Music Biz Headlines, May 1, 2019

By Kerry Doole

Ariana Grande's Sweetener tour serves up ear candy at Vancouver's Rogers Arena

The global chart-topper served up a buffet of her ear-worm singles throughout the evening in Vancouver, and her fans, well, they ate it up like candy. – Aleesha Harris, Vancouver Sun

First wave of Westward Music Festival 2019 announced, with headliners including Joji, Lissie, and the Paper Kites

The eclectic event takes place September 12-15 in venues spread across Vancouver's downtown core. – Mike Usinger, Georgia Straight

What’s it like to be the DJ for an NHL team? Alan Cross can tell you

A few years back, an unlikely encounter led me to be hired by MLSE Entertainment to revamp the music heard within the confines of the ACC (now the Scotiabank Arena) before, during, and after Maple Leaf home games. – Global News

Diversity on display as folk clubs announce season schedules

It’s a pleasure to report that local Edmonton folk organizations, like New Moon Folk Club and Northern Lights Folk Club, have never done better. Both organizations just announced their concert lineups for the 2019-2020 season and diversity is the key to their upcoming schedule. – Roger Levesque, Edmonton Journal

Graham Rockingham: Hamilton-area musicians, festivals and record labels bracing for significant cuts in provincial funding

The provincial government cuts $8 million from $15-million Ontario Music Fund. "I'm incredibly disappointed," said Juno-winning Hamilton blues musician Steve Strongman. "The severity of the cuts is pretty serious. I'm going to feel that impact directly." – Hamilton Spectator

Canadian blues great Matt Andersen returns to where it all began: Downtown London

There’s little doubt the seeds of Andersen’s artistic future were planted right in London, ON. five years before his debut album. He was studying at London’s Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology in the late ’90s with a plan to get into the recording industry, then fell under the spell of live music. – Joe Belanger, London Free Press

Preview: Rock of Ages to shake the Jubilee for one night only

The jukebox Broadway musical Rock of Ages is on its 10th-anniversary tour that makes a whistle stop at the Jubilee Auditorium on May 7. – Louis B. Hobson,Calgary Herald

Early Music Festival showcases a variety of classical music styles

Early Music Alberta has, in its time, covered a wide time range but for its ninth annual Early Music Festival, which is taking place at First Presbyterian Church from Friday through Sunday, it has swung to the end of that time range, the early Classical 18th-century era. – Mark Morris, Edmonton Journal

Seeing double: Yes We Mystic uses second group to illustrate new album's concept

In March, Winnipeg art-pop band Yes We Mystic performed two shows in two different cities at the same time; Winnipeg and Saskatoon. It was revealed there are now two Yes We Mystics, who have both been participating in all of the media and events leading up to the release of the band’s new full-length, Ten Seated Figures. – Erin Lebar, Winnipeg Free Press

TNT Boys, the top boy band in the Philippines, takes the stage in Edmonton

The trio of teen idols played its first concert in Canada this past weekend, to a dynamite response. – Ariel Fournier, CBC News

The Struts extend North American tour, including three Canadian dates

Hot off the first leg of the Young & Dangerous tour, the British rock outfit is gearing up for another run throughout North America. The Struts will hit Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City this September. – Adam Wallis, Global News

International

Diana Ross is still The Boss

The calendar says it’s 2019, but the cultural pulse is beating 1979. Not only is the disco era back in the spotlight thanks to the doc Studio 54, but Diana Ross’ “The Boss” has once again topped Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart. – Soultracks

This Is Spinal Tap at 35: the faux-rockers reunite at Tribeca film festival

As Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer stood on the stage of New York’s Beacon Theater, basking in waves of deafening applause from their rabid sold-out crowd, one might have forgotten that their masterpiece began as a failure.–  Charles Bramesco, The Guardian

Aldous Harding: Designer review – cryptic charm and shimmering psychedelic pop

After attracting attention for a pared-down, folky debut, things in Harding’s world got weird fast. On 2017’s Party, the lyrics of the NZ singer/songwriter became more oblique, her videos more inscrutable, her interviews more vague and her live performances more mannered.  – Alexis Petridis, The Guardian

JioSaavn has over 100m Monthly Active Users. Could it be India's biggest music streaming service?

Last week India-based Gaana claimed to be the country’s first music streaming service to hit 100 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs). According to sources close to the company, JioSaavn currently has 104m MAUs and can stake its own claim as ‘India’s largest music streaming service’. – Murray Stassen, MBW

'It's him, but through the eyes of others': behind the Leonard Cohen exhibition

In Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything, newly opened in NYC, the singer’s allure is explored by an array of artists in a variety of different mediums. – Rob LeDonne,The Guardian

A&M Records co-founder Herb Alpert marks 25 years of funding artists when D.C. won't: 'Politicians don't get it'

The Tijuana Brass man launched the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts with royalties and proceeds from the sale of A&M to PolyGram. – Harley Brown, Billboard

The Top 40 Most Depressing Albums

These are oft cited as the most depressing and dark albums of all time, but there's something to be said for an artist laying it on the line and going to places where angels fear to tread. And, yes, Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed are featured. – Kevin Orton, Soundblab

New study examines the impact of country radio programming on women

Report by Dr. Jada Watson shows “that programming decisions have a direct impact on the success of songs." – Marissa Moss, Rolling Stone