The 2019 Recap: Top Stories From FYI's Archive

By Nick Krewen

Pablo Rodriguez, we hardly knew ye.. After being named Heritage Minister in January, Rodriguez was shuffled off to another portfolio after the Liberals won a minority during October's election, with Steven Guilbeault taking over the gig in November. Stingray Group Inc. enjoyed a banner year of expansion and profit. Bricks-and-mortar record retail is healthy enough for Sunrise Records to move 10M pieces of product in Canada... Drake still dominated business with his Midas Touch...Toronto's JazzFM91.1 survived a mutiny and big media, for the most part, still squeezed out profits. Voices silenced during 2019 include Spirit of the West's John Mann, rock'n roll legend Jack Scott and eccentric rocker Joe Hall.

Here is a month-by-month summary of - and hyperlinks to - some of the Canadian music industry's hottest 2019 news.

JANUARY

Michael Bublé's Christmas surpasses 14.3M copies sold...London Free Press turns 170...R.I.P. Walk Off the Earth's Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor...Sass Jordan launches Kick Ass Sass wine brands... Ex-FACTOR exec Allison Outhit joins Six Shooter Records as International Business Development VP....Ex-JazzFM91 announcers Dani Elwell, Garvia Bailey and Heather Bambrick launch online portal Jazzcoast...Vancouver Symphony Orchestra celebrates centennial...Neil Young launches Neil Young Archives subscription service at US $1.99 monthly...Harris Institute of the Arts commemorates 30 years...Drake signs US $10M residency at Las Vegas' XS Nightclub...MDM Recordings signs Don Amero...R..I.P.  ex-CFRB radio host and humanitarian Mark Elliott...In the wake of several sexual assault allegations, R. Kelly dropped from Sony...Ariana Grande's 7 Rings claims new 24-hour Spotify record with almost 15M streams...Trent Severn announces hiatus...The star-studded Spirit of John benefit for the Alzheimer Society Music Project held at Phoenix Club in Toronto Jan. 31...Aaron Goodvin named Entertainer of the Year at Alberta Country Music Awards...R.I.P. former CHUM and Jewel personality Doug Cameron...RPM Distribution suddenly ceases operations, reportedly owing $8.9M ...David Francey lands cut on  Grammy-nominated album...Erin Benjamin named CEO of rechristened Canadian Live Music Association...R.I.P. Brian Henderson...Randy Lennox named Chair of Banff Media Festival...

Simple Plan Foundation donates $225K to 30 charities in 2018...Amy Terrill departs Music Canada...Toronto's Field Trip a no-go for 2019...For $30.75M, Meridian scores naming rights to the Sony Centre of Performing Art and Toronto Centre for the Arts...Corey Hart signs publishing deal with peermusic...Shawn Mendes leads with six Juno noms as Sarah McLachlan is announced as host...R.I.P. ex-CJOR and CKWX Vancouver broadcaster Bob Gillies...Stingray launches national evening show with Katie & Ed on seven stations and strikes a carriage distribution deal with Altice U.S...Québecor names CFO Jean-François Pruneau as Videotron CEO...CRTC asks for authority to regulate Netflix and other ISPs...iHeartRadio restructures in the U.S. to reduce debt from $16.1B to $5.7B...Corus Q1 profit down...Stingray replaces The Mix in Halifax with Breeze 96.5; also syndicates its Real Country morning show across 15 stations, eliminating 14 positions...Shaw Communications Inc. beats analyst estimates with a 68.5% increase in Q1 net income...CCMA and SOCAN partner to launch CCMA Song Camp in the Dominican Republic Jan 27-Feb 2..Steve Strongman wins International Blues Challenge...Pandora purchases the SiriusXM streaming platform for US $3.5B...Apple launches news service in Canada.

FEBRUARY

Alessia Cara announces The Pains Of Growing 2019 Canadian Tour...Sunrise's Doug Putman purchases HMV UK for $10M+ and 110 stores, adding to the 84 Sunrise houses in Canada...Royal Mountain Records establishes a $1500-per-artist fund towards treatment of mental health and addiction issues...Bell's "Let's Talk" mental health initiative hits the $100M mark in fundraising, including $7.2M in 2019 alone...Audrey Ochoa wins $10K 2018 Edmonton Music Prize...David Hazan named head of MIDEM's North American business...JazzFM91 looks to be the target of hostile takeover...Live Nation purchases a majority stake in Embrace Presents...680 AM Toronto traffic reporting legend Daryl Dahmer calls it a day after a 45-year run...PledgeMusic stiffs its artists...,Rolling Stones announce only Canadian date, July 11 at Burl's Creek....R.I.P. Toronto publicist Darryl Weeks...Universal Music Group hit U.S. $7.15B in revenue for 2018....Hollerado calls it quits...Former MuchMusic VJ Kim Clarke Champniss loses natural voice to throat cancer...Six Shooter signs Zaki Ibrahim and William Prince for management...LyricFind opens offices in Morocco and Vietnam....Lindsay Ell nominated for ACM Awards....R.I.P. Johnnie Lovesin... The Internet of Things consumer market is projected to hit $104B by 2023...The Spirit of John Mann concert at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre features Serena Ryder, Jim Cuddy, Jessica Mitchell, Royal Wood and others to benefit The Alzheimer Society Music Project...Colin James dominates Maple Blues Awards with five wins, including Entertainer of the Year...Spotify announces first profit since its inception: €442m net...Jeff Vidler's Audience Insights reports that one-in-five Canadian adults now own a smart speaker...Joni Mitchell makes rare appearance at Clive Davis pre-Grammy party.

