The FYI News Bulletin

By David Farrell

The Canadian Live Music Association needs data to petition the federal government to count the production community among stakeholders in the live music industry eligible for emergency support. The catch is the deadline is May 4 (tomorrow). Details here.

– CBC Gem has four Juno-centric programs streaming this month that include If These Walls Could Talk, where Canadian musicians share stories about their historic nights at some of the country's best concert halls, and My Juno Moments, where artists relive their Juno moments and music experts define highlights in the Award’s 50-year history.

– Former America and Românii's Got Talent contestant Laura Bretan recently paired with Canada’s The Tenors and the result is a No. 1 song with Believe in the southeastern European country. It helps that Bretan is of Romanian descent, but the song has legs and has beaten out stiff competition from global stars such as Dua Lipa, Black Eyed Peas, The Weeknd, and Justin Bieber. The song was released as a single by Universal Music in Romania in Nov. 2020. It was recorded using studios in Belgium, Israel, Romania, and Toronto. The video (directed by Tom Belding) was shot at The Warehouse Studio Vancouver, Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, and Casa Loma Toronto.

– Music Canada and CONNECT Music Licensing have announced several executive appointments. Catherine Jones is the new VP of CONNECT, Sarah Kilpatrick is now Music Canada’s VP, Corporate Affairs, and Miranda Mulholland is named to the new position of Creative Culture Advisor for the same org.

– John Zerucelli has migrated from UMC where he was VP, Public Affairs, to join Labatt Breweries as head of government & corporate affairs, effective May 10.

– Sony Music Entertainment Canada officially moved office in late 2020: While staff continues to work remotely, you might wish to update your address book for the company which can now be found at 99 Atlantic Ave, Suite 800. Toronto, ON,  M6K 3J8.

– Lyric Financial, the company that pioneered royalty-based financing for the global music community, is announcing it has crossed $100M mark in financing provided to its clients. From automated advances for independent artists and labels to creatively structured facilities for A-list, high net-worth clients and larger independent music companies, the company claims to have processed over 24K transactions in 32 countries since launching in 2006,

– deadmau5's longtime management firm Seven20 has added visual artist Alan Bolton to the roster, joining deadmau5, Qrion, Callie Reiff, and Spencer Brown. Having already established himself in the NFT space, Bolton is now offering an NFT collection through deadmau5's house-centric label hau5trap. Included is a 1 one-minute audio piece, and 2 open editions of 15-second audio loops. This is one of the first ever NFT collaborations between a record label and visual artist.

– Humber College’s Bachelor of Music program is under siege, presumably for economic reasons resulting from the new normal. Readers are asked to rally and sign a petition to leave Humber Music alone. To date, more than 4K signatures support the petition.

– Jamie Salter–son of the late  and colourful Gary Salter of Toronto-based record company Avenue of Americas, Black & White music Sales and Thunder Sound fame–has quietly spun a $US250M portfolio a decade back into a US$15B empire from washed up retailers, and acquiring licensing rights to a cache of celebrity names that include Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. Remember the name. Whispers suggest his name may be turning up in your business news-feed sometime soon.

– Apple Music launched a new feature last week called City Charts, which ranks the top 25 songs in 100 cities around the world. So far, Toronto is the lone representative in Canada. To view the countdown link here.

– Following the April release of Christopher Ward’s interpretation of his award-winning song, Black Velvet, included on his May 28 autobiographical album Same River Twice (Wardworks/Warner Music Canada), he hosted an interactive YouTube event with Long & McQuade Musical Instruments last week. The session includes the story behind the #1 Billboard hit, and discussion on the songwriting process.

– Shraga Gestetner, a father of 5 from Montreal, who came to Israel specifically for the Lag B’Omer celebrations, was one of two named Canadians crushed to death in a stampede at Mount Meron in Israel that killed 45 people, according to The Times of Israel. The Hasidic singer had been living in Monsey, New York in recent years.

– A complicated murder trial involving defendant Raymond Henry Muller, charged with first-degree murder in the death of fellow musician Cedric Gagnon, has become something of a spectacle in Montreal. Both played in a band called Pirates! The prosecution’s theory in the case is that Muller killed Gagnon, dismembered his body and disposed of the remains and evidence in dumpsters near his apartment in Mile End. Muller is also charged with causing an indignity to Gagnon’s body. The Montreal Gazette’s Paul Cherry has the story (so far).

– Notable Montreal-based music publisher Denis Wolff has resigned from the SOCAN Board following legal issues that became public in La Presse last month.