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FYI

Music Biz Headlines, June 21, 2019

A look at prairie country (pictured Jess Moskaluke), musical tips for Pride, and Chris Taylor's Raptors joy. Also in the headlines are Maestro Fresh Wes, Jack White, Helen Murphy, Reggae Girlz, the Beatles, YouTube, Google, Genius, Ultra Festival, Taylor Swift, and Dylan.

Music Biz Headlines, June 21, 2019

By Kerry Doole

Saskatunes: Country music a living legacy of the prairies

When Jess Moskaluke accepted her 2017 Juno Award, she was in bare feet — "Like a true Saskatchewan girl," she said through laughter. – Matt Olson, Star-Phoenix


Pride playlist: 14 classic songs that connect jazz and the LGBTQ experience

The LGBTQ community has always had strong ties to the world of jazz, including composers such as Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart, whose works populated the Great American Songbook, and some of the star performers of the idiom such as Fred Hersch, Ian Shaw, Chris Connor and Gary Burton. – Heather Bambrick, JazzFM

The best music in Toronto Pride

Pride is a great time to catch underground queer musicians and performers who don’t regularly play in town. Here are the artists you should prioritize this weekend. – Kevin Ritchie, NOW

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 Raptors’ win enraptures top Canadian music exec Chris Taylor

It’s not just a Drake thing — the entire Canadian music business is feeling gleeful over Toronto’s NBA championship. Among the celebrants is Toronto-bred Chris Taylor, the global president of music at Entertainment One, the global music and film company based in the land of Raptors. – Karen Bliss, Variety

Maestro Fresh Wes rides Raptors' Jurassic Park wave into Soundtrack Music Festival

It’s the morning after the Toronto Raptors have beaten the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals, and Maestro Fresh Wes is still elated. The rapper, actor and author is feeling a personal connection to the championship team, understandable given that their success has also called attention to the re-release of his song, Jurassic Park, from 2017’s Coach Fresh. He plays the fest tomorrow – Tom Murray, Edmonton Journal

Drake noticeably absent from 2019 Polaris Prize long list

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Jack White doesn't own a cellphone: "I don't have that addiction"

"If you can't just put your phone down for an hour and experience life in a real way, that's sad."  – Exclaim!

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International

Out with the ole: Anthem CEO Helen Murphy talks new name, a Rush endorsement & overpriced catalogs

On June 5, ole media Management, a music publishing company owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, ceased to exist -- sort of. The 15-year-old firm changed its name to Anthem Entertainment as part of a rebranding that reflects its evolution into a music company with several distinct departments, as well as the vision of CEO Helen Murphy, a veteran music executive who took the helm last November. –  Robert Levine, Billboard

Bob Marley's daughter rescued Jamaican soccer. Now she wants the country's help.

The Reggae Girlz made their first World Cup appearance despite their federation's neglect. They'll need its help to get back. – Jessica Luther, HuffPost US

What would the world have been like without the Beatles?

Pop wouldn’t have had anything like the cultural impact that it did, it might have remained a series of scattered developments that never coalesced into a world-shaking force. –  The Guardian

Intellectual Property Office warns on music industry's 'data problem'

A new report issued by the government’s Intellectual Property Office has underlined the challenge of data management for the music industry. Music 2025: The Music Data Dilemma was based on research carried out by Ulster University and reflects the views of dozens of UK-based music industry representatives. – Andre Paine, Music Week

What the Google-Genius copyright dispute is really about

The antitrust pitchforks are out for big tech. First came the European Union, then Washington, DC. Not to be left out, now comes hip hop lyrics. Over the weekend, the music annotation site Genius publicly accused search juggernaut Google of stealing its crowdsourced song transcripts and natively publishing them. – Emily Dreyfuss, Wired

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Bob Dylan’s glam hootenanny: Returning to Rolling Thunder

Dylan’s 1975 tour was his most peculiar: nostalgic, theatrical, fiery. The Rolling Thunder Revue pulled together mentors and peers for a bizarre trek through off-the-beaten-path performances spaces across the U.S. and Canada. – Jon Pareles, NY Times

Miami City Commission offers Ultra Festival a license for return to Bayfront Park

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After kicking Ultra Music Festival's flagship event out of its longtime downtown home, the Miami City Commission has authorized the city manager to offer the event a license to return to Bayfront Park. It's a surprise development in an ongoing drama. –  Kat Bein, Billboard

Keeping tabs on Taytay

Taylor Swift’s You Need to Calm Down (Republic) is enjoying some strong early metrics. The streaming total keeps going up, and she remains #1 at iTunes. – Hits Daily Double

YouTube teams with Universal Music to remaster hundreds of iconic music videos

YouTube is looking to ramp up the quality of music videos that live on its platform — particularly clips of yesteryear that don’t meet today’s crystal-clear quality standards. In collaboration with UMG, YouTube is looking to remaster iconic music videos from the likes of Billy Idol, Boyz II Men, Lionel Richie, No Doubt, George Strait, Smokey Robinson, The Killers, and more. –Tubefilter

 

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The Diving Bell Social Club
Courtesy Photo

The Diving Bell Social Club

Culture

A Year After It Closed, Founders of Montreal's Diving Bell Social Club Reveal Plans For a New Venue

The Diving Bell Social Club was a mainstay in Montreal music for five years prior to its closure — which was spurred largely by noise complaints. Now, the people behind that space are back with a new initiative and this time, they say, they're in it for the long run.

Montreal is getting a new music venue — though the exact details are TBD.

TBD is the current name for the project, which comes from Evan Johnston and Austin Wrinch, two of the founders of the now-closed Plateau venue the Diving Bell Social Club. Johnston and Wrinch have a new partner in the mix this time, Chantale 'Bea' Streeting, and together the trio have spent the last year developing a project that will become a new bar and venue.

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