shows in Yonge-Dundas Square draw thousands. Shows in local bars and pubs draw a mix of music fans and industry types.

"If you think back to 1995 (when the first festival was held) the indie scene was really just getting going in Toronto and we wanted to give some of the best new and emerging bands a chance to play and further their careers," said McLean, who co–founded the festival with Now Magazine publisher Michael Hollett and local promoter Yvonne Matsell. "It provided an important opportunity for bands at the time and that's really still what the festival is all about."

Modeled after the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, NXNE has provided a launching pad for acts like Broken Social Scene, Feist and K'Naan.

"You just might get a chance to see the next big thing at NXNE," McLean told CP24.com.

Building an appetite for new music

Damian Abraham never thought he'd see the day.

It's Thursday afternoon and in one week Abraham and the rest of his bandmates in "Fucked Up" will play a free NXNE headlining gig in Yonge-Dundas Square alongside California punk rockers the Descendants and heavy metal buzz band Off!.

You heard it right, a punk show in Yonge-Dundas Square featuring a band with an expletive for a name and a singer who goes by the moniker "Pink Eyes."

When Abraham was coming of age in Toronto's underground punk scene in the 1990's, this kind of mainstream vindication seemed a million miles away.

That's when NXNE was in its infancy

"You can't accuse North by Northeast of not being diverse," Abraham, whose stage antics often leave him beaten and bleeding, told CP24.com. "That's the amazing thing about this festival, though. You can't just count it off as being not your thing because it is only these types of bands. It's all over the place. I saw Big Freedia play Dundas Square to families on picnics and that was pretty much the most subversive thing I have seen at any festival anywhere."

This year NXNE will stage four free shows at Yonge-Dundas Square along with an endless list of bar and club shows. A smartphone application has been created by organizers, so festival goers can plan their evenings. Music will go until 4 a.m. at many venues.

"It's constantly adapting and changing and that's the great thing about it," Abraham said. "You look at the Dundas Square shows. They are brining music that a lot of people in mainstream Toronto don't know about and they are giving it a public forum."

The downside of big festivals

Of course NXNE can only do so much.

Abraham, whose band achieved mainstream success with its 2008 Polaris prize winning album "The Chemistry of Common Life", says ultimately it's up to musicians themselves to do the work.

"You have to be smart about it," he said. "A lot of bands go into these festivals with stars in their eyes and think they are going to get signed right away and if you haven't done the work beforehand you are not going to come out with a positive experience."

Toronto based music promoter Richard Flohil agrees.

He said in many ways NXNE's growth runs contrary to its mission.

"They are almost in competition to say they have more bands and more venues than other festivals and it almost to the detriment of people taking part," he said. "It presents people from the music industry with an incredible challenge. Maybe they can see three bands a night. That's a pretty low percentage out of 650."

Flohil said he advises his clients to have patience when playing festivals like NXNE. It may not happen in year one, year two or even year three. It may not happen at all.

"Music industry people are not going to go see some unknown band they have never heard of," he said. "There time is too valuable."

For a full NXNE schedule click here.