Music Biz Headlines, July 2, 2020
Cirque du Soleil (pictured) files for bankruptcy protection, some critiques of the Junos, and success for the Montreal jazz fest's online edition. Also in the headlines are The Weeknd, TekSavvy, Burton and Randy, KKR, Manitoba music, BMG, BET Awards, Live Nation, Jamendo, Chase Rice, Shannon Hoon, the trombone, Shel Silverstein, Suzi Q, Broadway, Brett Gurewitz, Queen, and Dusty Springfield.
By FYI Staff
Global circus company Cirque du Soleil files for bankruptcy protection
Quebec's two major institutional investors join forces in a purchase bid for the embattled firm. –– Jonathan Montpetit, CBC News
Cirque du Soleil has lost its way, co-founder Gilles Ste-Croix says
Ste-Croix co-founded the Cirque with Guy Laliberté in the first half of the ’80s. The two were part of a ragtag group of street performers in Baie-St-Paul that morphed into what would become the world’s leading circus, and one of the planet’s biggest live-entertainment companies. –– Montreal Gazette
Critic’s notebook: Online Juno Awards were small, safe and skippable
If a Juno falls in an empty venue, does anybody care? Carried on numerous CBC digital platforms but not on broadcast television, Monday’s program was stripped-down and subdued. Victors were encouraged to give acceptance speeches on their own social media platforms and websites, but not on the streamed event itself. –– Brad Wheeler, The Globe and Mail
Alessia Cara sweeps Canada’s Juno Awards; Shawn Mendes wins Artist of the Year
Alessia Cara was the big winner at Monday’s virtual 49th annual Juno Awards — Canada’s answer to the Grammys — taking home songwriter, pop album and album of the year for “The Pains of Growing.” The Junos streamed on various online CBC channels and social pages and winners weren’t notified in advance. –– Karen Bliss, Variety
2020 Juno Awards open with a dramatic moment of reckoning on matters of race and inclusion
The most dramatic moments at the Juno Awards came at the top of the show, where the Junos were remarkably forthright about their need to diversify and how the show was late to acknowledge soul, reggae, rap and other forms of Black and indigenous music. –– Paul Grein, Billboard
Montreal jazz fest's online edition a rousing success
The Toronto star has made a $1 million donation to coronavirus relief, giving $500,000 each to MusiCares and to the front-line hospital workers of Scarborough Health Network, the hospital network in the city where he was raised. According to the announcement, the donation is a leading gift to the health network’s covid-19 Emergency Fund, which now totals more than $2.7 million.––Jem Aswad, Variety
CityView Drive-In is Toronto's newest music venue
Monster Truck, Allan Rayman and A Tribe Called Red will perform concerts at the drive-in theatre located in the Rebel nightclub parking lot. –– Richard Trapunski, NOW
The music industry is allowed to intervene on a landmark web-blocking case in Canada
A court in Canada has said that it will allow national and global trade organisations for the music industry to intervene in an ongoing legal battle over web-blocking in the country. The battle is with internet service provider TekSavvy, which has appealed a web-blocking order that was issued by the courts last year against piracy site GoldTV.ca. –– Chris Cooke, CMU
Bader Centre teams up with CBC Music to host online cello competition
The Bader and Overton Canadian Cello Competition took place on June 24, 25, and 27 with the eight participants broadcasting live from their homes. ––Queen's Journal
The hidden racist history of 'O Canada'
Laila El Mugammar: Every time I stand for the Canadian national anthem, I think about the song's composer, who founded a blackface minstrel troupe. What does it mean to sing the melody of a man who wore me as a costume? –– Chatelaine
Mining the Sault's rich musical history
Local music aficionado Shaun Antler has taken on the daunting task of gathering information about the city’s rich musical history. –– Chris Belsito, Soo Today
150 songs for Manitoba
Singing the province’s praises with this sesquicentennial playlist. –– Winnipeg Free Press
Stingray partners with legendary Canadian stars Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman
As Canadians celebrated the nation’s 153rd birthday on July 1, they did it with a truly Canadian soundtrack from coast-to-coast as Stingray presented Top 100 Canadian Songs of All-Time, hosted by Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman, and Stu Jeffries. –– GlobeNewswire
International
KKR leads a $48m investment in Artlist
Seven years after it sold its stake in BMG to Bertelsmann for circa $1bn, KKR has made a meaningful move back into music. It is investing in Artlist, a royalty-free music and sound effects company that licenses content to creators on YouTube and other platforms. ––MBW
2020 BET Awards: an artistic, virtual and political success
You’d think trying to produce the 2020 BET Awards during the coronavirus pandemic would be filled with restrictions, but instead, show producers took another approach: We’re not limited to a single-stage, so the sky’s the limit and let your creative minds run free. –– Mesfin Fekadu, AP
What major UK music companies are paying women compared to men
Last year, we revealed that the average gender pay gap (as of April 5, 2018) across all three major record companies in the UK was 29.6% – with 29.1% at Universal Music, 20.9% at Sony Music and 38.7% at Warner Music. At the height of the UK’s covid lockdown in April, two out of three of the major music companies, Sony and Warner, did file their UK gender pay gap reports, as did a run of other top music companies, including Spotify and Live Nation. Here are the figures. –– Murray Stassen, MBW
BMG has struck a multifaceted new partnership with ITV Studios
The deal makes BMG the new music partner of choice across all areas of ITV Studios’ business, covering records, publishing, production music and synch.The partnership includes a global music publishing and administration agreement for future commissioned music, the launch of a joint venture production music label and the development of a customised online platform. –– Tim Ingham, MBW
Artist group calls for an antitrust investigation of Live Nation
