Canadian Music Week Canadian Music Week (CMW) would once again like to thank all of this year’s participants, sponsors, partners, performers, volunteers, speakers, and the festival team for their contributions to another great year!
Over 120,000 fans were in attendance at this year’s festival, with over 2900 delegates taking part in panels and networking activities, and 30 participating countries from across the globe. We had 833 artists showcased in over 40 venues, 499 speakers and 480 engaged journalists attended the festivities. CMW 2016 was a trending event, with the festival hashtag itself (#CMW2016) making waves, as well as both the Indies with Indie88 (#IndieswithIndie88) and the iHeartRadio Fest (#iHeartRadioFestTO). The debut of the Music Cities Summit saw the trending of its designated tag (#MusicCities) as well. This year also marked the first inauguralLive Music Industry Awards in partnership with the International Festival Network (IFN) and Music Canada Live, the trade association for the live music sector. The awards honoured the achievements of artists and individuals supporting music festivals, live music venues, artist agencies, music programs and more – both Canadian and international – including a special LEGENDS OF LIVE award to honour Canada’s own, Blue Rodeo.
With a standout selection of music programming, the week kicked off with the first two sold outLIGHTS’s shows at Danforth Music Hall. Music fans continued to fill rooms throughout the week with Tori Kelly, Skepta, Eagles of Death Metal, Bob Mould and Collective Soulshows all hitting peak capacity. Other major highlights included incredible performances byAmir Obe, Dilly Dally, Nao, Fat White Family, Black Lips, Wild Nothing, and more.iHeartRadio Fest attendees packed in Toronto’s Sheraton Centre’s Grand Ballroom, for an epic pop line up featuring Tegan and Sara, X-Ambassadors, Shawn Hook, Scott Helman,Jocelyn Alice and Coleman Hell. A special thanks to all showcase presenters including Dine Alone Records, Burger Records, WayHome, Boots and Hearts Music Festival, POP Montreal, M For Montreal, Osheaga, Wavelength, NeXT Concert series, Collective Concerts, Live Nation, Embrace and more.
Bringing legendary artists and creators from all around the world to Toronto every year, 2016’s Canadian Music Week was no exception, iconic producer Tony Visconti took centre stage for a Keynote interview with Larry LeBlanc during the three-day Music Summit. Following the interview, Visconti was also awarded the Nile Rodgers Global Creators Award for his widespread influence on the music industry. A long list of featured speakers and panelists including Jeffrey Remedios, President and CEO of Universal Music Canada, Steve Barnett, Chairman and CEO of Capitol Music Group, legendary producer and engineer Eddie Kramer, and many more.
CMW takes pride in welcoming international artists and key industry players from around the world with 40 participating countries. This year, Canadian Music Week shined the spotlight on the United Kingdom, with a special focus on Ireland. Delegates brought some of their most exciting artists to Canadian shores through music showcases and International Marketplaceconference events. This year’s event saw a number of UK artists participate, including Holly Macve, NINA, Throwing Shade, Tusk, and more. France will take the spotlight at the festival in 2017, while the special focus will be on Italy.
This year’s conference also saw the introduction of the Music Cities Summit. Presented by the Toronto Star, this joint event by Music Canada, IFPI, and Canadian Music Week saw global city planners and music industry take part in sessions that broke down the economic and esoteric value of the musical creative community in “The Mastering of a Music City”.
For the film component of this year’s Canadian Music Week, the festival partnered with the venerable Hot Docs for ‘Music Docs at Hot Docs’ to present a series of music-focused documentaries including films such as Aim For The Roses (John Bolton), Raving Iran(Susanne Regina Meures), and Gary Numan: Android in La La Land (Steve Read, Rob Alexander). In addition, Canadian Music Week presented live music free of charge during Hot Docs’ opening weekend activities at The Mill Street Hub.
The Digital Media Summit once again provided compelling conversations with 27 speakers including keynote speaker, television and radio host and best-selling author Jeffrey Hayzlett.Hayzlett expanded on the ideas brought forth in his book, Think Big, Act Bigger: The Rewards of Being Relentless, a take-no-prisoners, no-BS attitude adjustment for entrepreneurs. Other standout sessions included visionary strategist and Marketing Zen Group founder Sham Hyderdiscussing her best practices for capturing the Millennial market and “Master of Surreality”John Textor (Executive Chairman, Pulse Evolution Corporation) speaking about his groundbreaking work in virtual reality. The one-day conference was filled with panels and presentations, and opportunities for delegates to network between talks.
Radio Interactive is a Canadian Music Week institution, having been an integral part of the annual conference for over 30 years. This year’s Summit brought together radio professionals from all sectors of the industry to discuss the present and future of broadcasting and related platforms. Featured speakers included Daniel Glass, founder and president of Glassnote Entertainment Group. Industry veteran and innovator J. Robert Wood was announced as the 2016 recipient of the Allan Waters Broadcast Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Indies with Indie88 honoured some of Canada’s biggest acts and featured standout performances by Wintersleep, The Strumbellas, and more. See full list of winners here:http://indies.ca/2016-nominees-winners/
The Canadian Radio Music Awards celebrated notable achievements in radio this year, with Scott Helman taking home an award and performing alongside fellow winner Cold Creek County.
The International Festival Network and Sync Summit at Canadian Music Week gave attendees the chance to meet face to face with some of the world’s top music supervisors and leading festival coordinators, concert promoters and talent buyers. This year, 23 Music Supervisors attended the Sync Summit from LA, Toronto and the UK, and more than 40 festival representatives from across the globe travelled to this the IFN. Attendees includedGlastonbury and The Great Escape Co-Founder and Creative Director Martin Elbourne,Folk Alliance International Executive Director Aengus Finnan, and Maurin Auxemery, artistic programmer for Festival International de Jazz de Montreal.
