Indie Night In Canada 2023 Hosts Annual Artist Showcase During Canadian Music Week, Featuring Lineup of 18 Independent Artists

Fri May 26 2023
Indie Night In Canada

Indie Night In Canada (INIC) will host its annual artist showcase on June 6, 2023, featuring a lineup of 18 independent artists on two amazing stages during Canadian Music Week.

The showcase will take place at the legendary El Mocambo, and each stage will be emcee-hosted so as to keep things flowing as well as keep the energy levels high. Each of the 18 selected artists will perform a 30-minute set, with the schedules staggered between the two stages.

This format allows for everyone in attendance, whether they are music-loving fans, music media, or music industry attendees, to catch at least 15 minutes of all 18 performers. As INIC is produced during, but not part of, Canadian Music Week, running the schedule in a tight fashion allows everyone to be able to effectively get between venues and see who they want to see.

For 2023, INIC received 184 submissions to perform. “This year’s INIC Artist lineup might be the most diverse and talented offering we have ever presented,” says INIC Producer Paul Husband of The Next Level Entertainment Consulting Inc. “INIC is open to all genres of music because good music is good music, period.”

Sing! The Toronto International Vocal Arts Festival Celebrates The Power Of The Voice

Fri May 26 2023
Sing!

Sing! The Toronto International Vocal Arts Festival marks its 12th year with an array of inspiring live performances and industry insider workshops taking place from May 29 to June 4. The full schedule, tickets and festival passes are available now at singtoronto.com.

Canada’s premier a cappella festival includes 28concert performances incorporating musical styles from around the globe, from jazz to pop, barbershop to Broadway, and even spoken word.

This year’s festival will take place at The Concert Hall in Toronto. Performance highlights include:

I’m Into Something Good by Harvey Lisberg

Fri May 26, 2023

When 22-year-old accountant Harvey Lisberg heard the Beatles’ ‘Please Please Me’, he had an epiphany: he could be Manchester’s answer to Brian Epstein. He had a musical ear, a knack for numbers and a gambler’s instinct for taking a punt. Within a year he had taken local group, Herman’s Hermits, to number one with ‘I’m Into Something Good’.

Soon, Hermania was a global phenomenon. Harvey had found his vocation. In this uproarious, frank and moving autobiography, he reveals the excesses of life on the road with Herman’s Hermits; the frustration of championing unknowns Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber; the highs and lows of managing the brilliant 10cc; the utter madness of looking after snooker bad boys Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins and Jimmy ‘Whirlwind’ White and much, much more. Many other artists benefitted from Harvey’s guidance during this time, including Tony Christie, Barclay James Harvest, Sad Café and the Chameleons.

A few book snippets from Harvey on how it all began:

Nominations Revealed for the 2023 SSIMAs

Fri May 19 2023
SSIMAs

Aysanabee leads with six nominations, Snotty Nose Rez Kids follow with five at National Indigenous Music Awards Show at The National Arts Centre in Ottawa

The Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival today announced nominees for The SSIMAs, (Summer Solstice Indigenous Music Awards) presented by TD Bank Group. Winners will be celebrated and honoured in Ottawa during the awards ceremony at the National Arts Centre on Tuesday, June 6th, 2023

The SSIMAs span 16 categories, celebrating solo artists, duos and groups from across Canada and showcasing the diverse and growing music and culture of artistic expression and accomplishment within the Indigenous community. Nominees were selected from 250 Canada-wide submissions by an invited panel of jurors comprising Indigenous and music industry professionals. No public voting was involved in the selection process. 

YouTube: youtube.com/c/SummerSolsticeIndigenousFestivals

Shook Boys’ First 45rpm Record!

Fri May 19 2023
Shook Boys Photo Credit Frank Lam

It is also available wherever you stream music but being true to their aesthetic, Canada’s rockinist rockabilly band the Shook Boys just released their first 45rpm single and it hits hard. The band draws inspiration from the 1950s rock and roll era while infusing a modern sound that pushes the boundaries of rockabilly. This sound has them fitting right in with the fact they are a part of the LA-based, Wild Records. The double A sides single features the band’s original songs “Tell On You” and “Dead by 22”. Both songs were recorded at Ganaraska Recording Company and self-produced by the band.

