Right now, there is a kind of chaos in the industry. After COVID now is the time to restart artist projects and at the same time, new artist projects can start. I guess now I can talk about the two things that really kill an artist's career.

Let's start with the first one. You see them quite often since you feel for them. A bunch of new artists that are promoting themselves very intensive. They do everything right by showing up at every conference. They set meetings, and have a business plan. Their social media is on point, and the look and even grants are in place. They just forgot one thing; you need good songs. You can do everything right, but in the end, the songs have to be good. That is the only thing you really can’t paint over or just fake.

There is of course a solution to this, and that is to buy the songs from a songwriter. The feeling I have gotten over the years is that these people that do everything themselves and do it well, also want to control and write the songs, so it usually never goes well when you start to propose that you might want to buy some good songs.

With the world’s climate emergency only getting worse, it’s fitting that Vancouver, BC-born, Victoria, BC-based alt-folk artist Kele Fleming has dialed up the intensity of her call-to-action pop ballad “Vanishing of Bees” with a dark, soaring Synthwave remix and accompanying video – check it out here:

The song, which Fleming and her band released last year with a new live video in honor of the same day, sits at the crossroads of a child’s wonder at discovery and an adult’s grief over what’s been lost. 

“In the song, I call upon the memories of my childhood self — my wonder and love for the natural world,” Fleming shares. “This is contrasted with the adult voice in the song — a voice that expresses grief for what has been lost...

“Youth and the natural world threatened.”

Fresh from a forthcoming genre-bending album brimming with catchy, yet profound, songs, award-nominated songwriter and producer John Tomaino ushers audiences between the stills with a hypnotic new single, “Freeze Frame” – check it out on YouTube here:

Tomaino’s core musical DNA is on full display throughout the track, allowing “Freeze Frame” to serve as a prime preview for the Australian artist’s new album, People Will Talk — due out this Summer 2022 via Epictronic Records.

This is Tomaino’s debut album release, and it showcases not only his genre-bending productions that span EDM, electronic, pop, rock, indie, folk, hip hop, adult contemporary, and more, but also his multiple talents as the release’s writer, arranger, and producer. Despite the astonishing diversity of tunes, however, this is not a compilation album — but rather a cohesive body of work with a strong identity.

A mother’s love for her child is pure, enduring, and unbreakable, and we celebrate that inviolable bond between mothers and their children every Mother’s Day. Acclaimed Canadian soprano Tonia Evans Cianciulli marks this lifelong bond as she releases two songs she created with her daughter and son when they were both children — “Always Her Home” and “Hold His Heart”. Check them out on YouTube here:
“Always Her Home”:

“Hold His Heart”:

I was writing a column not long ago about how you should network right now. I had a thing in the back of my mind when I wrote that on a trend that is starting to develop. The conferences and showcase festivals have made it really easy to access people. In reality, though you are accessing valuable time. Most people even speakers don’t really get paid to be at conferences or showcases. If you are at the top, you get your flights and hotels covered and at best your food paid. You do this to further build your network  and you need it so you really don’t do this to make money. In most cases, you lose money to be on them if you just count costs. The payment is that you get greater contacts and can make money out of that, but that is a far way down the road.

Since you are at these conferences probably paying in some way or another you need to get your bang for the buck. You need to get meetings with people that can take your company forward and you need more of it now than ever as we open up again for the comeback of the live industry after the pandemic. You want meetings with people who are at the same level as you  and that can take you forward.

Movies and television shows would lack so much dimension and emotional heft without being accompanied by music so, why shouldn’t a book have a soundtrack too? That’s a question author and composer Patrick Kimmell was likely asking himself before composing the downloadable soundtrack to his novel Two Lives to a Destiny.

Kimmell and his musical partner and arranger Andrei Panasevich, also known as Mel & Harmon, have created 11 original compositions to musically illustrate the chapters of Kimmell’s novel Two Lives to a Destiny. Designed to be listened to while reading the novel, the soundtrack is a first-of-its-kind endeavor, adding musical context to the book’s narrative and an enhanced dimension to reader’s emotional experience.

Originally published on September 29, 2020, Two Lives to a Destiny is a romantic and suspenseful novel that tells the story of Patrick and Fatima, two lovers engulfed in adventures that separate them from each other. Still, they are willing to live the impossible in order to meet again. Both will need a surmountable amount of strength and faith, to make their love eternal.

There’s a repeated lyric throughout Canadian country rocker Marshall Potts’ new single “Let It All Go” that reflects a heart-over-head life philosophy… That lyric is ‘climb aboard my heart’ and it’s fitting because Potts takes us on a journey of heart-centered discovery — both in terms of self and in terms of the human condition.