Drake wins Best Rap Song Grammy for God's Plan and is cut off during controversial acceptance speech...Sting takes a break from starring in The Last Ship in Toronto to show his support for Oshawa GM workers with a free show...Sam Feldman sells The Feldman Agency to his executives Jeff Craib and Tom Kemp...Stingray Group Inc. doubles profit in Q3 thanks to purchase of Newfoundland Capital Corporation Inc, including a 101.6% increase in revenue...Céline Dion refutes claims by agency ICM Partners that she willingly withheld commission...ole buys Parallel Music...CBC appoints Barbara Williams EVP English Services...Morrissey ends Canada boycott with first tour in over a decade...Among the Prism Prize Top 20 Canadian music videos of the year are Cadence Weapon's High Rise, Daniel Caesar featuring H.E.R.'s Best Part..A Visual and Jessie Reyez's Body Count ...The New York Times Q4 earnings beat expectations, adding 265,000 digital subscribers in the quarter and booking $709m in digital ad revenue...SOCAN reports growth in the double digits...R.I.P. Jackie Shane....Light Organ Records signs Vancouver alt rockers Alex Little and the Suspicious Minds ...R.I.P. André Previn...Netflix enjoys (US) $845m profit in 2018 and pays $0 taxes..Company also announces two new production hubs in Toronto at Cinespace and Pinewood Studios, respectively.

JazzFM.91 board is overthrown by a dissident group.......Stingray expands distro deal with Telus and brings five new stations to Optik TV subscribers in Alberta, BC and Québec...Earl Seitz celebrates 50 years in broadcasting with induction into Kamloops Sports Hall Of Fame...CRTC decides to make future telecommunications policy decisions "affordable" for Canadians...SIRIUS XM Canada launches Just For Laughs radio but freezes out Canadian comedian compensation...Canadian sound engineer Paul Massey nabs Academy Award for best sound mixing for Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.. R.I.P. Daniel Di Giacomo of the River Town Saints...Erin Davis pens book about daughter's death...Jim Pattison donates $75m to the new St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver...Music Business World report estimates that streaming makes $800K hourly.

MARCH

CARAS announces Saskatoon as the location of the 2020 Juno Awards... Darryl Hurs named CD Baby's new Canadian rep...The Globe & Mail turns 175 years young...CRTC mandates telcos to provide cheaper wireless plans ASAP....Republic Live announces full Boots & Hearts lineup for August country music festival headlined by Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, Maren Morris and more....SIRIUSXM launches 100 new music channels in Canada...Torstar suffers $3.1m Q4 loss as revenue falls...Martha Stewart partners with Canadian cannabis firm Canopy Growth Corp...CMRRA opens new Unclaimed Works portal...Shopé (pronounced Show-Pay) wins CBC's Searchlight 2019, which includes an invite to the Allan Slaight Juno Master Class...Chris Hardy is Kobalt-owned record company AWAL's Head of Ops...R.I.P. Nunavut legend Charlie Panigoniak...

Jann Arden's TV series Jann launches...Sound Royalties pledges to take up royalties slack for jilted PledgeMusic artists... Music Business World report estimates that streaming makes $800K hourly...R.I.P. jazz guitar legend Ed Bickert...Vinyl sales eclipse CDs for the first time...Ontario Creates launches global market development fund...Cogeco calls Michael Jackson music "Bad" for airplay and drops his music from 26 stations...Nielsen reports $952m Q4 loss, with revenue down 5.8%....R.I.P. TV producer Sandra Faire...Jill Barber's latest LP goes gold...Buffy Sainte-Marie inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame...The Canadian Music Publishers Association launches mentorship program ...Women In the Studio sponsors a Linda Perry masterclass for five female songwriter-producers...TSN and RDS offer first daily streaming subscriptions...Sportsnet names Bart Yabsley new pres...Toronto producers Boi-1da and Frank Dukes contribute to Juice WRLD's sophomore album...Red Hot Chili Peppers stream their March 15 concert in front of the Giza pyramids in Egypt...Shawn Mendes takes home five Juno Awards for his self-titled album, Arkells take two and special award recipients include Corey Hart inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame, David Foster wins Humanitarian Award and Duff Roman takes the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award...

Bryan Adams cancels Christchurch, NZ concert in the wake of terrorist attacks that took the lives of 50 people in two mosques... Michael Bublé TV special to air on both Rogers and Bell Media platforms...Dan Mangan launches Side Door...Elizabeth Warren's anti-trust manifesto...New music study focuses on gender bias...T-Bone Burnett. tackles tech at SXSW...New Canadian music industry code of conduct unveiled... CRTC approves $1.3M Acadia Broadcasting purchase of CIGO-FM, Port Hawkesbury, NS  from MacEachern Broadcasting....The Federal Liberals promise $60M for music programs...Brianne DesLippe adds VP, Promotion in Canada stripes to manager, Canadian operations for Nashville's Big Loud Records...Music exec Jill Snell and artist/songwriter Tebey Ottoh launch Jayward Artist Group management and label...Live Nation celebrates 25th anniversary of Toronto's Budweiser Stage, once known as Molson Amphitheatre...R.I.P. Graham Powers...Lilly Singh lands her own late-night NBC TV show...Québecor Q4 profit rises to $116.8m up from $70.4m a year earlier...Warner Music signs an algorithm to a record deal...Juno overnight ratings claim 918,000 viewers...MusiCounts names Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn as 2019 recipients of the MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador Award, presented by The Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation. In 2016, Schuyler and Stohn  pledged $500K in matching funds to the MusiCounts Band Aid Program...Simon Brault appointed Director of the Canada Council for the Arts for a four-year term....2019 Federal budget earmarks $595m in support for qualifying media as well as tax breaks...Rogers sells Maclean's, Chatelaine and other print magazines to St. Joseph... 