In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, the Artist Rights Alliance, Center for Digital Democracy, and Future of Music Coalition have asked for an investigation of Live Nation for “monopolistic behaviour and abuses,” stemming from the company’s consideration of changes to its contract terms in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. –– Dave Clark, Ticket News
Jamendo spins subscription-based sync licensing for video producers & podcasters
If the world has arrived at all-you-can-eat subscription, why hasn’t sync music licensing? Now, leading indie licensing platform Jamendo has launched a sync-subscription service that aims to benefit indie creators and artists alike. –– Paul Resnikoff, Digital Music News
Country music reckons with racial stereotypes and its future
The country music industry has long been hesitant to address its long and complicated history with race, but the death of George Floyd in police custody and the protests it sparked in the U.S. and around the world became a sound too loud for the genre to ignore. –– Kristin M. Hall, AP
As covid-19 surges, country star Chase Rice plays packed concert for a thousand mask-free fans
As the pandemic spreads throughout the South and West, country music singers Chase Rice and Chris Janson each played to packed concerts on Saturday, where many fans chose to ignore recommended safety measures against spreading and contracting the disease. The two singers performed sets in Tennessee and Idaho, respectively. ––August Brown, LA Times
Chase Rice responds to backlash over packed ‘super-spreader’ concert
The country music star has been facing a non-stop backlash after hosting a packed concert in Tennessee — and uploading a clip of the gig to social media. Now, Rice has responded to the controversy, posting a minute-long Instagram video. “What’s up y’all, Chase here and I just wanted to address my show Saturday night,” the 34-year-old began. –– Dylan Smith, Digital Music News
Review: Blind Melon’s late lead singer Shannon Hoon tells his story in a new documentary
The curse of self-awareness is sown throughout the documentary “All I Can Say,” a kaleidoscopic video diary recorded by Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon from his arrival in Los Angeles in 1990 to the hours prior to his fatal 1995 cocaine overdose in New Orleans. –– Kevin Crust, LA Times
A guide to the history of the trombone
Trombones are one of the most popular instruments available, being able to work within several different musical genres. However, despite their wide use, many people aren’t familiar with their long history. So, let’s take a brief look at the origins of the trombone and some of the most important players. –– Buddy Iahn, The Music Universe
Shel Silverstein: The songwriter who gave us 'The Giving Tree'
When asked many years ago what he most wanted out of life, Shel Silverstein answered, "Everything." It was a characteristic answer from this elusive, legendary artist who was born in Chicago on September 25, 1930, and died in Key West on May 10, 1999. –– American Songwriter
Songs & Daughters announce a publishing arm and a first deal
Songs & Daughters, founded by hit songwriter Nicolle Galyon, is already celebrated for being the first female-driven record label in Nashville (in partnership with Big Loud Records). The company continues its groundbreaking approach by announcing the creation of a new publishing arm, in partnership with Big Loud Publishing and Warner Chappell Music, with fast-rising singer-songwriter Tiera as its inaugural signee. –– American Songwriter
'Suzi Q': Film review
Trailblazer Suzi Quatro, the first female bass player to front a high-profile rock band, is the subject of Liam Firmager's engaging documentary. Interviewed extensively for the doc, Quatro is still going strong at 70. –– Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
A different kind of Queen gets a Royal Mail commemorative stamp
British postage stamps, which often portray the monarch, will honour a different Queen, the legendary rock band, in a new Royal Mail series. –– Reuters
Silenced by pandemic, going digital is the only way for Carnatic music… but that’s no easy raga
That covid-induced challenge is no easy raga. –– Indian Express
Atmosphere respond to Minneapolis hip-hop scene abuse allegations
Following allegations of abuse against members of the Minneapolis alternative music scene, including DJ Fundo (who has DJed for P.O.S of Doomtree and Prof), Prof himself, and Dem Atlas, Prof and Dem Atlas' label Rhymesayers issued a statement saying that both Prof and Dem Atlas had been dropped from the label. Now, Slug of Atmosphere (one of Rhymesayers' co-owners) issued his own statement.
Broadway will officially stay dark until 2021
All Broadway theatres were closed on March 12, effective immediately, to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. At that time, the shutdown was set to last through April 12; it was later extended through June 7, and then through September 6. Today, the Broadway League confirmed what many had feared: The Street will not reopen this year at all. –– Adam Feldman, Time Out
A lawsuit accuses the house label of ‘masquerading as paternalistic benefactors’ for ‘musicians hungry for their first break.’–– Laura Snapes, The Guardian
Why you’re not punk if you don’t support BLM, according to Brett Gurewitz
The Epitaph Records founder and Bad Religion leader explains why being “non-racist” isn’t enough in 2020. –– Bobby Makar, Alternative Press
How 100 of Rock's biggest bands got their names
Certain trends emerge as you explore how rock's 100 biggest bands got their names. They are often forced into taking the moniker that stuck, for instance, simply because somebody else had already claimed their earlier attempt at a fame-clinching title. Far too many of them were also chosen without any real consideration for how long the members might have to live with their decisions. –– Ultimate Classic Rock
How Dusty Springfield made a remarkable comeback
As her 1990 album Reputation turns thirty, Nick Levine looks back at how the troubled pop icon enjoyed a glorious and unexpected late-career high after years out of the limelight. –– BBC
