K'Naan on the state of Hip Hop in Canada

K'Naan speaks out on the state of hip hop music in Canada. I have to admit I agree with most of what he is saying, but it is hard for Canadian artists to compete with U.S. artists. U.S. artists have bigger budgets and more opportunities. Not to mention the fact that the Canadian population is only 11% of the U.S. population.

Here are a few quotes:

“I do think there’s a little bit of an inconsistency with just how the music industry in general works with regards to urban music, especially urban music from Canada."

“We have a lot of artists in Canada who are hip-hop artists and so on, but not a lot of the young people out there who are making music are actually putting out consistent work, you know what I mean?”

Do you agree?

Read the full article here - Toronto Sun

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Will people buy in to Spotify?

If you haven’t heard about Spotify here is a little rundown. Spotify is a music subscription service that allows people to stream music for FREE. Ah, but there is a catch. As you listen to your music you will also listen to advertisements after every couple of songs. If you do not wish to hear the advertisements you can pay a small fee per month (10£ in the UK) to eliminate this annoying feature.

Spotify is the number #1 music subscription service in Europe but it hasn’t been released in North America yet. This is supposed to change in 2010. The question is, will people buy into this new music model?

Although this is a progressive business model for music industry it has a long way to go to beat out iTunes. People like their music portable and Spotify still has bridge that gap. I like the idea but I’m not sure it’s going to catch on as fast as everyone is predicting. What do you think?

Read more here:
Billboardbiz.com

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Go to School?

If you’re like me then you’ve probably heard that you should go to college and get a degree. It is a fact that on average university graduates earn about $20,000 dollars more per year than high school graduates.(1)


It’s easy to see how school helps if you want to be a doctor or a lawyer but what if you want to break into the music business, should you go to school? Like any other professional, school definitely opens doors but if you don’t have the drive to go through those doors you will never make it.


The entertainment industry is a very exciting industry to get into, that being said it is very competitive. Having a degree in music business helps, but not as much as making connections and using those connections to get ahead in your career. Almost every program you will take will force you to do an internship afterward to gain experience. This is the most important aspect to the program, choose your company wisely and work hard to get ahead!

Having received a Bachelor’s in History, an Audio Engineering Degree, and a Masters in Business has allowed to me to grow as a person, but education alone will not get you anywhere.

Here you will find a link to a list of schools that teach music business and audio engineering courses in USA. If you have gone to any of these schools make a comment and tell people what you think.

Here is a list of some Canadian Schools:

Name	City	Website
Megadance Music Group	Calgary	www.megadance.ca
The Academy of Production & Recording	Calgary	www.apra.ca
Canadian University College	Lacombe	www.cauc.ca
Pacific Audio Visual Institute	Vancouver	www.pacificav.com
Harbourside Institute Of Technology	Vancouver	www.harboursideit.com
Mid-Ocean School of Media Arts	Winnipeg	www.midoceanschool.ca
Centre for Arts and Technology	Halifax	www.digitalartschool.com
Trebas Institute	Toronto	www.trebasinstitute.com
Recording Arts	Toronto	www.recordingarts.com
OIART	London	www.oiart.org
TARA	Toronto	www.taratoronto.com
Trebas Institute	Montreal	www.trebasinstitute.com
Recording Arts	Montreal	www.recordingarts.com

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Free Money!!! for music

Did you know that you can get free money to create or promote your music? I have applied and won a number of grants from the Canadian government for myself and other artists. Why shouldn't you?

Here are a few tips for getting free money?

The 3 P's:

Purpose: In order to convince someone to give you free money to help you create and promote your music, you must first be able to answer one fundamental question? "Why should anyone give me money for my music for free?" You must understand that the government only gives money to artists who they believe will use the money wisely! You must have a convincing argument as to why they should give the money to you.

Planning: These grants usually have several deadlines a year. It may seem like you have a lot of time to get all your materials together before the deadline but you need a lot of different materials in order to submit a complete grant application. An incomplete application is worse that not applying at all. GIVE YOURSELF PLENTY OF TIME. (Start at least a month in advance!)

Persistence: It took me 7 tries before I received my first grant. I'm pretty sure most people probably quit after one or two tries. Why did it take so long? Through the years my music became better which certainly helped but more importantly, after each rejection I learned a little bit more about what they were looking for in an application. I learned, adapted, and reaped the benefits. I also had the privilege of acting as a judge for F.A.C.T.O.R. which gave me an inside guide to what judges were looking for when they awarded money. Get involved!

Today, I consult artists who want to apply for grants. Its free money, why aren't you applying?

Note: There is no guarantee that by applying for the grants below, you will receive money, but isn't it worth a shot?

Links to visit:
www.factor.ca/
www.canadacouncil.ca/music/
www.videofact.ca/
www.starmaker.ca/


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