Check it out “Let It All Go” on YouTube here:

A multi-layered mix of violin, banjo, and acoustic and electric guitar, “Let It All Go” – off Potts’ brand-new album The Storm, both available now – is a heady mix of country jangle and big, full-bodied pop production. Full of uplifting crescendos and fist-pumping choruses, it’s the kind of song that makes you want to roll down the windows and let the breeze blow through your hair. And once you get out of the car, you might even feel a catharsis.

Canadian 3x JUNO Award-nominees and 4x Canadian Folk Music Award-winners Sultans of String release their latest single, “Hurricane”; featuring Turkish pop superstar Suat Suna recording English vocals for the first time.

Watch and listen to “Hurricane” on YouTube here:

The NY Times and BILLBOARD charting world music supergroup collaborated with Suat Suna for the new song fresh from their eighth and most recent album, Sanctuary: The Refugee Project.

Suat Suna has released 12 studio albums selling millions of copies in his native Turkey. Born in Istanbul to a master violin father, he started learning the violin at the age of four. Suat graduated from Istanbul University Conservatory and started winning many awards, leading to becoming a giant of Turkish pop music, touring endlessly across the country.

I remember the board meeting the first year I was getting my network together. This is over fifteen years ago, so the concept was new to go around and attend different events to build up a strong network to get your music out into the world. Before this, you mainly just built networks yearly at Midem in Cannes, France and that was it. As well,  there was a hierarchy that was sometimes very hard to break through.

Heading into the 40^th Anniversary of Canadian Music Week, Singer/Songwriter Michelle Titian is excited to be performing at an official showcase, opening for the Rasta Phil & Friends show at The Revival Bar in Toronto on June 9^th, 2022.

A natural talent with a powerful story, Michelle Titian is a world-class Canadian singer-songwriter who brings raw emotion and real substance to a yearning music industry. With poignant lyrics and emotive performances, Michelle’s upcoming album is a true testament to the strength that can manifest through vulnerability and the beautiful connections that can be built through an honest soul.

Michelle’s intrinsic musical talent allows her to effortlessly arrange melodies and harmonies that tap into human emotions and share artful lyrics that speak to the human soul. Her songs are an open and unashamed exposure of her battle with alcohol and depression, her journey to recovery and the love she feels for her life now.

When we reached the end of 2020, it could certainly be said that “never has there ever been a year like this.” Then, 2021 came along and upped the ante with more chaotic uncertainty. Now, with just one-third of another year behind us, British-Canadian singer-songwriter, composer, and multi-award-winning producer Chris Birkett is musically posing the question that’s on everyone’s minds: ‘What about you, 20-2-2? in this, his new single “2022” – check it out on YouTube here:

New Year’s Eve makes most of us reflective of the year that was and anticipatory of what’s to come but, for Chris Birkett, it also generated a creative spark.

Rush fans are a special breed. Very few are what you'd call "casual listeners." They love Geddy Lee's deft bass lines (I'm looking at you, I Love You Man) and his helium-drenched vocals. They know when Neil Peart switches from 7/8 time to 4/4 time in Tom Sawyer. They know what kind of strings Alex Lifeson uses (they're Dean Markleys, by the way). Which is why many are thrilled that UMe/Mercury and Anthem Records label groups continue the extensive Rush 40th anniversary album series with new, expanded editions of the band’s groundbreaking 1981 release, Moving Pictures, embodying its well-deserved classic album status. Moving Pictures-40th Anniversary will be available to fans in six distinct configurations, including the (1) Super Deluxe Edition, (2) three-CD Deluxe Edition, (3) five-LP Deluxe Edition, (4) one-LP Edition, (5), Digital Deluxe Edition, and (6) Dolby Atmos Digital Edition

Following their highly acclaimed single “Heroes,” harmonizing trio LUNAR BLOOM have a new single “Call Me A Woman” from their upcoming full-album debut RUNNING DEEP which comes out this June. Lunar Bloom is Brittany Rae Robinson, Kelly McNamee, and Jocelyn Regina, a Toronto-based trio rooted in the folk tradition. Their original songs feature complex vocal harmonies and intimate storytelling. The emotionally-charged “Call Me A Woman” will be available on all major platforms through CD Baby. For more information please visit any of the links below and at Lunar Bloom’s website.

"Call Me A Woman" is an unselfconscious feminist anthem, set to minimal electric piano and bass, and showcasing Lunar Bloom's typically glorious harmonies – which powerfully and dissonantly soar into the stratosphere when the song peaks about mid-way through. "I am a woman" is repeated many times, as an affirmation and a mantra, and each voice is doubled to represent both solidarity, and the connection to all other women.