R.I.P. Joe Hall...Jackie Dean promoted to newly created postiion of Music Canada COO...Broadcasters want a piece of print media tax credit and subsidy pie...APTN announcers call an NHL game in Cree...Corus relaunches former Virgin Radio hosts Tucker and Maura in the Morning at Energy 108...Stats show Canadian wireless sector contributed $27.5B to Canada's GDP in 2017., generating 151,500 full-time equivalent jobs in 2017...Artists Against Racism launches Eagles Rising, a national Indigenous billboard and bus shelter campaign in honour of  Gord Downie and the First Peoples, featuring artwork from Tom Wilson, Buffy Sainte-Marie and others...Osheaga announces headliners Lumineers, The Chemical Brothers and Childish Gambino for Aug 2-4 Montréal music fest...CRTC sets May deadline for a new annual digital media survey. Joel Plaskett reunites with Thrust Hermit for tour to celebrate 20th anniversary of 1999's Clayton Park. 

APRIL

Nickelback's Chad Kroeger, the song Call Me Maybe and screen composer Jack Lenz are among those honoured at the 30th anniversary of the SOCAN Awards in Toronto..Mick Jagger postpones Stones tour to undergo surgery...Former CTV reporter Paul Bliss launches $7.5M defamation lawsuit against Bell Media...Canada’s recording and music publishing industries grew by 21.1 percent to $1.1 billion in 2017, according to .StatsCan...IFPI names Drake the Best Selling Artist in the World...Prism Prize narrows the Top 20 list down to 10...Pat Holiday takes the helm at Jazz91FM..Live Nation...Inuit musicians including Tanya Tagaq boycott Indigenous Music Awards in Winnipeg due to cultural appropriation...Meghan Patrick and Tim Hicks lead 2019 CMAOntario Awards nominations.... Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe is the most performed song in SOCAN's 30-year history...R.I.P. Toronto film score composer Lou Natale... Stingray wins multiple World Radio Summit Awards...Mark Steinmetz announces departure from CBC as Senior Director of Music...Nash The Slash documentary production of And You Thought You Were Normal underway...

Scott Helman scores Warner gold for Hang Ups...Amy Jeninga promoted to VP, Digital Strategy, UMGC... Glacier Media buys online Okanagan news outlet Castanet for $22M, with an addtional $2M for Castanet's radio shares...Terri Clark named RBC Master in Residence at Studio Bell, Calgary... Hamilton's Sonic Unyon label turns 25... The Weeknd invests in Esports...Veteran music publicist Jane Harbury is feted with a night at Hugh's Room Live...Bell Media invested $900M in Canadian programming in 2017...Bob Cole calls his final NHL game, ending a 50-year career of play-by-plays...BC Solicitor General Mike Farnworth announces plans for new ticket-buying laws to eliminate ticket bots and protect consumers...R.I.P. James Renald of Montréal pop duo Sky... Corus Media Q2 revenues are boosted 4%  to $384.1M largely due to TV ad revenues...Ontario budget cuts favour everyone but music industry....R.I.P. former CRTC chair André Bureau...

The Universal Music Group makes $10M daily from streaming...Universal Music France and Decca Records pledge to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral following devastating fire...MMF Canada honours Sandy Pandya, Ron Sakamoto, Arkells and the eOne Management team of Chris Taylor, Ashley Poitevin and Sarah Osgoode...The Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame to induct Stan Rogers and his song Peter's Dream at ECMA Awards...R.I.P. Bobby Gale...NXNE celebrates year 25...Canadian government considers regulating Facebook...Guy Brouillard, Gerry Forbes and Brother Jake Edwards named to CMW Broadcast Hall Of Fame, while Evanov's Carmela Laurignano is honoured with the Rosalie Award...Canada's Merck Mercuriadis heads Hipgnosis Song Fund Ltd....Gord Downie to posthumously receive the Allan Slaight Award....

Rogers Q1 revenue down from  $3.63B to $3.59B, with net income down from $425M to $391M...David Pecker sells National Enquirer for $100M...Canada Heritage's Creative Export Program funds six orgs, including LyricFind, to the tune of $7.8M...Three Days Grace continues its mastery of Billboard's US Mainstream Rock Chart with record 15th No. 1, Right Left Wrong....The Convergence Research Group claims streaming will exceed cable subscriptions in 2020...Honorary ECMAs go to Lennie Gallant, Hubert Francis and Vince Guaraldi Trio drummer Jerry Granelli among others...Sylvia Rhone, first African American woman to be named Chair of a major label, named Chair and CEO of Epic Records in the U.S....Justin Bieber makes first stage appearance in 2 years at Coachella...Prince's unfinished memoirThe Beautiful Ones to be published in the fall...Outside Music publicist Stephanie Hardman establishes Hard Copy Media...Edison Research Share of Ear study claims while 25-54 age group increased their podcast listening by 180 percent over five years, AM/FM  has decreased by 22 percent, with streaming increasing 30%....Canadian Musician celebrates 40th anniversary...R.I.P. Frank Busseri of The Four Lads...

MAY

Woodstock 50 flirts with cancellation...CRTC kills Leclerc Communications to own three French-language FM radio stations in Québec City but approves $19M purchase of CHOI-FM (Radio X) and 91.9 FM Sports CKLX-FM in Montréal ...Tanya Tagaq profiled on 60 Minutes...The Alanis Morissette musical Jagged Little Pill, with book by Diablo Cody, set to debut on Broadway in the fall...Canadian music industry vet Faye Perkins appointed  Executive Director of the Niagara Symphony Orchestra...Jim Cuddy joins children's music legends Sharon & Bram on their new Talk About Peace single...

Slaight Music invests in Hidden Pony Management...BCE Q1 results show 2.6% revenue gain to $5.734B and net earnings rise 12.4% to $740m...Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber collaborate on I Don't Care...Warner Music to distribute Canadian Justin Gray's new L.A.-based indie label Anti-Gravity... The Feldman Agency names Tom Kemp SVP...Rose Cousins scores three wins out of five nominations to lead EMCAs...Eddie Schwartz inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame...Rogers Media buys podcast company Pacific Content....Robbie Robertson bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Music Industry Hall Of Fame. Crave documentary Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band also announced...CMRRA hires noted publicist Rebecca Webster as Director, Industry Relations and Communications...R.I.P. Fitzroy Gordon, who launched G98FM in 2011...

