By Ryan B. Patrick
Oct 19, 2005
It seems like anytime Canada's urban music industry holds a panel discussion, what ensues is a lively and entertaining debate. SOCAN's recent Urban Music Panel at the Harbourfront Centre was no exception.
The panel discussion, dubbed, "Bring Urban Music to Market" (part of Harbourfront Centre's View Points discussion series about contemporary culture) featured key urban industry power players.
SOCAN is the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), which licenses the use of copyright-protected musical works, then distributes royalties to artists.
On hand were: Divine Brown (R&B vocalist, Blacksmith/Universal); David "Click" Cox (A&R rep, Universal Music Canada); Justin Dumont (Music Director, Flow 93.5 FM); Rob Farina (Program Director, CHUM 103.5 FM); Farley Flex ("Canadian Idol" judge and record label owner, Plasma Corporate); Kardinal Offishall (rap artist, BlackJays/Virgin/EMI).
To cap it off, UK-based artist manager Keith Harris (who currently manages Stevie Wonder) joined in to add his perspective on the state of the worldwide urban industry.
Harris has been involved in the music industry since 1974, beginning with his own independent label, Transatlantic records (which distributed Blue Note and Milestone Jazz labels). He then worked for EMI and Motown, before moving to Los Angeles, in 1978, to work directly with Stevie Wonder.
Harris continues to work with Stevie Wonder, in addition to representing urban artists like Omar and Jaguar.
The issue at hand was concerning the state of Canadian urban music. The panel noted the genre has come a long way. Although Urban music accounts for a large percentage of overall "cross-format" radio play in Canada, it was pointed out that an unusually large number of those spins come from American, not Canadian, acts.
The fact that panelist Divine Brown, whose excellent, new self-titled R&B debut has gone Gold (50,000 copies sold) in Canada, and has also accessed commercial radio across different formats, across the country, is a good sign, the panel agreed.
What's happening in Canada is perhaps the same thing that happened in the UK, Harris offered.
"There is an inferiority complex among us as a community, vis-à-vis the United States. The difficulty with music is that it's not an objective judgment. I actually remember in the UK when everyone assumed that anything that was Black American was better than anything else," Harris says.
"But we are not inferior."
In general, he says, Canadians should stop comparing themselves to the U.S., and stop appreciating the music only after the Americans have heard it and made it popular.
"It has to start from within our community, and it's very easy to complain. It's a matter of going out and getting a fair piece of the pie." Canada has one of the richest funding systems in the world, in terms of assisting music artists. Urban artists should recognize and take advantage of that, Harris says.
One problem, according to Flow Music Director Dumont, is the lack of commercial media outlets for new artists to be heard. Outside of FLOW, there aren't many opportunities for a new urban artist to get that commercial exposure, Dumont says.
And it's probably a bit easier for a new R&B/Soul artist to get noticed than a new hip hop artist, says Universal Music's Cox. While soul music acts such as Brown can often crossover into mainstream, it can be harder for hip hop to be accepted in the same manner, he says, adding that artists should learn more about the business side and remember to maintain professionalism at all times.
The key is also to always keep networking, says Offishall. "Don't be afraid of rejection," says the rapper. "Keep keeping on."
He adds that success is relative. It doesn't have to be about getting heard on the radio - many artists make a good living doing concerts and touring the world.
It is hard breaking in, and there is no such thing as an overnight success, says Brown. She says perseverance is the key.
"You may get turned down one, two, three, four times," says Brown. "but, on the fifth try, it can happen. It's about that drive and never giving up."
No comments:
Post a Comment