Earlier this week, Anna Wintourchief content officer of media company Condé Nast, announced that Rake will become vertical in the men's magazine GQ and will be submitted restructuring and layoffs. Many Rake Employees were fired, including features editor Jillian Mapes, longtime staff and executive editor Amy Phillips and current editor-in-chief Puja Patel, according to Wintour's memo to staff.
“Without Rakethere will be fewer avenues for Canadian artists to reach a broad American audience,” says Polaris Award-winning musician Cadence Weapon — real name Rollie Pemberton — who received coverage from the site early in his career and began writing reviews for it as a teenager . .
“When Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire were boosted by the Pitchfork Effect in 2003 and 2004, it gave Canadian indie musicians hope,” says Pemberton. Billboard Canada. “Back then, anything that wasn't on a major label was largely ignored by our country.”
“To get a thoughtful and favorable Rake review for The shape of your name 2019 opened the door for me in the US, which eventually led to my American labels and agents getting involved,” says the Canadian singer-songwriter. Charlotte Cornfield. “I think ultimately the changes in Rake will create another obstacle [to] entry for Canadian musicians when it comes to developing their careers outside of Canada.”
The concerns extend beyond that Rake. Many artists, writers and members of the music industry see the layoffs as part of broader trends in the music and media industries.
Andrew McLeod, who releases music as Sunnsetter and plays at Zoon and Ombiigizi, argues that the only obvious way to make new fans is to go viral.
“In the internet phase we're living in right now, it's much harder to create new mechanisms of any significant size that exist outside the structures of these massively capitalized platforms like Spotify, Meta, TikTok,” he explains. Major record labels have the resources to mount massive social media campaigns, but for independent artists, it's hard to break through.
Read more about the impact of losing music media here. – Rosie Long Decter
Boots and Hearts Producer Launches Management Arm, RLive
Republic Live, producers of the annual multi-day event Boots and hearts The country music festival north of Toronto has launched a management division called RLive. Newly appointed Alberta native Casadie Pederson has been named director of artist management and development.
RLive will be based in Nashville, where Pederson will work alongside festival booker Republic Live Brooke Dunford. Canadian office Republic Live also added Hannah Buske in Toronto. He will support Dunford in future festival bookings and support management and marketing initiatives.
RLive is a natural extension of the festival's opening night emerging artist showcase. In an earlier interview, Dunford said promoting Canadian talent at the Boots and Hearts Music festival — which annually draws 40,000 a night and offers camping, a carnival, food trucks and other amenities — has always been one of his primary mandates.
First up to sign for RLive is Surrey, BC singer-songwriter Tyler Joe Miller, who has scored seven top 10 Canadian country hits since debuting in 2019 with two back-to-back No. 1 hits – “Pillow Talkin' and 'I'd be on me too.' Miller joins CanCountry colleagues Shawn Austin and Andrew Hyatt on a 20-city, west-to-east Country MixTape tour of casinos, theaters and concert venues that opens in April.
Republic Live is a privately held Canadian company founded by the Dunford family, which owns the 585-acre Burl's Creek Event Grounds north of Toronto, where Boots and Hearts is staged each year.
Canadian businessman Stan Dunford and Nashville-based live music promoter Nick Kulb were early promoters of what has become one of the largest multi-day festivals in North America. – David Farrell
Chantal Kreviazuk is selling her song catalog to Anthem Entertainment
After decades as a songwriter for Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada, Winnipeg-born singer Chantal Kreviazuk has announced that her list has been acquired by Anthem Entertainment.
It is one important acquisition. In addition to her own CanCon hits like “Before You,” “Boot,” “In This Life,” “Time,” “Weight Of The World” and “Get To You,” she's also written songs for artists like Drake , Avril Lavigne, Shakira and Carrie Underwood. Her catalog includes such hits as “Feel This Moment” by Pitbull and Christina Aguilera and “Rich Girl” by Gwen Stefani.
Kreviazuk has won three Juno Awards and was awarded the Order of Canada in 2014, along with her husband, Raine Maida of Our Lady of Peace, for their efforts to raise awareness and support for human and animal rights, mental health , education and the environment.
As for Anthem Entertainment, the Toronto-based company has made a major move to acquire more of its catalog of releases in recent months, including up-and-coming country singer Jordan Davis and some of Timberland's catalog, including cuts with Justin Timberlake and Jay- Zi.
Last year, the independent company made some major executive moves, installing Jason Klein as its new permanent CEO. – David Farrell & Richard Trapunski
Last week in Canada: Top vinyl sellers and Amazon Music artists to watch
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/pitchfork-artists-respond-rlive-chantal-kreviazuk-canada-music-industry-news/