The Northern Pikes to release first album in 16 years,  Forest of Love, on June 7 via Universal Music Canada, featuring new ex-Grapes of Wrath member  Kevin Kane...Paul McCaughey sells The Matador to a real estate developer after City of Toronto red tape proves too frustrating...Ralph Murphy honoured with a tribute in his hometown of Wallaceburg, ON...Rob Cyryrnowski launches Calgary-based talent agency Livestar Entertainment Canada...The Orchard names Lisa Logutenkow Vice President, Canada...2018 Polaris Music Prize and Juno Award winner Jeremy Dutcher announces national tour with orchestras starting Sep 27....Re:Sound and SOCAN team up to launch joint license portal Entandem...Director Kevan Funk wins the $15K Prism Prize for The Belle Game video.. Music Canada lauds Parliamentary report on copyright....Nanos Research finds that 80% of Canadians want CBC funding increased or maintained...Yvonne Matsell is CIMA's 2019 Unsung Hero Award winner...Tony Tobias receives CMPA Lifetime Achievement Award...R.I.P. Deane Cameron, "Captain Canada"...R.I.P. Dave "Bookie" Bookman...SING! goes international...Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez gives Telefilm $7.5m  to fund Francophone features....Slaight Music's It's Your Shot edition 2019 ready to roll..NBA's Toronto Raptors gift Drake a $769K diamond-studded OVO jacket...Shaw sells TV interest to T.D. Securities and other banks...

Grigorian retires from bricks-and-mortar classical music retail, but remains online...Canadian newspaper readership at an all-time high, notes Totum Research report... Danny Michel outlines tough survival for musicians..Martha Wainwright opens a new cultural venue in Montréal called Ursa...NXNE announces lineup, including headliners Santigold, Cold War Kids and Toronto's Killy....R.I.P. journalist Christine Crosbie...Bell Media announces cuts at TV stations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Québec....Globe and Mail outlines intentions to cut $10M yearly from operating budget...iHeartRadio launches Pure Country nationwide in 13 markets, with Shannon Ella hosting a nationally syndicated midday show...R.I.P. songwriting ambassador Ralph Murphy...Anna Maria Tremonti says goodbye to The Current to host and produce original CBC podcasts...Canada Council and CBC commit $1M to amplify digital content through the Creation Accelerator program...R.I.P. Leon Redbone.

JUNE

Ron Sakamoto named to the Alberta Order of Excellence...Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bassbecomes a bestseller...R.I.P.  Mose Scarlett... CFC/Slaight Music Residency Showcase at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto on June featured six Slaight Music Residents: Ashley Jane & Timon Wientzek, Antonio Naranjo, Jason Couse, Steve Krecklo, and Suad Bushnaq...Film doc GordonLightfoot: If You Could Read My Minddebuts...CBC As It Happens co-host Jeff Douglas leaves to helm afternoon program Mainstreet in Nova Scotia...ole rebrands as Anthem Entertainment...Bandzoogle adds crowdfunding to its commission-free sales tools....Robert Ott returns with RJO Enterprises...Juno Award winners Voivod announce a national tour commencing Sep 14. in Toronto...Chart-topping rapper Nav moves his Echo Beach show to accommodate Toronto Raptors' playoff run...

R.I.P. Big Wreck's Brian Doherty...Sloan, Glorious Sons, The Beaches and Dwayne Gretzky to open for the Stones on June 29 at Oro-Medonte...Leonard Cohen love letters bought for $1M+... Music Canada and Connect Licensing launch National Artist Entrepreneur Survey...Meghan Patrick wins five CMAOs...R.I.P. broadcaster Louis Potvin... Chris Taylor named International Music Leader by Variety magazine...Google makes U.S. $4.7B of its 2018 revenue from news publishers, but the publishes are unpaid for content usage...Nick Gilder's Hot Child In The City to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame... SOCAN, OVO teams up with RBC for first conference prior to annual Drake T.O. lovefest...Matthew Sweet, Damhnait Doyle and Alejandro Escovedo headline Halifax Urban Folk Festival...Sandra Collins named COO of The Canadian Media Fund...CHCH celebrates 65 years of broadcasting to Hamilton, Halton and Niagara regions...R.I.P. Crowbar's Blake "Kelly Jay" Fordham...

Downchild Blues Band turns 50...CBC WWII correspondents Matthew Halton and Peter Stursberg inducted into the CBC News Hall of Fame...Toronto's G98.7 FM in financial peril to the point where license renewal is threatened...The Slaight Family Foundation donates $15M to United Way Canada ...Bob McCown leaves Sportsnets Prime Time Sports...Drake releases two new songs - Omerta and Money In The Grave - to celebrate Toronto Raptors' championship victory...Vice Québec closes shop, gutting 20 employees...CRTC study tracks trends in broadcast sector...Paul Brandt receives Slaight Music Humanitarian Award for #NotMyTown anti-sex-trafficking campaign...Music Canada's Graham Henderson says it's time to end the Value Gap...Measha Brueggergosman loses her father and faces emergency heart surgery within the same week...Shania Twain announces latest Las Vegas residency...

Cadence Grace, diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia, receives a bone marrow transplant and is on the road to recovery...Noted Toronto producer Frank Dukes teams up with the Regent Park School of Music to release sampling album Parkscapes...R.I.P. Bill Carruthers...R.I.P. Neil Young manager Elliot Roberts.. CRTC finds total broadcasting revenue in Canada slipped 1.2% between 2017 and 2018, with 700-plus commercial radio staions repoerting $1.514m in 2018, down from $1521M in 2017, with a PBIT remaining at 18.3%...Avril Lavigne announces first tour in five years...Buffy Sainte-Marie, Garth Hudson, Lisa LaFlamme, Donald Sutherland and Donna Slaight named to Order of Canada...New Pornographers contributor Kathryn Calder named Victoria's Artist in Residence...Happy 85th, Richard Flohil!

