During COVID, many chose to go over to online showcases and Zoom meeting points. It was interesting to make that experiment. We had heard that online will be the future. Now afterward we are getting the answer. And it’s so clear. No online is not even close to doing what a real event is doing.

These are the usual comments on why you should do it online. The cost to be at an event is hundreds of dollars for registration and with the trend of inflation flights and hotels will cost. Expenses besides the conference itself such as meals and other things.

Confirmed Artists: Lorraine Klassen, Amadou Kienou, J Nichole Noel, Roula Said, Nikki Clarke, Jean Assamoa, Waleed Adulhadim, Jabulie Diadla, Sammy Jackson, Rick Rose, JBWAI, Exclusive Connection, DJ Moussa Kante, and Isoken Ibie

AWA Niagara Falls Festival
Saturday, September 3rd & Sunday, September 4th
2:00pm - 10:00pm EST
Oakes Garden Theatre
5851 River Road, Niagara Falls

The African Women Acting organization is set to celebrate the best of African music, crafts, vendors, and more with the return of their annual AWA Niagara Falls Festival this September 3rd & 4^th.

The two-day Festival features an action-packed schedule of highly-curated and award-winning music, dance, and spoken word artists alongside incredible arts and crafts exhibitions, interactive workshops, storytelling, and delicious authentic African, Caribbean, and Canadian food vendors — all under the sky at the beautiful Oakes Garden Theatre.

Sometimes you wonder what you are doing it for. Why are you working in the music industry? This is just a regular day. I just took a day in the week and just described what comes around in a normal workday for me.

I got into the office at 8 am. Our distribution department contacted me about a client that they having a problem with. All the things that you have to upload to our distribution are very clear on the site. To make it easy, we need a picture 3000 x 3000-pixel jpg a Wave file of the song, info around writers, and who plays what on the track. This client had gone around it and ordered a PR package and sent the info randomly through there so the system couldn’t verify that it was correct.

The teenage powerhouse of Girl Pow-R is back with their club floor anthem, “Let’s Go Dancing” – check it out on YouTube here:

The JUNO-nominated collective of teenage songstresses features Emma (Hamilton), Cindy (Richmond Hill), and Carina (Markham). “Let’s Go Dancing” is the fourth single off their sophomore album. Produced by Jovan Jovanov and Ivan Jovanov IWAYO, the single combines elements of Dance, Alt Pop, and ElectroPop. The message is “a reminder to listeners and fans that they can dance their cares away and love the other people they are with, and be totally in the moment, and free!”

Canada’s Walk of Fame adds three new Inductees to the distinguished ranks, each trailblazers in their respective fields who have profoundly impacted their careers. Today’s announcement includes broadcasting legend BARBARA FRUM, iconic rock band and humanitarians THE TRAGICALLY HIP, and prolific music video mastermind, DIRECTOR X.

When you work in the music industry, you can easily spot the amateurs since it’s changing so much so quickly. If you haven’t been in the new world recently you are going to be exposed pretty fast. In my early days, I did several of these mistakes. The main error is that if you want to appear to be professional you need to tell it in a certain way.

I was managing my first band. I played myself in the band back in those days. We had rehearsed for half a year and had saved up money to get into the local studio for a weekend. When we thought we were ready to book the studio the drummer told me that we needed to line the instruments in the recording. What he meant was that we would record track by track, not all instruments at the same time as a live recording which was kind of standard back in these days to save time in the studio.

I have just gone through new singles for the radio station. It’s kind of strange to see how many people don’t really know what is important. Just for fun, I looked back on all the singles we added over the past six months. And these are singles from big PR agencies, Record Labels, and down to the smallest do-it-yourself artist. I checked a hundred songs. Out of that hundred, only eleven had the right metadata.

Yes, metadata is the most important thing you have when you give out music. When it comes to do-it-yourself self-artists I can understand it’s maybe not that easy, but for a PR firm or a record label, this is basic knowledge. The funny part is those eleven actually eight of them were from do-it-yourself -artists.

This problem is definitely not an amateur problem this is a big problem in the whole industry. I just want to help out so I will describe what the metadata I’m talking about and how you actually get it done.

