This week: Music PEI Week gets underway, M for Montreal accepts submissions, a survey on caregivers in the music industry and more.
Shubh
Spotify has just announced its first-ever Global Impact List for Canada. This list highlights artists whose songs were in heavy rotation among listeners outside their own countries during the last six months. To nobody's surprise, Drake and The Weeknd are each featured on three of the Top 10 each, while rising global star Tate McRae makes the list with "It’s OK I’m OK"at No. 4.
Less expected is the appearance of Toronto newcomer Chris Grey, who checks in at No. 3 with his viral hit, "Let The World Burn," launched as a background track to many social media clips. Grey's largest international audience is found in cities across Indonesia, Brazil and Malaysia. Confirming the international appeal of the Punjabi Wave are Shubh and Raghav who respectively come in with "King Shit" at No. 6 and the Bollywood-fuelled hit "Teri Baaton mein Aisa Uljha Jiya" at No. 9.
Here's the top 10:
Music PEI Week is now well under way in Prince Edward Island. One recommended event is the SOCAN Songwriters Concert, at Scott MacAulay Performing Arts Centre in Summerside on Match 6 (7.30 p.m. start). The lineup includes Dylan Menzie, Gizmo, Lawrence Maxwell, Noah Malcolm and acclaimed honkytonker Whitney Rose (now based in Austin). The five days of activity culminates in the 24th Music PEI Awards Gala, at the Confederation Centre of the Arts on March 8. Performing there will be Vishtèn Connexions, Dylan Menzie, Hikado and Lawrence Maxwell. Tickets here. See the full list of nominees here.
– The Springtide Music Festival has announced the first wave of artists for the 2025 festival lineup taking place June 12-14 in Uxbridge, Ontario (northeast of Toronto). Folk and roots artists feature prominently in an impressive lineup that includes Juno winners The East Pointers and Quique Escamilla, Reuben and The Bullhorn Singers (led by Reuben and The Dark leader Reuben Bullock), Indigenous shoegazers Status/Non-Status, indie roots-rock veterans Cuff The Duke and The Burning Hell, Casper Skulls, Torrance (led by Tamara Williamson), The Pairs and The Vaudevillian. More artists will be announced later this spring. The festival features both free and ticket events and is helmed by Folk-Roots artist Tania Joy. More info here. Weekend passes are on sale here.
– The M For Montreal Festival is now accepting submissions from artists wanting to showcase there. Apply here. This year, the event runs Nov. 19-25. (Billboard Canada is a presenting partner of M for Montreal.)
Music Publishers Canada (MPC) and the non-profit Women in Music Canada organization are undertaking a needs assessment to explore and identify the specific requirements of the music community related to the demands of caregiving. This survey is meant to be answered by those who currently have caregiver responsibilities and work in the music sector in Canada as well as those who have exited their music careers due to caregiving demands. The survey (here) must be completed by April 14.
– Fresh from its successful recent FAI Conference in Montreal, Folk Alliance International (FAI) is having its Annual General Meeting on March 6, at 2 pm CT, via Zoom. The Board of Directors reviews the last year, and if you’re a voting member of FAI, you’ll receive an email with the agenda, meeting documents, and a Zoom link to join (with the ability to participate and ask questions). Non-members are also invited to join. You can view the live AGM at the appointed time on the FAI YouTube channel.
– Acclaimed Toronto-based company Opera Atelier is marking a milestone 40th anniversary this year by presenting the Toronto premiere of a 17th-Century masterpiece, David and Jonathan, composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The production will run at Koerner Hall’s TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, from April 9-13, and is fully staged and choreographed by Opera Atelier co-artistic directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg. Tickets and information at OperaAtelier.com.
It is hard to believe that it has been 40 years since Toronto's much-loved beatnik jazz band The Shuffle Demons took to the streets of their hometown to busk up a storm. They have since earned an international audience for their free-spirited sound, and this week they release a new album, Are You Really Real, on Alma Records/Universal. Original members Richard Underhill and Stich Wynston are joined by other Juno-winning players in the current Shuffle Demons lineup. Over these four decades, the band has released ten CDs and two hit videos and toured nationally and internationally including 25 cross Canada tours, 5 U.S. tours, and 17 European treks. The new album will be launched on March 6 at Hugh's Room Live in Toronto (tickets here), followed by shows at Hotel Wolfe Island, Kingston, March 7-8. Stream the advance single "X Marks The Spot" here.
– Via his seminal band Three O'Clock Train, Montreal singer/songwriter Mack MacKenzie was part of the '80s Canadian roots-rock boom alongside the likes of Blue Rodeo and Jr. Gone Wild. He is still going strong, with that band, as a solo artist and as a full-fledged member of Medicine Singers, the internationally acclaimed Indigenous collective based in the U.S.. MacKenzie is joined by Suzanne Nuttall (ex-Bare Bones) for a double-bill acoustic singer-songwriter tour beginning in Kingston on March 6, with dates in Ottawa, Montreal, Cornwall, London, Hamilton (The Gaba Gaba Gool Club, tickets here), Toronto and Norwood. A full itinerary here.
