Over the years, France has undoubtedly had the most persistent influence on music development in Canada. Many attribute this influence to the fact that the French arrived in Canada in the 17th century. They were the first Europeans to colonize the country. However, the French did not come empty-handed; they brought their songs. Three and a half centuries later, their descendants are still singing a large number of songs, including church songs.

Historians reveal that missionaries came to Canada from France to convert the natives. They claim that these missionaries were men and women who could read music and possessed other musical skills. Moreover, it was the French that brought the first musical instruments into Canada.

Studies also show that Louis Jolliet was the first Canadian-born resident to travel to France to pursue his studies, and music was among them. Nevertheless, historical records claim that music was not encouraged nor developed during the French regime in Canada from 1608 to 1760. There were a few exciting individual efforts during the time.

The big news here in Sweden was that a “famous” artist was arrested for robbery and extortion yesterday. Nothing really new but it proves what times  we are living in and what lies ahead.

Of course, we in Sweden have a gossip page where they discuss who this “famous” artist could be. The article said that he was one of the most listened to artists on Spotify. Of course, it just takes a couple of hours then the name drops on this site and ninety-nine percent of the readers on there don’t know who that artist is. Neither did I, sorry even though I have worked in the industry for over thirty years and read the most on everything. Nope, I never heard of this guy. Of course, it’s a rapper from the suburbs of Stockholm. Sure he has many streams over (100,000 million) and he was one of the most-streamed artitst last year. Still, no one outside the rapper’s community of Stockholm knows this guy which was pointed out very quickly. I guess after robbing the store he got “real” media so it would boost his career so that more people actually know who he is.

Streaming is not getting you anywhere.

I was talking to a local politician. Suddenly they started to  brag about some local act and told me that this artist will get somewhere because they signed a record deal with a company abroad. Yes, the person was middle-aged;  they usually are. The truth is that signing a record deal is not the same as it was in the eighties. Still many people that are not familiar with the music industry or haven’t worked in it for the past five years still see a record deal with glittering eyes. To be honest it’s so far from that.

First, that record deal they were bragging about we don’t know anything about it.  A foreign record label can be anyone putting up a homepage and buying some streams.  In fact, most of them are that way. There are very few companies that have the power and money to make the global campaigns that are needed.

The mesmerizing stylings of Laura Fernandez on vocal, Glenn Crosse on arrangement and guitar, and George Koller on bass have come together in their magical new single, “Fotografia” – Check it out on YouTube here:

Whisking audiences to a place where wonder and longing interlace, guitarist Glenn Crosse leads the multi-talented artists into this stunning arrangement, unveiling a renewed take on a lesser-known and rarely-covered gem by Antonio Carlos Jobim

Following on the heels of her recent solo album, Okay, Alright, singer/songwriter, pianist, producer, radio host, and artist Laura Fernandez lends to the track an intimate and inimitable vocal in both Portuguese and English.

Each complementing the song’s timeless groove and feel with finesse, bassist, producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist George Koller brings a powerful and sensitive bowed upright bass.

Re-imagining the fabled tale of a folklore favourite has been the latest creative challenge for Chris de Burgh, and his new album, The Legend of Robin Hood, finds the iconic artist at his imaginative best.

Available now, the compelling release breathes music and lyrical life into a centuries-old and much-loved classic, re-telling the story with cinematic vision coupled seamlessly to music of emotional depth and power. The concept for the 27th studio album by Chris emerged from his involvement in ‘Robin Hood’, a stage musical about the infamous Sherwood Forest nobleman and his band of outlaws. Chris was invited to contribute storylines and melodies to the musical, which will be produced later in the year in Fulda, Germany, by Spotlight Productions, a theatrical company that has already mounted eight successful musicals.

“Since I was writing songs for this,” he explains, “I thought ‘Why not expand the story and put an album out, too?’”

Check out Life Life, Live Well here on YouTube:

The live industry events are back!

For some it will be still early though to say how the countries are changing rules and making the whole restrictions a difficult task to run live showcase festivals. The first showcase festival to cancel back in 2020 was Mastering the Music Business also called MMB. I was really glad that now that the first that was available at least in most part live was MMB. Full circle as they say.

MMB has been around for six years now and is a steadily growing showcase festival. I have been following their progress for three years now. If you ask me MMB is one of the best showcase festivals right now. Its size is perfect;  it’s not too big and it’s not too small. This is a great festival for all levels of people in the industry both experienced music industry professionals and newcomers can get great things out of the festival as all levels of expertise are represented.

I was on my first in real ‘live in person’ conference last week, Mastering the Music Business (RO). The first one in almost 2 years.