SING! The Toronto International Vocal Arts Festival marks its 11^th year with a return to both in-person and virtual events from May 26 to June 5, 2022. The full schedule, tickets and festival passes are available now at singtoronto.com.

Canada’s premier a cappella festival includes 60 free and ticketed performances and workshops, crossing cultural, demographic and musical styles from around the globe. Events will take place in various downtown Toronto venues, with some virtual livestream options available.

This year’s festival spans music, film, art theatre, and education. Highlights include:

I don’t know if it’s a trend right now, but I get in suggestions to check out acts that have very strange stage shows. And not just a strange show, also strange styles like experimental folk triphop. I like when you do something new, but the rule is still do something new but  it has to be good or to say excellent.

It’s like baking a cake, you can go safe and bake a strawberry cake. Nothing really can go wrong with a  recipe that has been here for generations and everybody likes it. Then go for to be different and put in a layer of mustard and soya sauce. No, you don’t need to try it, will be awful. Same here in music, you can put in a layer with blueberry to make it different, you need to understand what really would elevate that strawberry cake. To do that you need to know how to make a strawberry cake from the beginning.

With Kempenfelt Bay serving as a beautiful backdrop like none other, residents of Barrie and beyond are set to gather outdoors to enjoy live music again this June 24th and 25th for the Troubadour Festival!

Rounding the event out with Canada’s reigning couple of Celtic fiddle, Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, the two-day Festival will span genres to feature something for everyone — including Canada’s greatest party band Dwayne Gretzky, R&B swooner Dylan Sinclair, tribute extraordinaire The Sh**ty Beatles, soul songstress Lydia Persaud, power-popsters PONY, and breakthrough pop talent Josh Bogert.

Taking place at the Meridian Place Amphitheatre, the relaxed, family-friendly, and open-air concert marks its return to playing host for folks from all over Ontario to enjoy world-class live music and entertainment. With a previously featured artist roster that includes Cowboy Junkies, Basia Bulat, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Matt Andersen, Martha Wainwright, Born Ruffians, The Weather Station, Whitehorse, and more, the tenured festival has played host to thousands of music lovers from across the province since its inaugural year in 2018.

It’s pretty clear that today we are talking about the music industry from a local view and a global view. The national view is fading out with accelerated speed. Only large countries like the USA will have a national industry but it will be also put down to the state level. Canada will also be divided into smaller territories.

The national level is just too small to survive on. The industry today with all its tools for global marketing makes it possible to be global. You have to start locally of course to build a fanbase, but the next level, the national level is soon unnecessary. When I speak to many frontline export offices they have already started to change their operations to fit this new change in the music industry. Gone are the initiatives that you want to sell your artists to another country, in our collaborations and exchange of knowledge and network.

It's all good that we already are doing these changes since it will help us in many ways to get to a more sustainable music industry along with the touring. The problem I see is that the local scene is not ready at all for this big change.

This was the 19th edition of the c/o pop Festival in Cologne, Germany. It’s well established but still is in a lot of development. Like many of the showcase festivals this year they almost had to do a restart. A new area and a new conference space were the big new editions this year. Many of the old visitors also said it was the biggest c/o pop Festival so far and that they had done a giant leap in all sections of the festival.

c/o pop Festival goes on for a staggering five days, Wednesday to Sunday. The conference part is mainly on Thursday and Friday and during the weekend it’s mainly music and the festival closes off streets in the area Ehrenfeld and turns it into a great street festival and club scene.

SPIKE is comprised of a conference and series of music performances. The conference includes panel discussions and workshops that touch upon diverse topics in the music industry.  Read about the first 9 diversified Panelists and check back next week for the rest and see the new additions of talent and artists.

For a full list of the Delegates and Panelists visit: spikeshowcase.com/en/speakers/

Boyan Robert Pinter (US)

Named an ‘Extraordinary Canadian,’ award-winning Canadian rocker and Governor General of Canada Meritorious Service Medal recipient Robb Nash is the “Ally” many who are waging war against mental illness need to have on their side.

So goes the fitting title of his newly available song and EP, “Ally” — the latest in a string of stirring releases shining a stark spotlight on suicide and prevention.

Check out the video on YouTube here:

“With the theme of being ‘at war’ with mental illness, I wanted to show all aspects of it,” Nash shares, citing his forthcoming album’s title, This Is War. “There are moments when you're on the front lines. There are moments when you're in triage