Michelle Wright Everything To Me

Fri May 19, 2023

Michelle Wright has a lot to celebrate. She was the first Canadian‐born artist to have a Top Ten hit in the U.S., a #1 video on CMT‐USA and the first Canadian to win a major U.S. music industry award winning the Academy of Country Music Top New Female Vocalist award in 1992.

Michelle's career skyrocketed with the success of “Take It Like a Man” as she garnered a total of twelve music industry awards, including the 1993 Canadian Country Music Association's Fans' Choice Entertainer Of The Year award and double platinum awards for Now & Then the same year. Her success opened the door and started a path for Canadian country music artists. And now with a new song, "Everything To Me" Michelle has a chance to share with the world what finding the love of her life has meant to her.

Michelle has always expressed her feelings through her songs and music.

This Is The New Road For Artists

Fri May 12 2023
Peter Åstedt

I have come across this idea a few times lately from various blogs and articles: that as an artist, you must have the mindset that you are your own label, publisher, PR agent, and everything else. Being an artist today is like to starting a company, and you must build it up from the ground up.

This stands in stark contrast to the dream that the music industry has been peddling for decades, particularly during the 80s and 90s, which was that you could only "make it" if you signed with a big record label. According to that narrative, your job was just to get to the moment when you sign the papers, and then you could sit back and enjoy the ride.
However, that was never entirely true, and now it's even further from the truth. I've noticed that many young, intelligent people are abandoning major labels because they are frustrated that they can't get the needle to move in any direction for an artist. I see the same frustration in many people who work for new tech companies that try to fit every artist into their own box, believing that every artist is equal and should follow the same path to success.

Cashbox Canada and Spike Bulgarian Music Festival Present Showcase in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Fri May 12, 2023

 

Time Jugglers
Time Jugglers

Cashbox Canada and Record World International magazines are hosting a special performance showcase Thursday, May 25, 2023, at the Spike Bulgarian Music Festival in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. As we believe music has no borders, we have chosen three special bands to perform from 8-11 pm as a kick-off party event.

What better way to start a global showcase than to kick it off with a local Bulgarian band!

Time Jugglers formed in 2016 and from day one were hitting audiences with the whole spectrum of rock, from alternative to heavy metal to blues. After their first album, “Stories in Time” (2019), they conducted a successful tour of the country, and their track “Hot Fire” caught the attention of Classic Rock Magazine. Their single “Spineless,” featuring Svetlana Bliznakova of SEVI, was on Z-Rock’s Top 30 for 13 weeks.

Yorkville Sound & Traynor Amps Celebrate 60 Years

Fri May 05 2023
Yorkville Sound

Canadian Pro Audio manufacturer, Yorkville Sound, and iconic amplifier brand, Traynor Amps, are celebrating 60 years in 2023. This milestone marks significant achievements in manufacturing, sound technology, and tells the unlikely story of how a mild-mannered jazz trumpeter and a rock & roll bass player ignited a major cultural shift in Canadian music.

Six decades ago, Long & McQuade founder, Jack Long & then staff repair person, Pete Traynor took a walk outside of the very first Long & McQuade location on Toronto’s Yonge Street, seeking inspiration for their new venture.  With the Yorkville street sign in their line of sight, Yorkville Sound was born.

The first Yorkville Sound product was also a first for the globe. In the early sixties, lead vocalists showed up to gigs with a microphone and a hope that there was something to plug in to. At the request of a local band, Pete Traynor built two road-worthy column PA speakers to solve this problem once and for all. The resulting Yorkville YSC speakers comprised the first known portable column PA system, soon to be commonplace on stages around the world.

Tommy James and the Shondells – 40 Years – The Complete Singles Collection (1966-2006)

Fri May 05 2023
Tommy James and the Shondells

The career-spanning overview Tommy James with the Shondells and a solo artist, this is a ‘must have’ for any music fan.