Dancing around the kitchen, especially if it’s a crazy chicken dance, can be exactly what the doctor ordered after a hard day, or just for a much-needed break. And “All Around The Kitchen,” the instructive new single – available now – from award-winning Charlottetown, PEI-based family-folk artist Gordie “Crazylegs” MacKeeman, is all that and more!

Check it out on YouTube here:

A stress-shedding little ditty with toe-tapping fiddle and an infectious rhythm, “All Around The Kitchen” is fun for the whole family with prompts for the next dance move: “Put your hands on your hips/ Let your right foot slip.” This is then followed by the pretzel-like “Stop right still/ Put your hand on your head/ Your other hand on your toe.” Of course, with the song’s looping chorus of “Cockadoodle doodle doo,” full-on chicken improvisation is strongly encouraged, if not required.

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is pleased to announce one of the most successful songwriters of all-time David Foster as its newest 2022 Inductee.  The BC-born music veteran has written chart-topping international hits and culture-defining soundtracks for blockbuster films like The Bodyguard, Urban Cowboy, and St. Elmo’s Fire, as well as classic holiday albums for Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Celine Dion to name a few.

It’s kind of interesting today that we still don’t know how many accounts are fake on social media. How many songs that are really done by computers then after that are listened to by bot that are computers listening to computers.

It shows off pretty quickly on social media that the number is not really an indication of how good you are. I got an artist with over a million followers on Tiktok and almost a million on Instagram. The music was not even close to good, new, or anything that you would listen to. I wondered a little bit why so many were following this artist must be something other than the music for sure. And yes, it was the account was more about other things than music. The music was there but just like 10% of the feed.

JUNO Award-winning powerhouse singer-songwriter Crystal Shawanda is back with a new studio album, Midnight Blues, set for release this September 30th on True North Records. The latest fiery bluesy Americana collection features the first single “How Bad Do You Want It” highlighting her full-throttle raspy voice, unmatched in today’s musical landscape, and an authenticity for the genre dating back to her youth.

Watch the official video here:

“Growing up, all of my favorite music had these breadcrumbs that led me to the blues,” Crystal says. “I often quote Willie Dixon: ‘Blues is the roots and everything else is the fruits.’ Even today's pop music, there's all this influence that derives from the blues. I was just always really attracted to the rawness and the realness of the blues.”

A song that can be deemed a timeless classic is a member of an elite and limited club for very good reason. They’re the songs that can transcend all the trends, and connect with and captivate listeners across generations. Internationally acclaimed jazz artist Carol Welsman has picked up a very timeless classic, dusted it off, polished it up, and is starting it all over again for a new audience. “Pick Yourself Up”  - check it out on YouTube here:

“Children in Ukraine — and around the world — need to know that this generation stands behind the next” — Tom Jackson

Watch the Red Cross Ukraine Appeal video on YouTube here:

Actor, Singer & Red Cross Ambassador Tom Jackson Releases New Music Special & Fundraising Initiative in Support of Millions of Children Impacted by Conflict in Ukraine with the “Red Cross Ukraine Appeal” Featuring Calgary Philharmonic, Andrea Menard, Mac Shepherd, Christina Martin, Beverley Mahood & More.

We take in submissions for our radio station Cashboxradio from several places. We get a lot of submissions from PR companies and radio promoters. Professional people that know how to present a song. Then we also take in songs through different webpages like submit hub where you pay a little to get the station to hear your song but are also guaranteed to get some feedback on the song even if we don’t choose it.

The 15th anniversary of the OSHEAGA Music and Arts Festival presented by Bell in collaboration with Coors Light is set to be one of the biggest parties of the decade. Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau, one of the greatest festival sites in North America, will be host to a much-anticipated and unrivaled festival experience from July 29 to 31, 2022. In addition to headlining sets from Arcade Fire, Future, Dua Lipa, and more, music fans can expect a stellar lineup featuring massive star power and the best of the new music vanguard from around the globe, in a state-of-the-art setting overlooking the gorgeous Montreal skyline.

For over 2 years, fans have been waiting for a chance to let loose and enjoy their best festival life - and Osheaga's 15th anniversary is sure to deliver that dose of excitement!

To celebrate, Osheaga’s booking agent Nick Farkas developed a podcast talking about the history of the festival, and a LOT of insider information on what it takes to stick around for a decade-and-a-half:  open.spotify.com/episode/1Ywo6KSTbyPoAgrkVAuRFu