News At A Glance: Compact Stories For Time Conscious People

By David Farrell

Daily we receive a deluge of news and press releases that we attempt to organize, streamline and include in Music Digest and Today’s Headlines; however, there is always surplus news that needs to find a home. News At A Glance is our latest innovation that readers can find in the newsletter and on the website from time to time as necessity calls.

RBC Bluesfest launching Feb. ‘diversity fest'

RBC Bluesfest organizers have announced they will launch the inaugural ‘Come See & Hear the World’ festival during this year’s Winterlude event in Ottawa. The Feb. 15 and 16 event will focus on “celebrating Canadian diversity through music”. Featured artists include William Prince, Gabrielle Shonk, Tanya Tagaq, Antibalas, Sudan Archives, Harry Manx & Steve Marriner, and Fateh.

Celine Dion will play her only European date of 2019 at British Summer Time Hyde Park in July

Celine Dion is set to headline the 70K capacity British Summer Time festival in London's Hyde Park on July 5. She will join fellow headliners Florence + The Machine and Robbie Williams. The announcement was accompanied with a video, in which Dion plans a trip to the UK to satisfy cravings for bangers and mash and sticky toffee pudding.

Cow Head Theatre gets a financial boost

Theatre Newfoundland Labrador (TNL) is currently constructing a 2,000 square metre, 178-seat multi-functional theatre complex for the Gros Morne Theatre Festival dinner theatre and musical productions. The new facility, in Cow Head on the province's Northern Peninsula, has provincial and federal funding totalling more than $6M.

The investments build on commitments made by the Government of Canada and the four Atlantic Provinces to drive economic growth in the region through the Atlantic Growth Strategy by helping the regions tourism industry attract more visitors and create new jobs. The initiative fits in with Canadas Tourism Vision, which seeks to make Canada a top-10 global tourism destination by 2025.

ole signs WW co-publishing deal with Tammi Kidd Hutton

Music rights company ole has concluded an exclusive worldwide co-publishing deal with Nashville based songwriter, Tammi Kidd Hutton. The agreement consists of the co-publishing on all future compositions, as well as the acquisition of nearly 70 previous compositions, and the exclusive administration of all properties on YouTube.

Hutton is a Nashville-based writer, who has had her compositions performed by the likes of LeAnn Rimes, Don Williams, Rascal Flatts, Scotty McCreery, and Kellie Pickler. Her work has also been featured on the ABC series, Nashville, and in the 2010 film, Country Strong, starring Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Graham Stair’s music pubbery expands

Popguru Sound & Vision’s focus on music publishing over the past few years is paying dividends. Warner Australia artists Brothers3 have recorded three songs that Popguru co-publishes on their new album Brand New Day. “Easy Love” was written by Canadian songwriters Sean Fischer and Noel Thomson; “Come Along” was written by Fischer, Thomson and John Mavrogiannis; and “Good Old Days” was written by Fischer, Thomson, Tim Abraham and ole songwriter Gavin Slate.

Fischer and Thomson were members of Toronto duo East of Avenue.

On the sync side, Ghost Caravan has three songs in the upcoming new season of popular Canadian television series Kim’s Convenience. “Woman” and “Trenches (Pull Me Down)” were co-written by Popguru songwriter and Ghost Caravan founding member Shaina Silver-Baird. “We Can Dance” was co-written by Popguru songwriter Matt Fudge.

Popguru has sub-publishing agreements with Cooking Vinyl Australia for Australia and New Zealand, GL Music for Scandinavia and is working on new partners for the UK and Germany.

Toronto Music Fan Expo coming this weekend

If you’re a music fan–and really, who isn’t? –make plans to go to the 2019 Music Fan Expo happening this Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Mississauga Convention Centre from 11:00 am– 4:00 pm. The event offers opportunities for autograph hounds, there’s an exhibition area and Alan Cross will be pumping hands and Alan Cross will be teaming up with Geeks&Beats partner Michael Hainsworth for a live podcast taping.

CD Baby expands into Mexico

The global indie music distributor has inked a deal with SACM, Mexico’s only publishing rights organization. This is the first time SACM has entered in such an agreement with an external entity. As part of the deal, CD Baby will offer free submissions to all SACM members, and in exchange, SACM will be positioning CD Baby as their “preferred” distributor.