This is the ONLY collection to include the A-sides of EVERY single he released between 1966 and 2006 – 47 in all – each one in its original version and format, whether mono or stereo.

Many of these tracks have never been released on CD and are available ONLY on this comprehensive compilation. Plus a long lost BONUS track he recorded in 1962 as Tom & the Tornadoes, “Long Ponytail”.

It’s Pretty Clear Who Will be the Losers in the AI Game

Fri May 05 2023
Peter Åstedt

Had a great lecture with a researcher and expert on the music industry the other day. He had deep-dived into the AI that now is coming through at an enormous speed. And yes, it’s pretty clear where we are heading and what part of thhe business that will take the blow.

My guess here is that the recorded music will take a heavy blow. Making music has never been easier. Today I needed a new jingle for my Tiktok channel. With ease, I have five different AI systems that can make a jingle from scratch, copyright free, without any cost. It took me approximately around five minutes to get it and implement it in my next Tiktok video.

This song in the eighties cost me dearly. First, I would have needed musicians to make the song, then go into an expensive studio to record it. Just that alone we are talking over $1000.00. On top of that it wouldn’t be my song since another person wrote it, so I would need to get the rights. Then also mixing and mastering on top of that. And aren't even addressing the fact that it would talk probably two months to just create it.

Gordon Lightfoot 1938-2023

Fri May 05, 2023

There's a Ribbon of Darkness over the music industry, Gordon Lightfoot is gone. Just typing that felt wrong, I thought Gordon would always be here, probably because he always was. He was a part of our lives for six decades, from the 1960s to the 2220s. So many songs from the early days of Ribbon of Darkness, Steel Rail Blues, The Way I Feel and I'm Not Saying to Black Day in July, Sundown, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald to his classic If You Could Read My Mind, Lightfoot continued to grow as a songwriter, cementing his place in musical history and becoming, as Robbie Robertson put it, " A Canadian treasure." And causing Bob Dylan to say "I can't think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don't like. Every time I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever."

The Legendary Voice, The Timeless Rock Ann Wilson of Heart & Tripsitter Announce Ontario Shows

Fri May 05 2023
Ann Wilson

Ann Wilson, known the world over as a founder and the lead singer-songwriter of the barrier-breaking band Heart, is here to stay.

Widely praised among the greatest singers in the history of rock, Ann’s extraordinarily powerful voice has been sending chills down her audience’s collective spine for over five decades, earning record sales of more than 35 million, an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.

“Barracuda,” “Crazy On You,” and “Magic Man” are among the many songs she’s written that now reside in the pantheon of rock’s greatest hits. “Greed” from 2022’s Fierce Bliss plays seamlessly alongside the classics in her current live set.

The Time Of Being Easily Accessible Is Over

Fri Apr 28 2023
Peter Åstedt

It never ceases to amaze me how people think. When I plan my festivals, we research other music dates globally and check what we are up against even if it is on the other side of the world if it’s big enough. At the same time,  we check what happens in closer proximity or any other events that might attract people to get hotel rooms or not attend our event for some other reason. It’s part of being professional and thorough in our position.

Organize a local showcase for local bands and put it on the same day as when the biggest showcase in the world is happening just a couple of hours from your city. Top of that, the week before your event the biggest city in the area holds one of the biggest showcases in the country. I don’t know if you are bold or just plain stupid? Then to add to the stupidity you hold the event online? There is no way you can get a professional to be on since they are already busy. Maybe some local music industry people, but what is the point that two locals should meet online? Then you overcharge for your service and think that the industry delegates should participate for free?

SPIKE Bulgarian Music Showcase Unveils 2023 Program and Keynote Speakers Ed Bicknell and Lennart Östlund

Fri Apr 21 2023
SPIKE Bulgarian Music Showcase

SPIKE is once again getting ready to welcome delegates and performing artists to the ancient city of Plovdiv (EU Capital of Culture 2019) between 25-27 May, 2023. With an expanded program featuring delegates from over 15 countries and over 30 performances from artists coming from as far Canada and Japan, SPIKE is an international music industry hub where talent and ambition will have a chance to acquire new skills, opportunities, and partners.

