Also making headlines this week: Reggae great Jimmy Cliff remembered, Spotify acquires WhoSampled, Punjabi-Canadian artists shine at Rolling Loud India and a look inside TD Coliseum.
Shortly after his creative director La Mar Taylor accepted the Billboard Canada 40 Under 40 Visionary Award, The Weeknd has set another big record with his After Hours Til Dawn Tour. In other news, Joni Mitchell will receive a lifetime achievement award at the 2026 Junos, to be held at TD Coliseum, while American Taylor Swift fans score a victory over Ticketmaster in court and Spotify plans a price hike.
Read these stories and more in this week's roundup of the music biz headlines of the week from Canada and beyond.
After 18 months of construction, the rejuvenation of Hamilton's arena is complete. The Oak View Group venue opened Nov. 21 with a concert by music legend Paul McCartney. – Kerry Doole, Billboard Canada
The Paris Port Dover Pipe Band performed the Wings track with McCartney at TD Coliseum on Nov. 21. It marks the band's fourth show with the living rock music legend since 2010. – Heather Taylor-Singh, Billboard Canada
Iconic singer-songwriter Mitchell will travel to Hamilton's TD Coliseum to receive a lifetime achievement award, while Furtado will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. – Kerry Doole, Billboard Canada
Andy Kim has lined up many flavours of Canadian pop-rock for his annual Christmas charity concert next month. He says rockers Sloan, pop-punk star Bif Naked, rockers Junkhouse and Broken Social Scene leader Kevin Drew are among the performers set for the annual fundraiser. – David Friend, Canadian Press
The expansion elevates NMC’s efforts to build on relationships between Canada’s English and French-speaking music communities, including a new partnership with ADISQ. – Heather Taylor-Singh, Billboard Canada
Tired of their smartphones, looking for connection and spurred on by Gen X parents, youngsters across the country are getting the band back together. – Ben Caplan, Globe & Mail
The music streaming company quietly announced the acquisition in a blog post last week in which it unveiled a number of new song credit features, including an upcoming ‘SongDNA’ function for Premium users, "to be powered by WhoSampled, which is now part of Spotify.” – Music Business Worldwide
The two Punjabi-Canadian artists delivered the first live performance of their surprise new "Daytona" remix during Aujla’s headlining set at Rolling Loud India over the weekend. NAV also appeared with Gurinder Gill for a performance of "Brown Munde." – Peony Hirwani, Billboard Canada
That’s according to the Financial Times, which reported Monday (November 24), citing three people familiar with the matter, that the move comes as Spotify works to demonstrate sustained profitability. – Mandy Dalugdug, Music Business Worldwide
This update of the 1995 documentary series is utterly authoritative. And its tweak of the Fab Four’s songs is a thing of wonder – their music absolutely thumps! – Stuart Heritage, The Guardian
Cliff, who has died aged 81, took every opportunity that he was presented with, and created plenty more himself. It resulted in a career path like no other. – Lloyd Bradley, The Guardian