JULY 

Ithaca Holdings purchases Big Machine Records and a certain artist named Taylor Swift is none too happy about it...Drake's Scorpionspends 52nd week on Albums chart...COO Mirko Bibic to replace George Cope as BCE CEO in 2020...Roxodus Festival, featuring Aerosmith, Kid Rock, Nickelback and others, has its Fyre snuffed out....Secret City Records hands gold record to Montréal pianist Alexandra Stréliski marking 40,000 in sales of her latest album, INSCAPE....Hamilton's Arkells score road gold..Stingray invests $6.7M in Canadian content intiatives, including $1.5M to over 70 music festivals and awards shows....

Sugar Sugar, recorded by The Archies and co-written by Andy Kim, turns 50...Arcade Fire's Win Butler is now a Canadian citizen...After a two-day preliminary hearing in Toronto, Ontario Court Justice Mara Greene rules that Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard will stand trial on three sex-related charges involving a woman and a teenager...Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings settle feud and reconvene for benefit at Casa Loma...Paul Larche to receive Ontario Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame Award in November...MF Live, the company behind the ill-fated Roxodus Fest, files for bankruptcy with $18M+ in liabilities...

Thomas C. MacMillan is named interim President and CEO of The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall following the sudden death of President/CEO Deane Cameron...Nova Scotian singer and songwriter Zamani, 18, wins the 2019 Stingray Rising Stars contest at The TD Halifax Jazz Festival...Brett Kissel and James Barker Band lead Canadian Country Music Association Award noms with five each...Danya Dixon named CEO of CMW...Dominique Fils-Aimé, PUP and Haviah Mighty among those announced on Polaris Music Prize Short list ...Canadian cloud-based, AI-powered mastering platform LANDR raises $20M...Parachute Club launches charity remix of Rise Up...Bell acquires V Network and Noovo Digital Platform......R.I.P. Johnny Clegg.

CRTC appoints Claire Anderson, first indigenous female commissioner....Triumph, Will Arnett, Mr. Dressup (Ernie Coombs), Mark Messier and Frank Gehry are named as 2019 inductees of Canada's Walk of Fame..Ian and Sylvia Tyson to be inducted individually to the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame....R.I.P. Freddie Keeler....Canada commits $100M over five years to connect rural and remote areas by satellite technology...RCA turns 100...Google parent Alphabet triples profit in Q2 to  U.S.$9.9B ...Jack White's Raconteurs play a free afternoon performance at Vancouver record store Neptoon Records....Rogers elevates Jordan Banks to President of Rogers Media...Feds hint at doubling size of media bailout, which will include a $13,750 per person salary subsidy to eligible newsroom employees...Tegan and Sara announce that $1 from every ticket sold during their 23-date North American tour will go to the Tegan and Sara Foundation. The tour will also feature reading excerpts from their memoir, High School...

Edmonton's Lillo's Music to close its doors at the end of the year...Susan Aglukark inducted into the Western Canadian Music Hall Of Fame...SIRIUS XM revenue increases to US $1.98B from $1.43B a year earlier, though net income down $30m... Unison Benevolent Fund adds five new members to its Board of Directors:  Daniel Glick, Shawn Hook, Brian Huston, Vanessa Thomas, and Charlotte Thompson...Partnering with BuzzAngle Music, CIMA publishes weekly Canadian independent-only music charts, the CIMA 20 and CIMA 40...Newfoundland singer-songwriter Rachel Cousins inks publishing deal with Cymba Music Publishing...R.I.P. Walter Homburger.

AUGUST

Toronto's Danforth Music Hall turns 100...CRTC launches Internet consumer bill of rights, commencing Jan 31, 2020...Former Sportsnet president Scott Moore joins NBA superstar LeBron James to helm Uninterrupted in Canada. Drake is also a part owner...Drake's OVOFest 2019 included appearances by Cardi B., Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Rick Ross and others...Dallas Smith and Billy Ray Cyrus are announced as CCMA Award co-hosts...k.d. lang tells BBC Radio's 4 that she may be done as a recording artist...R.I.P.  Charles "Skip" Beckwith...BCE enjoys a strong Q2, with profits up 8.2% to $817M and a 2.5% revenue increase to $5.93B...Starfish Entertainment signs Elliot BROOD to management....Robert and Robin Ott debut Okanagan Song Fest...After 47 years in radio - 21 of them at Edmonton's 630 CHED, Bruce Bowie hangs up his mic...R.I.P. Paul Grace of the Boomtang Boys...Polaris Music Prize short list revealed, with FET.NAT, Les Louanges, Haviah Mighty, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Marie Davidson, Dominique Fils-Aimé, Elisapie, PUP, Shad and Jessie Reyez making the final cut....Drake’s compilation album Care Package  is his ninth album to debut at No. 1 on Billboard since 2010, a record for the most by any artist this decade...Gord Bamford Foundation raises $464K for charity at golf tournament...R.I.P. Cariboo broadcasting pioneer Gill McCall...

