This week, Editor-in-Chief Mike Raine shares is entire conversation with heralded singer-songwriter Allison Russell, which was done for the cover story in the latest issue of Canadian Musician magazine. Not since Tracy Chapman has a Black woman taken the Americana world by storm like Russell has with debut solo album, Outside Child. But Russell is no newbie, as she’s two decades into her highly-regarded career. She began with the Vancouver-based folk group, Po’ Girl, then spent the last decade-plus touring relentlessly with her partner, JT Nero, in the group Birds of Chicago. But it’s the lushness and power of Outside Child that has catapulted her to stardom over the last year. The album has been a hit despite, or maybe because of, its difficult subject matter, which tackles Russell’s childhood of abuse at the hands of a racist adoptive father. Outside Child was released in May 2021, in part thanks to country star Brandi Carlile. Now, a little over a year later, Russell is contemplating what it means to be playing sold out shows, to have received three Grammy Award nominations, and have won a Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, a Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Album of the Year, and the two top honours at the 2022 International Folk Music Awards. Plus, she’s currently nominated for Album and Song of the Year at the 2022 Americana Music Awards.
On this week’s podcast, we have a unique conversation where rising pop singer-songwriter Mathew V is joined by his influential agent, Tom Kemp, senior VP at the Feldman Agency. Together they discuss their respective career trajectories and how they’re working together to foster Matthew V’s rise. Having these two together, a rising artist and veteran agent, provides a very fascinating perspective on the current live music industry and how an artist works with their agent and label to build a career. Along the way, with Canadian Musician Editor-in-Chief Mike Raine, they also get into some fun conversation about stage banter, livestreaming, and more.
First up on the podcast this week, former publicist and current creativity and personal branding coach Diane Foy walks you through the Media & Industry Attraction Playbook. With Canadian Musician Editor-in-Chief Mike Raine, Diane shares her own story and then dissects the work she does with musicians to help them craft their story and image for the public. It’s intense, personal work that results in artists having a much deeper understanding of themselves as people and artists so that they can share their own story in a more effective and engaging manner. Following that, Mike chats with documentary director Pale Christian Thomas and associate producer Daniel Joseph about their new film, VanCity Raps. They tell the story of Vancouver’s hip-hop scene, which they were both central figures in, sharing the key artists who have shaped it, how it has evolved, and more.
About a year ago, SoundCloud began a fascinating and possibly industry-changing experiment by becoming the first streaming service to implement a user-centric royalty model, which they’ve termed “fan-powered royalties.” User-centric payouts, which essentially sends a subscriber’s money to the actual artists they listen to in a given month, has long been touted as a fairer and more artist-friendly economic model for the industry. So, for this week’s episode, Canadian Musician Editor-in-Chief Mike Raine chats with SoundCloud’s VP of Strategy, Michael Pelczynski, about how the fan-powered royalties experiment has played out in its first year. What have they learned and it is really proving to be a better model for artists? And is there any chance at all that this could actually be adopted on a larger scale by the likes of Spotify and Apple Music?
On the podcast this week, Canadian Musician Editor-in-Chief Mike Raine is joined by Luther Mallory. He’s an artist and performance coach specializing in stage psychology. Luther works with the Juno Masterclass and CMI's Artist Entrepreneur Program to help artists learn to let go of overthinking and obsessive judgment in performance. In this fascinating chat, Luther explains why he thinks there’s really just two kinds of artists, and how he works with them to bring out their best performance that is in line with their own style and personality. He helps them work through mental hurdles that diminish their ability on stage and become more captivating and engaging performers. He also explains what separates the very best artists he’s worked with, such as Haviah Mighty. Learn more at LutherMallory.com or DM him @luthermallory on Instagram.