– On March 21, Hamilton-based rockabilly/roots singer-songwriter Ginger St. James will release her fourth album, Told Ya, out on regional label Busted Flat Records. Renowned for a spirited performance style, St. James has an eclectic sound that draws upon rockabilly, country, blues and early rock 'n roll elements. She plays a hometown album release show at The Mule Spinner on March 22 (tickets here) and has other shows in Guelph (March 8), London (March 14) and Tweed (April 25).
– Emerging Toronto alt-pop singer-songwriter Zoe Ferris has a debut album coming in April, and she has just released a second advance single, "Touch Ground," co-produced by Annelise Noronha. Later this year, Ferris will attend Berklee NYC’s master’s program in music production and songwriting. Check the track out on Soundcloud here.
Wayne Petti
The long-running independent music company is boosting its management arm, with roots-rocker turned manager Petti at the helm.
Hamilton-based independent label and music company Sonic Unyon Records has unveiled its latest initiative, SUM Artist Management. It's a new arm of the company dedicated to representing and developing artists, identifying and opening opportunities to them.
Taking the helm as both director of artist management at SUM Artist Management and label operations for Sonic Unyon Records is Wayne Petti, a well-known figure on the Canadian music scene as frontman for highly-regarded roots-rockers Cuff the Duke. At SUM, Petti will work in league with Sonic Unyon owner/CEO Tim Potocic, representing a musically diverse and notable roster of clients.
That includes roots-rock singer-songwriter Terra Lightfoot, Polaris Prize-winning auteur Owen Pallett, Hamilton shoegaze combo Basement Revolver, American feminist performance artist and electro-rocker JD Samson (Le Tigre), retro cover band Born in the Eighties, multi-instrumentalist and composer Michael Peter Olsen, and three bands at the forefront of an Indigenous wave in Canadian rock, Zoon, OMBIIGIZI and Status/Non-Status.
Sonic Unyon Records has long taken on a management role with some of the artists on their label, but creating SUM Artist Management solidifies the label's work in this sector, with the management roster expanded significantly.
“We’re about constant evolution," says Potocic. "As a label, we’ve signed newcomers and longtime favourites as well as bigger bands like Danko Jones and Big Wreck. All of that is super exciting and some of the best music we’ve ever released. At the same time, this is not an industry that rewards sitting still. It’s a challenging time and a tough landscape, but opportunities still abound. We’ve always believed in the value of our artists, and artists more generally, so artist management is the natural outgrowth of that.”
In an interview with Billboard Canada, Petti notes that, "I’ve been involved in artist management for close to 10 years now. I have a unique perspective on the music business having both experienced what it’s like to be a recording artist and everything that goes along with that, plus experiencing working with artists and helping to guide them through their own careers. I’m very much an 'artist first' type of manager. I don’t chase things just for the money. I want the artists I work for to feel supported. I want them to focus on being creative and unique artists and I’m just there to help facilitate their vision and goals artistically."
Discussing his roster, he explains that, "I have only recently started working with Zoon, OMBIIGIZI and Status/Non-Status. All are incredible artists, creating music that is unique through a perspective that is equally unique and refreshing. It’s very exciting to be a part of helping them fulfill their artist visions."
"I have managed Owen Pallett for the last 8 years. Working with an artist of their calibre has opened many doors. Owen has worked with so many amazing artists whether it be from touring or their string arrangement and film scoring work. All this to say, it was Owen who introduced me to JD Samson of Le Tigre. Like Owen, she has been venturing into film scoring and was looking for some help behind the scenes.
"Our main goal at SUM is to work with unique artists regardless of whether they are Canadian, American or from somewhere else around the world," he continues. "I think we’re off to a great start."
Petti previously made a major mark in artist management during eight years with Hamilton-based Straight & Narrow Management, which handles major international stars The National, as well as Broken Social Scene, Hannah Georgas, Kevin Drew and Georgia Harmer.
The creation of SUM Artist Management aligns with Sonic Unyon's expansion into industry sectors beyond the traditional duties of a record label. Sonic Unyon Distribution was founded in 1998 to distribute Sonic Unyon and other labels in Canada, going on to build a roster that included dozens of domestic imprints and the exclusive representation of over 200 international independent labels in Canada.
A decade later, having sold its distribution company, Sonic Unyon ventured into event production by launching award-winning multi-arts festival Supercrawl (it draws over 250,000 attendees to Hamilton every September), along with production contracts like the Polaris Music Prize Gala, JUNOFest and Grey Cup festivals.
Sonic Unyon also manages and programs Hamilton event spaces Mills Hardware and Bridgeworks and Guelph's Sonic Hall.