Québecor Q2 net income polevaults from $42M to $140.2M, thanks largely to Fizz Mobile customer subscriptions...Cineplex Q2 also reports record Q2 revenue of $439.2M...Cumlus podcast revenue up 139%... eOne signs Amelia Artists Management, whose clientele includes Tegan and Sara...Glass Tiger surprises senior with nursing home concert...Canada 360 report on Online Music Streaming finds music listeners spending 33% of their time streaming...Robbie Robertson set to release solo album Sinematic on Sept 20...Home Routes open up NL concert network...Meghan Patrick gets catcalled...CRTC says price of communication services dropped 11% over two years, from 2016-2018...The Offspring teams up with Sum 41 for a 14-city Canadian tour that starts Nov. 12 in Halifax and ends Dec. 2 in Kamloops... MEG Montréal sets lineup of Mood II Swing and Mistress Barbara among others...SOCAN Foundation awards $100K to young creators...

Sheepdogs reach platinum status on self-titled 2012 album...George Canyon throws his cowboy hat in to the political ring to run as an MP hopeful for the PC Party...Taylor Swift declares her intention to re-record all of her Big Machine albums within the next year...Pending approval, Hasbro has purchased eOne for a cool US$4B...R.I.P. folk festival visionary Mitch Podalak...Kevin Newman leaves W5 to host a podcast for CTV and iHeartRadio...Blue Rodeo celebrates 20th anniversary playing the Molson Amphitheatre/Budweiser Stage....Walk Off The Earth announce first album since the passing of keyboards Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor...Ontario tourism, culture and sports minister Lisa MacLeod tweets Billy Talent meeting as a photo op and the band aren't pleased about it...Jacob Hoggard's sexual assault trial delayed a month...Huawei has reportedly begun researching 6G in its Ottawa lab...Virgin Radio's "Freeway" Frank Depalo and Natasha Gargiulo are canned at Montréal's Virgin Radio, replaced by "Cousin Vinny" Barrucco and Shannon King on mornings...

SoundExchange to collaborate with SourceAudio to secure music with fully integrated global licenses for podcasts...CRTC to lower wholesale internet rates...Muskoka radio station The Bay 88.7 FM was victimized by arson and forced off the air... For her new album Lover, Taylor Swift used a sample of the Frank Dukes/Regent Park School of Music collaborative album Parkscapes on It's Nice To Have A Friend. Royalties generated by the tune will benefit the RPSM...SiriusXM unveils The Tragically Hip Radio online and on app...R.I.P. "Wildflower" co-writer Dave Richardson...iHeartMedia US digital revenue up 33% in Q2..Disney announces new streaming service Disney+ coming to Canada in November at $8.99 monthly....R.I.P. publicist Nancy Yu...Brother Jake airs his last show for TSN 1040 Vancouver on Aug 31....

SEPTEMBER

Ian Mackay stepping down as Re:Sound president and CEO at end of 2019...SOCAN bestows a Lifetime Achievement Award to André Gagnon and 2019 Songwriter of the Year to Coeur du Pirate at Montréal awards show...CARAS announces that four inductees will be added to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in October at Calgary's Bell Studio, presented by Music Canada: Bobby Curtola, Andy Kim,  Cowboy Junkies and Chilliwack....The 2019 summer song in terms of popularity is the Ed Sheeran/Justin Bieber collab I Don't Care."..Québecor introduces customizable morning show through QUB, its radio and digital platform...R.I.P. Kerry Stratton...R.I.P. veteran Radio-Canada journalist Pierre Nadeau...

APTN turns 20...CCMA co-host Dallas Smith celebrates his eighth chart-topping hit with The Drop. That sets a new BDS record...The CCMA inducts Anya Wilson and Charlie Major into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame...Tenille Townes wins four CCMAs, including Female Artist of the Year and Single of the Year for Somebody's Daughter, while Dallas Smith scores two including Entertainer of the Year...Warner signs Alan Doyle to a solo deal...R.I.P. Martin Foster...Tool hits No.1 with Fear Innoculum, their first album in 16 years...Halifax Pop Explosion announces lineup of Arkells, Snotty Nosed Rez Kids, Rich Aucoin and others for October Fest...Serena Ryder and Sandy Pandya launch ArtHaus creative space in T.O...Linus Entertainment hires Cat Bird as Director of Marketing and Business Development...Haviah Mighty wins Polaris Music Prize for 13th Floor.

IPG Mediabrands forecasts $1B in podcast revenue by 2020... Edmonton's Winspear Centre undergoing $65M expansion...FACTOR...BMI sets revenue record of $1.28B... Matthew "Boi 1da" Samuels extends global publishing pact with Sony/ATV Music...Ian & Sylvia Lost Tapes found...Tanika Charles is named first Polaris National Music Centre resident artist....Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame to induct all four members of Harmonium: Serge Fiori, Michel Normandeau, Serge Locat and Louis Valois...Shawn Mendes' first headlining stadium concert at Rogers Centre drew 50,772 people and grossed US $3.4m...The Faces reunite for a benefit concert for Prostate Cancer research in Surrey, England, and singer Rod Stewart announces he's successfully undergone treatement for the disease....Esthero cleverly inserts protest message into Spotify version of her song Gimme Some Time."..R.IP. UMC VP Jon Box...Gordon and Jill Rawlinson donate $650K towards building an end-of-life hospice at St. Paul's Hospital...Keith Urban to headline Grey Cup half-time show...R.I.P. Vic Vogel...Vista Radio, which owns 43 radio stations and 35 digital news portals, sweeps away Prez Geoff Poulton and three other company execs....Our Lady Peace earns Road Gold...An all-star benefit performance of Gord Downie's The Secret Path  featuring Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tanya Tagaq and others announced for Roy Thomson Hall in October...R.I.P. Ric Ocasek...

