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Canada’s Loft Entertainment Partners with 'Impact Agency' One Twenty Eight

The company that recently acquired Canadian Music Week has made another strategic relationship to expand its reach.

Loft Entertainment Logo

Loft Entertainment Logo

Courtesy Photo

Weeks after teaming with Oak View Group to acquire Canadian Music Week, Loft Entertainment has made another strategic partnership to expand its reach.

The Toronto-based music company is joining forces with one twenty eight, a talent booking and cause marketing “impact agency” that focuses on connecting artists and influencers with social causes. The company has worked with a variety of companies and celebrities including Natalie Portman, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Canadian artist Mustafa and Selena Gomez’s Rare Impact Fund Benefit.


It’s a natural fit. One of Loft’s first initiatives was Artists for Feel Out Loud, a Canadian benefit song for Kids Help Phone co-produced by Loft co-founder and former head of Universal Music Canada and Bell Media, Randy Lennox. Kids Help Phone is also a client of one twenty eight, and both companies have also worked with innovation festival Elevate. Loft and one twenty eight both launched within the last three years, but the working relationships of the people involved go back decades.

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“Relationships are an essential part of our business and having trusted access is the key to ensuring extraordinary results,” says Loft co-founder and partner Jeffrey Latimer.

“We are in the business of impact and this partnership with Loft Entertainment is only going to multiply our efforts,” agrees one twenty eight founder David Johnson. “Loft Entertainment’s team of experts will help one twenty eight to up-source our offerings with a deeper expansion into creative and content.”

Johnson co-founded one twenty eight in 2021 with Cameron Kennedy, who left the following year to join Canada’s leading rights management organization SOCAN. Loft Entertainment also partners with Paquin Entertainment Group, Canada’s Walk of Fame and film and television studio Pinewood, among others. The company – which handles artists as diverse as Tom Cochrane, The Tenors and Rêve – straddles the music and entertainment world, uniquely combining production, management and events.

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Shakira at the 67th GRAMMY Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena on February 2, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Gilbert Flores/Billboard

Shakira at the 67th GRAMMY Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena on February 2, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

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‘There Was Never Any Fraud’: Shakira Wins Tax Battle in Spain After More Than Eight Years

The ruling comes as the singer prepares to conclude her historic Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour with a residency in Madrid in the fall.

Spain’s National Court has acquitted Shakira in a tax fraud case after eight years, ordering the government to return 60 million euros ($69 million) to the Colombian superstar. According to a judicial document obtained Monday (May 18) by Billboard Español, the court concluded that Shakira did not meet the minimum residency requirement to be taxed in Spain during 2011.

“After more than eight years enduring brutal public accusations and sleepless nights that took a toll on my health and my family’s well-being, the National Court has finally set the record straight,” Shakira said in a statement. “There was never any fraud, and the Administration itself was never able to prove otherwise.”

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