I did some rookie mistakes like forgot to bring my business cards and my power bank for my phone. It was great though; I did more business than I have done in the past 1.5 years in just one day of the physical conference. It’s all true; you need to meet people face to face to make the more groundbreaking business and connections.

And I should know since the pandemic started, I have been on an online conference each once a week, sometimes two. I just calculated that I have attended around 84 of them. The problem is that nothing really happens. You get into business direct and just talk business, but no business is really done. I talked to a lot of people at the MMB conference, and they had the same opinion, well that could be biased since we were all so glad to be back again in the live environment.

As a result of the COVID 19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns, one of the first things to go was live music. But I am happy to announce that after over one full year of not playing out I am finally able to announce a real live gig with real live people playing real live instruments.

Many people attribute possessing exceptional talent as a God-given gift, and celebrated Canadian singer Tonia Evans Cianciulli is acknowledging hers with high praise in return on this, her new, original hymn, “My Voice Belongs to Him”.

“My Voice Belongs to Him” is the first single and sole original song from Cianciulli’s upcoming album of classic spirituals, Hymns of the Heart — due out on October 1, 2021. The new album is a personally significant and very meaningful collection for the Toronto-based, Newfoundland-born vocalist.

Experience this beautiful song on YouTube here:

I am writing this in the airport on my way to Bucharest, Romania to the showcase festival Mastering the Music Business. This is my first live attendance at an event in just over a year and a half and it feels strange to be on a airport again.

I'm really glad to be going and given the opportunity to make it happen. I'm still amazed how the global entertainment industry is still in hard lockdown. While I sit in the terminal you can just see clearly how the politicians just count us as something extra that is not important; the theory being music, especially live music, is just something you can be without and not an essential part of life.  If I would go forward with an event in Sweden right now, I'm only allowed to have 50 people in the audience, seated with 1.5 meters apart, if you serve alcohol. Currently, right in front of me, are at least 80 people crammed in the bar drinking alcohol. If I put a girl with a guitar in there would it suddenly be considered unsafe?

Now we are crammed in a totally full to capacity plane. If I stand up and sang a song would all these people get COVID?

Blues alt-country soft-rock duo Fresh Breath are asking How Did I Get Here with the release of this, their new album.

And Fresh Breath is a perfect name for this dynamic duo, KT and Josh, as they truly are a fresh breath of music when there is so much music being released right now that is just not as captivating as this band.

The six-song EP is a culminating reflection of the band’s married members, KT and Josh, and their own relationship stories — from the early days of when the couple first met, to their take on the world navigating isolation, all the way to the darkness they were forced to find in order to keep their own lights shining.

This year’s previously released lead single “World Gone Crazy” covered ground as an alternative protest piece around social injustices and pandemic fatigue, whereas newly unveiled songs “You & Me,” and the album’s title track, “How Did I Get Here,” land as sweetly tender and raw with revelation.

“It’s no secret our world has changed,” Josh marvels, “and when you read through the track list of the album, it pretty much sums up what we went through in 2020.”

This is a story about a new song that I will share with you This message was from an artist I used to work with around ten years ago. “Fun!”, I thought, it’s always fun to see if someone has evolved as an artist, especially in this case since I haven’t really had any contact just followed what he was doing online from time to time.

I took a listen to the link. I can also kill a myth here. Yes, I usually listen to everything I get in. The thing is that I don’t really have time to respond to all things I get in. If something is interesting, I will get back to the artist but just having conversations around stuff that is not interesting is just taking part of my precious time. And most people in the business are doing the same. They listen but rarely have time to answer anything back.

Five-time JUNO Award-winning and Gold- and Platinum-selling Canadian ‘First Lady of the Classical Guitar’ Liona Boyd presents her newly minted version of the instrumental hit “Popcorn” in new single, “Popcorn (Remix)” .

Check out “Popcorn (Remix)” on YouTube here:

A vibrant arrangement for classical guitar, complete with a retro disco feel, “Popcorn (Remix)” is certain to get audiences up, and out of their seats dancing.

“This version of ‘Popcorn’ has been several years in the making,” Boyd reveals of the newly reimagined tune. “I’m so happy to finally be sharing both this instrumental song and video!”

Filmed in Toronto, as well as Palm Beach, Florida, the playful and colourful video radiates Boyd’s love of life — all while continuing to highlight her tenured career enthralling millions with her signature romantic spin on classical, folk, and world music.

The changes to the music industry are not just the COVID situation. You must consider also climate change as a part of the new industry. Tonight another city in Sweden was flooded and all roads were cut off, the fifth just the past month. And these floodings are nothing  compared to the flooding in Europe or in Chine earlier in the summer. At the same time, there are big fires in Greece and Turkey. Canada and USA had their fires earlier that were also devasting. All these factors will affect the music industry.