Québec superstar Lara Fabian celebrates her 50th birthday with a 2020 world tour....Clive Davis presented superstar producer Matthew "Boi-1da" Samuels with Legend In Songwriting award... Friends of Canadian Broadcasting call for an end to subsidies for U.S. social media giants, estimating a loss of $1.6B in tax revenues...Raina Douris leaves CBC to join NPR...Montréal's CHOM celebrates 50 years...CBS launches Stages Canada studio in Toronto... CARAS announces Juno Awardsreturn to Toronto in 2021 to celebrate year 50...Motown founder Berry Gordy announces retirement at age 89...Banger Films producing Triumph documentary...Netflix says it has spent $500M+ in CanCon funding in 2 years..CCMAs a ratings hit for Global...R.I.P. Jim Huff...Newly discovered John Coltrane album Blue World that served as a soundtrack to a NFB film released by UMG.... Céline Dion postpones four Montréal shows due to throat virus...SiriusXM introduces post-secondary student-friendly subscription offer....Apple TV+ to launch Nov. 1 at $5.99 monthly..

OCTOBER

CMRRA hires Paul Shaver as president...Concord Music buys Chicago-based Victory Records and Another Victory Publishing for an estimated U.S. $30M...Slaight Family Foundation donates over $15M for senior citizens programs....Lowell and Les Louanges have each won the 2019 Slaight Emerging Songwriter Award...,SRG/ILS renews expanded partnership with Universal Music Canada...Dan Mangan captures two Western Canada Music Awards...,Earl and Janice O'Born pledge $10M to Ottawa's National Arts Centre...City of Toronto and City of Austin fund Toronto songwriters at Austin music camp...Shawn Mendes sets new Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart record with fifth #1, Senorita - his duet with Camila Cabelo...Caribou releases new song Hope, his first in five years...on the eve of Federal election, Liberals and Conservatives promise to regulate digital giants if victorious, including a 3% tax from the Libs...Apple kills iTunes...Stingray adds 4K specialty channels in Germany and a syndicated New Country midday show in Canada...

The Awesome Music Project is published and benefits CAMH...,Alessia Cara earns Canada's Walk Of Fame Slaight Music Impact honour... , R.I.P.  Canadian country singer Dallas Harms...Choir Choir Choir stages concert at U.S./Mexico border...The Toronto Symphony Orchestra receives a $10M donation from the estate of Tom and Mary Beck, the orchestra's largest single donation...Corus takes radio revenue loss of 4% in Q3...Rogers reports slightly lower Q3 profit of $593M, down $1M from similar point last year...Score Media reports a $4.1M loss in Q4....Rufus Wainwright signs with BMG... Doug Putman reports Sunrise has sold 10m physical CDs and albums..Concert promoter Ron Sakamoto awarded Alberta Order of Excellence...Primary Wave buys Bob Ezrin rights portfolio...The 2019/2020 Allan Slaight Juno Master Class participants AIZA, Fintan, Shopé, and Sam Lynch perform well-received showcase in front of industry V.I.Ps.....R.I.P. ex-Guess Who manager Don Hunter...Johnny Shay wins It's Your Shot...

The Beaches announce cross-Canada headline tour..Jesse Cook commemorates 25 years of Tempest with a national 2020 tour of his own....Slaight Music's Jessica Mitchell scores co-write on Celine Dion's Courage album...Blackie And The Rodeo Kings sign to Warner Music Canada for new album King Of This Town, out Jan., and subsequent tour...Elton John popped up at his own pop-up store in Toronto on Oct 21 to sign autographs during his two-night Scotiabank Arena concert run...R.I.P. ex Capitol Records and CBS Canada president Arnold Gosewich...ADISQ hands out Felix Trophies for excellent Québec-based talent...Re:Sound posts big foreign income increase...Neil Young applies for U.S. citizenship...R.I.P. UIC's Ted Triebner...Gord.Bamford receives MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador Award...Matt Galloway leaves CBC Metro Morning host duties for The Current...CMPA rebrands itself as Music Publishers Canada...Québec rock star Eric Lapointe pleads not guilty to assault...

NOVEMBER

Loreena McKennitt announces she's putting her music career on hold to battle harmful effects of technology and fight global warming...Former Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham teaching a course at Kamloops' Thompson Rivers University...Folk Alliance International inducts Holger Peterson into the Folk DJ Hall of Fame,...Québec's Eli Rose is the first signing to Universal Music Canada's Maison Barclay Canada label...Drake's OVO is named in a lawsuit from a victim shot at a 2015 OVOFest post-party at Toronto's Muzik nightclub and asks for $2M in damages... Postmedia and Torstar still keeping public in the dark about deal that shuttered 36 newspapers across Canada in 2017, while pocketing $11.5M in taxpayers' money...Torstar reports $40.9M loss to shareholders and an $11.3M decline in revenue in Q3....Slaight Polaris Heritage Prize album winners include The Oscar Peterson Trio's Night Train and D.O.A.'s Hardcore 81....Apple revenues up 2% to $64.4B....SiriusXM surpasses $2B revenue in Q3...BCE enjoys hefty Q3 profit of $867M, up from $814M a year earlier...Lyric Find's Lyric Merch lands marketplace partnership with eBay...Grammy winner Pharrell Williams detours into architecture to design Toronto condo set named Untitled...Bell Media tops radio broadcasters with 16.2M listeners tuning in an average of 70 hours weekly... Montréal singer and songwriter Bayla wins Canada's Walk Of Fame 2019 Emerging Musician Program...Rob Bowman to be honoured with Keeping The Blues Alive Award by Memphis-based Blues Foundation...Blockchain startup Beatdapp looks East...Drake leads the Canadian pack for Grammys 2020 with two noms..