Boyan Pinter
Boyan Pinter

“We have seen a 100% increase in delegate registration and more than threefold increase in artist applications,” reports founder Boyan Robert Pinter. “We take this is a sign from the music and professional community that have managed to provide the educational and networking opportunities that we set out to do.” 

Radio Host Veteran Jeff Sammut Releases New Podcast Series “Remembering” With Upcoming Episodes Celebrating Gord Downie, M*A*S*H, Star Wars, John Lennon + More

Fri Apr 21 2023
Jeff Sammut

Guests Who doesn’t love taking a trip down memory lane and reminiscing? If you think back to your youth, there were probably many iconic figures who made a huge impact on you, and wouldn’t it be cool to learn more about what made them tick?

If so, you’re in for a real treat as the 30-year veteran of radio, Jeff Sammut brings you his newly created podcast called, “Remembering with Jeff Sammut”. He unlocks all the behind-the-scenes stories of your favourite cultural figures with his first episode launching on Thursday, April 13th!

Remembering kicks off this Thursday with Toronto-born host, Jeff Sammut remembering the late, great singer/songwriter and legendary Canadian Rock icon – Gord Downie, the Tragically Hip frontman. This episode will give the listeners an in-depth account of his life and an inside perspective from Gord’s wife, Kaya Usher, who shares many amazing, heartfelt stories.

How Hard Can It Be To Find A New Artist?

Fri Apr 21 2023
Peter Åstedt

I just got a request from a music company to find new artists for them to develop. This is a really good opportunity for an artist. The style was not a big issue, they want music that works in most places, so not too nice genres like extreme metal, underground hip hop, or experimental music.

Since they want to invest for an extended period of time, they see that the artist is not over twenty-five years old. Not a must, but I can understand their wishes here. In fact, today age doesn’t really matter in the music industry since you can break through in the strangest ways and age doesn’t matter in those cases. Here they want to work with the artist in a certain way and need time that an older artist really might have available.

They had a special request that the artist should be able to write good songs themselves. Of course, they could buy them from writing camps, but they felt that they want a uniqueness for the artists so they would love to have an artist that could write their own material. But not a total must.

Bruce Cockburn "On A Roll" Announces 44-Date North American & UK Tour In Support Of Forthcoming Album

Fri Apr 21 2023
Bruce Cockburn

Time takes its toll,” sings the 77-year-old Bruce Cockburn on the opening song, “On A Roll,” his 38th album, O Sun O Moon, out on May 12 via True North Records.  “But in my soul / I’m on a roll.”

Bruce Cockburn has enjoyed an illustrious career shaped by politics, spirituality, and musical diversity. His remarkable journey has seen him embrace folk, jazz, rock, and world-beat styles while earning high praise as a prolific, inspired songwriter and accomplished guitarist. He remains deeply respected for his activism and humanist song lyrics that thread throughout his career. On all his albums Cockburn has deftly captured the joy, pain, fear, and faith of human experience in song.

Bruce Cockburn has won 13 JUNO Awards, an induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, and has been made an Officer of the Order of Canada, among many other accolades. He has 22 gold and platinum records including a six-times platinum record for his Christmas album. Cockburn continues to tour internationally.

He’s on a roll.

Globally Renowned Master Songwriter Marc Jordan Announces Waiting For The Sun To Rise Album

Fri Apr 21, 2023

Marc Jordan, from whose pen emerged the classic global top-5 pop hit for Rod Stewart 1991’s “Rhythm of My Heart”, today announces his new solo album will be released worldwide on April 21, 2023. An advance single “Tell Me Where It Hurts” has just been released and is an example of the kind of romantic ballad Marc is renowned for writing.

Watch and listen to “Tell Me Where It Hurts” on YouTube here:

Marc Jordan’s song craft is lauded by the likes of Diana Ross, Cher and Joe Cocker, all of whom have covered his songs, but Marc is an artist in his own right since his first album was released on Warner Records in 1978 generating the hit “Marina Del Rey.”