Music Biz Headlines, July 2, 2020

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

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

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

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