.Canadian artists average $54 income in streaming revenue... Erin Costelo takes home four Music Nova Scotia Awards including Best Album for Sweet Marie...BC Gov’t invites industry advice to stamp out ticket bots....Entandem collects $5M in licensing revenues in just 90 days...Indigenous music contributes $80M to Canada's GDP in 2018....Ontario entertainment trade mission considered a success...Triumph and Alessia Cara honoured at Canada Walk Of Fame ceremony...Warner Music Canada ,and MLSE extend their partnership based on playlists for Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors sports teams...SOCAN Foundation introduces equity program for female producers ...Ontario government spending $765m on new Public Safety radio network...Numeris finds that radio reaches 85.1% of Canadian population, with 27.3M listening each week. 47% listen at home, 34% in car and 18% at work...Don Cherry ousted from Hockey Night in Canada following controversial Remembrance Day remarks... Michael Bublé gets waxed..MuchMusic VJs hope to create weekend radio show...R.I.P. Junior Gone Wild's Larry Shelast...The Dead South certified gold with In Hell, I'll Be In Good Company..Beatroute launches Toronto edition....Rick Moffat, Eramelinda Boquer cut in another Bell Media purge...Andy Kim nabs legendary comedian Tracey Ullman for annual Christmas concert...CFRA radio host Rob Snow cut in "restructuring" move...Telus to create a $16B high-speed, fibre-optic network in Alberta over five years, expecting to create 5000 jobs...

Torstar to shut down Metro Newspapers across Canada on Dec 20...Don Cherry launches podcast...Federal Court blocks piracy website Gold TV...Corus wins "POWER" branding battle in Edmonton over naming rights....Geffen signs 17-year-old Toronto singer-songwriter ren..Jessie Reyez named Apple's Up Next artist....Doug Ford's move to cut non-essential service fees at college and university levels is annulled by Ontario Divisional Court...Ontario Superior Court throws out $210M defamation suit launched against CBC by Subway restaurant chain...Radioplayer Canada hits 1M downloads with app...Leonard Cohen's final album, Thanks for the Dance, sees release on Nov. 21...Michael McDonald reunites with the Doobie Brothers for 50th anniversary tour....Downchild's I Got Everything I Need (Almost) to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame...Calgary's National Music Centre now offering private parties in the Rolling Stones mobile recording studio...David Foster previews a number from his Betty Boop musical featuring wife Katherine McPhee...Andrea Kokonis is SOCAN's General Counsel, effective Jan 1...CRTC Communications Monitoring Report confirms broadcasting services generated $17.1B in total revenues, down 1.2% from 2017...radio stations generated 11% of that total. The retail mobile market remained the largest telecommunications market sector, with revenues of $27.1 billion in 2018, a growth of $2.63 billion (10.7%), over 2017 revenues. These revenues represented over 55% of all retail telecommunications revenues in 2018..R.I.P. Spirit of The West's John Mann...Tokyo Police Club's Dave Monks, Sam Roberts, Hollerado's Meeno Versteeg and Sloan's Chris Murphy are in the studio as The Anyway Gang...Mary Walsh to host ECMA Awards at St. John's on April 30, which will also feature a tribute to the late Ron Hynes....High Valley kick off Western Canada tour in May with Eli Young Band, Lindsay Ell and Jade Eagleson...Canadian Music Week books Russian shit disturbers Pussy Riot for Canadian concert debut in 2020.

DECEMBER

Now Magazine sold to MediaCentral Corp. for $2M...The Biebs expected to release new album in 2020, as Purpose is now four years old....Céline scores US$33M from the first 19 dates of her tour...Calgary retro country singer Mariel Buckley wins $101K Alberta contest...Reign Music opens Toronto office...Sonic Unyon's Tim Potocic elected new CIMA Chair...Alanis Morissette fetes the 25th anniversary of groundbreaking Jagged Little Pill with a North American tour featuring Garbage and Liz Phair...Six Shooter ends Winnipeg and Edmonton Interstellar Rodeo fests...

Sarah Harmer returns with Are You Gone, her first album in over a decade, on Feb 21, plus a corresponding NA tour...Genius Media Group files $50M lawsuit against Google and Toronto's LyricFind for "unethical, unfair and anti-competitive" behaviour...CBC Radio wins rating books in Toronto, Vancouver,  Calgary, Ottawa-Gatineau, Winnipeg, Halifax and Victoria...Hunter Brothers, recent winners at the Saskatchewan Music Awards, go gold with Lost....Effective January, Yvonne Matsell gets back into the booking game with The Dakota Tavern in Toronto...Musicians gather for a benefit for ex-Prairie Oyster fiddler John P. Allen, recovering from a heart transplant..Frank Marino returns with a new concert DVD...Sonic Unyon signs singer-songwriter Evangeline Gentle and rapper LTtheMonk.

..A new monitoring system adopted whereby Canadian radio markets will be measured 48 weeks a year, offering Spring and Falls books...U.S. Girls announce 2020 North American tour...Andy Kim receives Montréal's first Walk Of Fame honours...Jully Black takes a theatrical turn in Caroline, Or Change... CRTC announces new anti-spoofing nuisance call plan...CRTC also calls for opinions on CBC programming...CRTC penalizes Orcus Technologies to the tune of $115K...CKRW Yukon hits 50 years... Gord Downie posthumously named Ontario's first Poet Laureate...The Sheepdogs to headline Saskatoon's Juno Awards kick-off concert on March 12..

.Adam Abbasakoor is Universal Music Canada's new Vice President. Commercial Affairs and Label Partnerships...Birdsong aims to help music creators with mental health issues...Music publishers push for fast action on CUSMA..., Christmas comes early for Unison with $750K in corporate donations...Amazon launching global home internet service...Canadians flex their promoter footprint on global stage...,R.I.P. Jack Scott, Canada's first rock star... Three Canada-based female executives named industry leaders by Billboard.... Evenko partners with Live Nation...D.O.A. frontman and councillor Joe Keithley receives 250 musical instrument donations for his Burnaby-based Harmony For All program...Iggy Pop and Public Enemy among those who will receive a Lifetime Grammy Achievement Award...Mike Plume signs with Edmonton-based Royalty Records...Cineplex sold to UK chain Cineworld for $2.8B...R.I.P. Kelly Fraser....According to Variety, the Justin Bieber docuseries set for January cost YouTube $20M+...