Just ahead of his current U.K. and Europe summer tour dates, Canadian Musician Editor-in-Chief caught back up with Alex Henry Foster. Because of the success he’s had as a totally DIY artists, and his frankness about the successes and struggles he had during his career, Alex is always a captivating and interesting person to chat with. Formerly the frontman for beloved Canadian alt-rock heroes Your Favorite Enemies, Alex has branched out in many directions in recent years, including releasing his debut solo album Windows in the Sky in 2018 and the live album Standing Under Bright Lights in 2021. His latest single is a cover of Lou Reed’s “Power of the Heart.” It’s been a hectic last couple years for Alex, with big highs and lows, and he opens up about the mental and physical exhaustion he’d driven himself to during the pandemic. He also discusses the costs and rewards of a high-profile DIY career, building a large and devoted fanbase and team around himself, often with many musical and business projects on the go.
On this week’s podcast, Canadian Musician Editor-in-Chief Mike Raine is joined by Kim Fry, one of the organizers behind Music Declares Emergency Canada (MDEC). It’s the Canadian chapter of a global movement of people in the music industry working together “towards a carbon neutral future.” More than 200 artists have signed on in Canada, including Tegan & Sara, LAL, Sarah Harmer, Caribou, and members of Broken Social Scene and Tokyo Police Club. Kim, who has a background with Greenpeace and climate activism, is also the mother of Brighid Fry of the popular Canadian indie-folk group Housewife (formerly Moscow Apartment). Mike and Kim discuss MDE/MDEC’s formation, it’s approach to activism and making change, why and how artists should get involved with climate activism, even if they’re not “perfect” environmentalists, and what specifically the music industry needs to change in order to be part of the solution of halting climate change. For more about Music Declares Emergency, go to www.musicdeclares.net.
First up on the podcast this week, Canadian Musician Editor-in-Chief Mike Raine chats with Jonathan Campbell and Mercedes Caxaj, two organizers of this June’s Global Toronto 2022 conference and showcase festival. The annual event, which is returning as both an in-person festival and an online conference, is rooted in creating a sustainable, equitable, and accessible future for the music sector. Jonathan and Mercedes discuss what specifically that means and outline the issues and topics of concern at Global Toronto (www.globaltoronto.org). Mike's second interview is with Re:Sound President and CEO Lou Ragagnin, who joined the performing right organization’s leadership just before the pandemic began. Lou and Mike discuss why Re:Sound is lobbying the federal government for two significant changes to the Copyright Act, which Lou says would help ensure a more fair and equitable system for music creators, and the likelihood in successfully getting these changes implemented. Lou also chats about his first two years on the job with Re:Sound during these tumultuous times.
Joey and David Landreth of acclaimed roots-rock band The Bros. Landreth join Canadian Musician Editor-in-Chief Mike Raine this week for a wide-ranging chat about music and life. The guys’ recently-released LP, Come Morning, marks both a rebirth and refinement of the Juno-winning band's blend of North American roots music and harmony-heavy soul. In this conversation, they discuss their early years grinding it out as a touring band, growing up with a father in the music business, the growth of their sound and songwriting, and how them each becoming fathers has reshaped their perspective on life and prioritizing a music career. And at the end, they both happily geek out about their respective bass and guitar rigs.
For the January/February 2022 issue of Canadian Musician magazine, Catherine Harrison wrote a column called, “It’s Hard Out There for Musician: What Can You Do to Take Care of Yourself?” It was about the mental health issues that are predominant among working musicians, why the musician’s lifestyle makes these issues more likely, and what they can do to help themselves or find help. There were a lot of things in that column that Canadian Musician Editor-in-Chief Mike Raine felt were worthy of a more in-depth conversation, and so he’s happy to have Catherine on this week’s episode to do that. Catherine Harrison is the president of Purple Voodoo Inc. and a board member with Over the Bridge, a Canadian non-profit focused on mental health issues and awareness in the music industry. Catherine is a human-centered leadership expert, author, certified professional coach, strategic connector-of-dots and successful entrepreneur. A multi-disciplinary artist, musician, and songwriter, she...