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Music Biz Headlines: B.C.'s Bass Coast Lineup, Halifax Jazz Fest's Year-Round Plans

Our weekly compendium of headlines from across Canada and beyond also includes stories on Osheaga, Neil Young, Dolly Parton and another record year for Live Nation.

Machinedrum

Machinedrum, one of the artists announced for Bass Coast's 2024 festival.

Bethany Vargas

Merritt, British Columbia’s Award-winning Bass Coast Festival is Back For its 16th Year in 2024

It will run from July 12 to 15. Early acts announced include Leikeli47, Of The Trees, Ash Lauryn and UK garage/experimentalist brothers, Bakey—among many others. - Kristi Alexander, Georgia Straight


Halifax Jazz Festival’s New Boss Wants to Make the Music Fest a Year-Round Fixture

How Tenille Goodspeed plans to make her mark as the HJF’s new executive director. - Martin Bauman, The Coast

Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music Announces 2024-25 Season, Headlined by Sondheim's 'Into the Woods'

The conservatory’s upcoming season includes 28 classical concerts and five jazz events. - Joshua Chong, Toronto Star

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Live Nation’s Arthur Fogel on Why the $40- Billion Concert Business is Rockin’

LN president of global touring Fogel has had a hand in creating blow-your-mind tours for artists like Beyonce, U2, Sting and Madonna. How did a kid from Ottawa become the king of the global tour? - Trevor Cole, Globe & Mail

NAC Orchestra’s Alexander Shelley Discusses New Album and Tribute to Canadian Journalist Peter Jennings

Earlier this month, the NAC Orchestra released Truth in Our Time, an album which includes the world premiere recording of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 13. That piece was commissioned by the orchestra as a tribute to Peter Jennings. - Brad Wheeler, The Globe and Mail

The Full 2024 Osheaga Lineup Features Smashing Pumpkins, Hozier, Alvvays and More

The major Montreal festival has announced all artists playing the 2024 edition, adding big names like Melanie Martinez, Skepta, Reneé Rapp, Justice, Tyla and many more. - Rosie Long Decter, Billboard Canada

Concerts Should Start Earlier To Benefit the Olds

I think there is something important to examine here, as the entertainment world, especially theatre, struggles to regain audiences post-pandemic. Shows, especially during the week, should start earlier. - Marsha Lederman, Globe & Mail

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Sum 41: ‘Pop-punk Was Seen As Paint-by-Numbers Nursery Rhyme Music. But There’s a Lot of Creativity’

The Canadian band have weathered shocking attacks, alcoholism, collapsing popularity and being papped with Paris Hilton – so why are they breaking up amid their genre’s resurgence? - Emma Garland, The Guardian

Yes, live performing arts have taken a hit. But no, they're not dying

The Star's new culture reporter, Joshua Chong, reflects on his new role and the state of our arts scene amid a period of upheaval. - Toronto Star

Song, Dance, Storytelling and More Go Into the Citadel's Rubaboo Stew

Andrea Menard's Métis cabaret is vibrant, colourful, and not afraid to tackle deeper truths with black humour that's innate to the Métis character. - Tom Murray, Edmonton Journal

Review and Analysis: The 2024 Maple Blues Awards

The absence of Black artists from the winners podium "was a major glitch in what had promised to be a return to the roots for the 27th edition of the Maple Blues Awards." - Paul Corby, Roots Music Canada

Jason McCoy's 38 Years in Country Music Celebrated by Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame

McCoy, 53, was inducted alongside talent agent Brian Edwards in 2023. Photos on display include one of McCoy on stage at the Grand Ole Opry and one of him with children in Honduras, where he worked with World Vision to raise awareness of child poverty.' - Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald

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Madama Butterfly,' 'Eugene Onegin' and a New Canadian Opera Headline the COC's Ambitious Season

The COC's upcoming season, running from October 2024 to May 2025, will include six productions and one concert. - Joshua Chong, Toronto Star

International

Live Nation Posts Another Record Year in 2023, Revenue Up 36% to Almost $23B

Multiple superstar acts toured the world and live entertainment returned in earnest after the pandemic shut it down for nearly all of 2020 and 2021. The world’s largest live-entertainment company saw revenue of $22.7 billion, up 36% from 2022. - Jem Aswad, Variety

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A Top TikTok Music Executive, Paul Hourican, Is Leaving His Position at the ByteDance-owned App

Hourican, Global Head of Music Operations at TikTok, announced the news in an email to staff and partners. Hourican's confirmation came on the same day that TikTok's Add To Music App feature rolled out in another 163 countries. - MBW

After Elvis, Elton and Bob Marley, Music Biopics Are Hollywood’s Latest Theatrical Trend

Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson are set to get their turn in theaters, with a half dozen others to follow. Jeremy Fuster, The Wrap

Legacy Acts Won't Stop Releasing Music – Have We Reached Peak Archive?

It ain’t cheap to be a Neil Young completist right now. His latest release Dume is the maverick singer-songwriter’s 20th album in five years. But the 78-year-old isn’t experiencing some late-career surge of creativity: Most of those albums are entirely archive material. -The Independent

This week In the Hot Seat with Larry LeBlanc: Disco Donnie Estopinal, CEO, Disco Presents.

One of the foremost independent music promoters in America, Disco Donnie Estopinal knows how to throw a party and keep it rocking. Since its founding in 1994, Disco Events has produced over 20K shows and sold more than 20M tickets in over 100 cities throughout North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. - Larry LeBlanc, Celebrity Access

Trial Begins Over Ownership of Handwritten Lyrics to ’Hotel California’

A Book dealer, museum curator and memorabilia seller on trial over handwritten lyrics of Eagles classic Hotel California. - Jennifer Peltz, AP

V&A Museum Seeks Swiftie to Advise on Taylor Swift Fan Culture

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The post will be one of five superfan adviser roles with experts also sought on Crocs, tufting, drag and emojis. - Laura Snapes, The Guardian

Dolly Parton Congratulates Beyonce on Billboard Country Chart Record

From one music legend to another.- Lars Brandle, Billboard

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Kendrick Lamar
Dave Free

Kendrick Lamar

Chart Beat

Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200

Plus: the "Wicked" movie soundtrack arrives at No. 2.

Kendrick Lamar’s surprise album GNX debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Dec. 7), marking his fifth chart-topper, all earned consecutively. It launches with 319,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 28, according to Luminate — the year’s sixth-largest debut frame. The set’s opening week was largely driven by streaming activity, and the 12-song effort launches with 2024’s third-biggest streaming week for any album. GNXarrived with no warning on Nov. 22 around noon ET.

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, the Wicked film soundtrack enters at No. 2, notching the highest debut for a big-screen adaptation of a stage musical ever. The new Wicked film, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, is based on the long-running stage musical of the same name, which has played on Broadway in New York since 2003.

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