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How Canadian Artists Can Export Across Borders: Highlights From Billboard Canada and CAAMA's 40 Under 40 Panel
Billboard Canada and the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Music and the Arts (CAAMA) have partnered to help bring emerging Canadian artists and music industry leaders to the world stage.
Before the first-ever Billboard Canada 40 Under 40 event on Nov. 20, the publication and the music trade organization brought together a panel of experts to address the country’s emerging cohort of industry professionals, giving them tips and tricks to be “export-ready” on a global scale.
Moderated by Micah Barnes, singer-songwriter and co-founder of vocal coaching initiative Singers Playground, the event’s panelists included Jeffrey Crossman, Canadian trade commissioner & cultural officer, renowned entertainment lawyer and manager Paul Farberman and Richard Trapunski, National Editor at Billboard Canada.
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The panel launched a partnership between Billboard Canada and CAAMA with the goal of elevating and creating opportunities for the next generations of music industry leaders. For over three decades, the national not-for-profit Canadian trade organization has been dedicated to the domestic and international development of local music businesses.
The panel is streaming below and will air as a special webcast via CAAMA at 12 pm on Dec. 18.
Insights From the Becoming Export Ready: Taking Canadian Music to the World Panel
From Drake and The Weeknd to Justin Bieber and Tate McRae, some of today’s biggest stars hail from Canada. While their success emerged in their home country, the international music industry has exponentially expanded their audiences.
“Canadians almost always have to have international support if we want to end up on the international stage,” Barnes shared in his panel opening following an intro by CAAMA president, Patti Jannetta.
CAAMA president Patti Jannetta at Billboard Canada 40 Under 40 in Toronto on Nov. 20, 2025.Door 24
Farberman noted that, in previous decades, the international acclaim of an artist often was a direct result of working with one of the three major labels — Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music — but in recent years, it has become a challenge for many artists to break through north of the border with only label support.
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Now, he says, artists are turning to social media to promote their work and gain an audience.
“They'd rather control their own destiny, control their own product, control what they're doing [and] not give up everything they have to give up if they're going to assign to one of those major companies,” he explained.
The importance of having a traditional team or label isn’t always vital to an artist’s success, the panelists noted.
In 2024, Justin Bieber parted ways with longtime manager Scooter Braun and taken control of his career through the Bieber Family Office, navigating the industry on his own terms. This year, the pop singer secured a $10 million deal to headline next year's Coachella, working “directly” with festival promoter Goldenvoice to negotiate.
This year’s Billboard Canada Women of the Year, The Beaches, have also had a particularly successful career trajectory on their own terms. Following their viral 2023 hit “Blame Brett," the band has turned their social media visibility into a sustainable career, now playing sold-out venues — including a hometown show at Scotiabank Arena — all since getting dropped from their major label deal. Working with manager Laurie Lee Boutet and a mostly female team has allowed them to embrace their individuality and brought their career to new heights.
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“It's less important to have someone who's an established seasoned professional manager nowadays than to have someone who can be young, bright, creative, innovative, with fresh ideas and committed to the artist and take them to new levels,” Faberman said.
In the late '80s and '90s, Faberman played an instrumental role in the rise of powerhouse singer Celine Dion. After signing with Sony in 1986, Dion embarked on a decades-long career, breaking out of her home province and country and making waves internationally, with her first global hit, 1990’s “Where Does My Heart Beat Now," from her debut English-language album, Unison. Faberman said the track wowed U.S. record labels who worked quickly to connect with Dion to release her self-titled record in 1992.
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Faberman credited Dion's late husband, Canadian record producer and manager René Angélil, for having "good business instincts," which included pushing for Dion to sing on "My Heart Will Go On," the famous Titanic theme song that helped to skyrocket Dion's star power globally. "René and Celine always, always gave so much credit to Sony," he said.
According to Trapunski, the media also plays an essential role in exporting Canadian artists, which is tougher now that there are fewer dedicated outlets for music coverage in Canada.
“There are a ton of artists who could easily be that next Justin Bieber,” he said. “They just need that opportunity. They need to be able to get there.”
Trapunski talked about the importance of a publication like Billboard Canada, which is embedded within Billboard's global network and is able to give artists a global platform.
He continued: “It's almost like A&R a lot of the time. It's being able to spot the talent before they're huge that can make that splash, not just in Canada, but all over the world.”
He points to bilingual artist Charlotte Cardin, the publication’s first-ever Woman of the Year in 2024 who then went to Billboard Women in Music in L.A. as the Global Woman of the Year. The Montreal-born singer has brought her soulful pop to Europe and the U.S., with hits like “Confetti,” which spent 16 weeks on the U.S. Adult Pop Airplay chart.
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Left to right: Jeffrey Crossman, Richard Trapunski, Patti Jannetta, Paul Farberman, Micah Barnes at Billboard Canada 40 Under 40 in Toronto on Nov. 20, 2025.Door 24
The first-ever Billboard Canada cover featured what the publication coined the term the Punjabi Wave, showcasing five Canadian-Punjabi artists — Ikky, Karan Aujla, AP Dhillon, Jonita and Gurinder Gill — who are redefining the global sound. While the artists were selling out arenas and notching major numbers of global streaming, they weren’t receiving much attention from Canadian media or industry support at home. Now, they’re amassing a massive fanbase, alongside international stars like Diljit Dosanjh, who has made waves across Canada.
Exporting internationally doesn't solely mean the U.S., he noted. Increasingly, especially in the wake of Trump's tariffs, there are more avenues being opened for export across the world, from Germany to India.
“It's not just Canada and the U.S.," he said. "I think that sometimes, because the U.S. is right next to us, we tend to think that way. But one of the things that makes Canadian music so exciting right now is the diversity of voices, the connection to the whole world."
Establishing a global connection between artists and their audiences is key to success.
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Crossman, a trade commissioner and cultural officer at The Trade Commissioner Service, works closely with Canadian entrepreneurs across the creative industry — music, film, television, publishing and book publishing — to ensure an artist's teams can confidently achieve success cross-country, while the musician strikes a chord internationally.
“I really want to keep the artist in Canada and the art going outside of Canada,” Crossman said.
“I like to say that I don't believe in starving artists. I want the artist to be paid. I want the music manager, the music label, the music publisher to be out there, getting the work out there, and permitting the artist to stay in Canada and write, produce, perform, record. But once we do have the art out there, then it's time to celebrate it.”
Beyond export success, his role sits at the intersection of selling and celebrating Canadian culture, as Crossman called coast-to-coast music industry leaders “a driver of our economy." He makes it a point to target a diverse group of entrepreneurs who work alongside emerging stars that demonstrate the country's core values.
“We want to celebrate that Canadian artist who will be performing in the country to demonstrate what it is about Canada, what makes us special in a very emotional way, speaking to somebody's values,” he explained. “I think that's a really powerful way of communicating.”
Join CAAMA on Wednesday Feb. 18, 2026 for a session of virtual Business-to-Business (B2B) meetings. This is an opportunity for interested Canadians and CAAMA members to meet online with foreign talent buyers, festival and promoters from around the world. Billboard Canada 40 Under 40 honourees, readers and CAAMA members are invited to attend. For more information visit caama.org
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