Music Biz Headlines, Sept. 16, 2019

By FYI Staff

If the 'Drake curse' is real – does it extend to artists signed to the OVO Sound label?

Several artists signed to Drake’s label OVO have also failed to blow, leading us to wonder whether sportspeople should be the only ones concerned. – NME

Mitch Podolak, 71, was Canadian folk music’s beloved radical patron

Mitch Podolak, centre wearing a baseball cap, was variously described over the years as a 'bearded, chain-smoking radical,' a 'chubby working-class hero,' a 'banjo-playing… Trotskyite who could pass for a biker' and part of 'a cabal of deranged artist types.' – Jana Pruden, The Globe and Mail

How a former mining town in northern Quebec started one of Canada's most eclectic music festivals

Rouyn-Noranda is a city in Northern Quebec with a population of just over 40,000. The economy of the city was built around a copper mine that closed in the mid-seventies. It is currently home to the world's largest smelter, a machine that processes copper and precious metals from electronic scrap. On its surface Rouyn-Noranda isn't the first place you'd expect as a cultural hub, but during the last week of the summer for the past seventeen years the town has hosted an influx of musicians and artists from across the globe for one of Canada's best and most unique festivals. – Graham Isador, CBC News

Dan Mangan on the ‘arduous’ process of songwriting

Mangan spoke to The Globe and Mail about the “treacherous” process of songwriting, and the sweet spot that comes between finishing a song and recording it. – Brad Wheeler, The Globe and Mail

Concert review: Deadmau5 captivates opening night crowd by going Cube-ist

The Canadian electronic music producer kept fans' rapt attention with a spectacular and imaginative production design conceit. – Charlie Amter, Variety

Music to stop playing at Oshawa’s Wilson and Lee after 97 years

Wilson and Lee may be Canada’s oldest music store but after 97 years in business, the family-run downtown Oshawa store is preparing to close its doors. The store is co-owned by brothers Bill and David Wilson, and they’ve sold the building to the Holiday Inn hotel next door. – Reka Szekely, Toronto Star

The Grimsby-born promoter who worked with David Bowie and has now got a place in music hall of fame

She has worked with the likes of David Bowie, The Who, T.Rex and Sir Paul McCartney and now has a place in a music hall of fame after a 50-year career in the business. But Anya Wilson’s fondest memories are firmly bedded in North East Lincolnshire. – Adam May, Grimsby Telegraph

Policeman Dave Richardson wrote the lyrics to 1970s power ballad Wildflower

The words written in a rush by Mr. Richardson, who has died at 77, would become some of the most performed in Canadian popular music. With an expressive melody composed by the guitarist Doug Edwards, the song Wildflower was a massive hit for the band Skylark in the spring of 1973. – Tom Hawthorn, Globe and Mail

Warner buys into blockchain with $11M investment round in Vancouver-based Dapper Labs

The blockchain firm is behind games such as NBA Top Shot and CryptoKitties. The funding will contribute to the development of an Ethereum rival called Flow, a new public blockchain. – Murray Stassen, MBW

International

The winners and gifts of the 2019 Americana Music Honors & Awards

All through the 18th Annual Americana Honors & Awards Ceremony at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, artists celebrated the gifts of their heroes and peers, speaking eloquently as they introduced each other for performances and accepted awards. – Stacy Chandler, No Depression

Publishing's huge valuations, catalogs' 'frothy' market dominate at the Music Finance Forum

Attendees of the Music Finance Forum, held Sept. 13  in Los Angeles, would be forgiven if they thought they were teleported from the Skirball Cultural Center to a coffee shop. Rarely has the word “frothy” been uttered so many times in just a handful of music conference panels. In this context, frothy refers to an excited, high-priced market for music-rights catalogs. – Glenn Peoples Billboard 

Why the best album of the 21st century is Amy Winehouse's Back to Black

Quietly beautiful and earthily funny, Back to Black’s ebullient music transformed pop – and will be revered for decades to come. – Alexis Petridis, The Guardian

If you’re looking for America, you’ll find it in the epic Ken Burns doc Country Music

It’s a grand undertaking by Burns and his team, and it is required viewing. It ain’t perfect, though. What Burns does – I’ve seen all 16 hours – amounts to more his-story than her-story, and it’s a bit unduly obsessed with outlaws and rebels, most of them male.  – John Doyle, Globe and Mail

The 100 best albums of the 21st century

We polled 45 music writers to rank the definitive LPs of the 21st century so far. Read our countdown of passionate pop, electrifying rock and anthemic rap – and see if you agree. – The Guardian

'Western Stars': Film Review | TIFF 2019