Canadian Music Week 2019

The Canadian Music Week 2019 was held from May 6 to 12, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario and attracted participants from the music, interactive and broadcasting industries from around the globe. CMW is Canada’s largest annual event dedicated to the celebration and promotion of the country’s music, media and entertainment industries. It consisted of three information-intensive conferences, a trade exposition, a film festival, the music festival, a comedy festival and awards shows: the Indies Awards, the Canadian Music Industry Gala Awards, the Canadian Live Music Awards and the Canadian Radio Music Awards.

According to organizers, over 120,000 fans were in attendance at this year’s festival, with over 2,900 delegates taking part in panels and networking activities, and 30 participating countries from across the globe. There were 833 artists showcased in over 40 venues, 499 speakers and 480 engaged journalists attended the festivities. The Music Cities Summit had its third year with great success. Also in its fifth year was the Live Music Industry Awards.

Music Conference:

The Awards are always a key part of the Festival:

I Live Music Industry Awards:

The Live Music Industry Awards was held in partnership with the International Festival Network (IFN) and Music Canada Live, the trade association for the live music sector. The Live Music Industry Awards was held on Friday May 10, 2019 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel to celebrate the best of the live music business sector. It was beautifully hosted by Kim Stockwood who sang her favourite Triumph song. The 2019 Legends of Live Performance was presented to Triumph at the Live Music Industry Awards.

Canadian rockers Triumph received the Legends of Live award and Body EDM duo Loud Luxury won new touring artist of the year.

And the Live Music Industry Awards are:

Small Festival of the Year: Hillside Festival (Guelph ON)

Medium Festival of the Year: Riverfest Elora (Elora, ON)

Major Festival of the Year: Festival d’été de Québec (Quebec, QC)

Family Program of the Year: Winnipeg Children’s Festival (Winnipeg, MB)

Green Operations Festival of the Year: Skookum (Vancouver, BC)

Not-For-Profit Festival of the Year: RBC Bluesfest Ottawa (Ottawa, ON)

Best Teamwork in Soft Seat/Performing Arts Centre: National Arts Centre (Ottawa, ON)

Best Teamwork in Major Club: Danforth Music Hall (Toronto, ON)

Best Teamwork in an Arena: Budweiser Gardens (London, ON)

Best Teamwork in a Medium Club: Horseshoe Tavern (Toronto, ON)

Best Teamwork in a Small Club: The Dakota Tavern (Toronto, ON)

Concert/Club Talent Buyer of the Year: Craig Laskey (Collective Concerts)

Canadian Live Association Community Impact Award: PLUS1 Organization (Ottawa, ON)

SOCAN Licensed To Play Award: Jazz Bistro (Toronto, ON)

Agent of the Year: Julien Paquin (Paquin Entertainment Group, Management Team)

A/V Production Company of the Year: Solotech

Brand/Music Program of the Year: TD Music Junos

Production Manager of the Year: Simon Garner (Bryan Adams)

Road Warrior of the Year: Dave Gardiner (The Arkells)

New Touring Artist: Loud Luxury

Manager of the Year: Bernie Breen/Jenn Pressey (Bernie Breen Management)

Festival Buyer of the Year: Evenko (Montreal, QC)

Legends of Live Award: Triumph

Music City of the Year: Quebec, QC

II Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Awards Gala:

The Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards (Industry Awards) took place May 9, 2019 at Rebel. The Industry Award was hosted by Jessi Cruickshank who had the crowd in stitches with her saucy jokes and celebrated the best of the Canadian music and broadcast industries.

Hall of Fame Inductees:

The Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame inductees were:

Michael McCarty, Chief Membership and Business Development Officer at SOCAN,

Steve Herman, Senior Vice President, Touring – North America at Live Nation,

The Lifetime Achievement Award: Robbie Robertson, formerly of the Band

The 2019 Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award was awarded to the late Gord Downie and was accepted by his son, Patrick Downie

The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) and CMW also celebrated musician, songwriter and producer Eddie Schwartz, who was inducted to the Canadian Songwriters. Eddie is best known for writing such classic hit songs as “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” recorded by Pat Benatar,

The Rosalie Award: was awarded to Carmela Laurignano, Vice-President and Radio Group Manager at Evanov Radio Group (ERG).

III Crystal Awards:

The 52nd Annual Crystals Radio Awards were held Monday May 6, 2019 at LUMA & TIFF Theatre and is the Canadian advertising community’s night to network and celebrate the best radio commercials. It was a great evening to celebrate who’s hot in radio advertising.

The Best in Show PLATINUM CRYSTAL Award and $10,000 GRAND PRIZE was won by:

Platinum – “Football” for Farnham Lager & Ale by BLVD and lg2

For all the winners go to the Crystal Awards web site.

The Music Conference:

Of the many workshops, panels and presentation at the conference, Torontoartsandevents found the following interesting:

Social Media Workshop by Rick Barker:

Rick Barker, Former Manager of Taylor Swift & Social Media Mentor for American Idol, presented a live work shop on how to use social media web sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to build, grow and monetize a fan base for musicians.

Hit Maker Poo Bear

Hit Maker, Jason Boyd – a.k.a. Poo Bear – a very successful song writer (songwriter (112 “Anywhere” and “Peaches And Cream, Where Are Ü Now, What Do You Mean and Despacito and hits have followed with David Guetta, Fifth Harmony, Mariah Carey and DJ Khaled ) , was a hit with the crowd. He was introduced by Grammy Award winner Nile Rodgers and interviewed by Merck Mercuriadis.

Jermaine Dupri: Atlanta based Jermaine Dupri is a rapper, actor, record executive, producer, manager and a Songwriters Hall of Fame songwriter was well received by the huge crowd. He was interviewed by Dalton Higgins, Publicist & Author

Canadian Music Week:

The Canadian Music Week 2019 was a great event promoting music and the training of music professionals. Check back here for next year’s event.