#5 questions with...

It has been an interesting journey from your parent's house in North York back in 1993 producing the Bass is Base debut album to living in LA with your production partner DJ Khalil and writing and producing some of the biggest names in pop and hip-hop. Give us a sense of that journey and how you hooked-up with these international stars.

  I never saw it coming :) but the journey has been a humbling one and none of it possible without my amazing team and partner..

You started your career on a smaller A&M (when it was an independent) and, more recently, the "The Reverb" on Sparks Music. What it is about the so-called "smaller" label that attracts you?

 The whole experience seems more authentic and the people at the label seem more accessible. It's how every artist should feel. We are both accountable and "handled with care"

 The sounds on "The Reverb" covered a lot of ground. I hear everything from Malcolm McClaren to Berlin-era David Bowie to Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams. How would you describe your latest record?

You described it perfectly :) It's everything I love about music and a record I could have only made for myself..

From A Tribe Called Quest to James Brown, you have been fortunate to share the stage with many legendary artists. Who influenced you most on stage, and what did you learn from watching them?

Honestly... It's not the sexiest answer, but THE BARENAKED LADIES. They are incredible musicians and unbelievable entertainers.  They were the first group to take us on tour and really learned a lot from them; and then I'd say The Roots and, obviously, James Brown.

Times are different today from when you started back in the early '90s. The leaps in technology have been incredible, especially when you consider a record of reasonable quality can now be made using a laptop. What advice would you give to aspiring musicians and producers?  

Don't be afraid of technology. You can do amazing things using the new tools.  But,  in the same  breath, hold onto tradition  and respect the song and don't rush the creative process.  Computers make everything faster, but there  is something amazing about taking your time and discovering..

Bonus Question - You are one a select few Canadian artists to win both a Juno Award and a Grammy. Out of curiosity, where do you keep them?

Ottawa has been called a sleepy town which stops at 6:30 in the evening. Is this true?

Yeah! Sleepy for sure, just the wrong time! You can pretty much count on two in the morning until 6:30 in the morning being the time that people sleep. The rest of the time, the city hums. The hipsters are being taken care of by Spectrosonic, our festival industry covers all genres, including Blues, Jazz, Chamber music, Folk, and Beer-drinking’ good times. The National Arts Centre steps it up a little for the political in town, so there’s ample action for all.

 After 36 years in this business, how do you see the future unfolding?

Your guess is probably better than mine! I’m just hoping I can get another great 24 years out of selling music, and I’ll have enjoyed going to work every day doing it.  As for artists, pretty tough, but Taylor Swift proved you can still sell CDs. And, God bless her, she’s off Spotify! Good for her. Record companies? I still think they’re important to what I do. We look forward to them continuing to bring us great music.

Describe the changes you have seen since starting out in 1978.

Well, when we first started, we had to make a decision on whether we were going to include 8-tracks in our inventory mix. Fortunately, we made the right decision. Since then, (brother) James and I have seen the demise of vinyl, the rise of cassettes, the demise of cassettes, the 32 year run of CDs, which continues to plod along, the advent of MP3s, the digital delivery of music, the streaming of music, and now the remarkable resurgence of the format we all know and love, vinyl. As for streaming, it’s a good sales tool, but as a retailer I can’t think of anything good about it!

What's your  take on the A&R process and the new acts coming through the door?

A&R is a tricky business. But the record companies seem to get it right, on an on-going basis. I like what every record company does. After  all, I’m a retailer. I’ve got no choice but to trust they get it right. Not only do I like their established acts, but I’m forever interested in breakout acts, and have been for the past 36 years! And probably for the first 20 years before that! I hope when I’m 80 years old, there’ll still be some 20-year-old whippersnapper that blows my musical mind.

Finally, do you think contest TV shows are a good way to find talent?

Your finger-picking guitar style has been getting plenty of attention. How long have you been playing?

I have been playing for over a decade, but only seriously for about three years. That started when a friend gave me a set of metal banjo fingerpicks. That was a new challenge and from there I found guitar playing really interesting. It keeps me wanting to play and write now.

The lyrics of your songs seem to possess a strong autobiographical content. Is that correct?

The songs do all come from my experiences, but more and more I find my writing is coming from looking at people close to me who have lost people they’ve loved. They have had tragedy in some form, but have powered through it with courage. I see the songs as a sounding board. They come back as a reflection of what is going on in my community. The songs are sung to a larger audience once they have the approval of my community.

Sitting around the fire is where I test my songs. If there’s a positive response I’ll move forward with those songs and present them to a wider audience. If there is less of one I might play it a few more times, then let it sit in the corner! I am very lucky to have a really creative group of people around me who have produced amazing work. I trust their judgement.

How did you make the move from busking to getting a record deal with Kim Cooke at Pheromone?

I've been performing a long time, busking all over Canada for more than a decade. I'd-hitch hike, ride freight trains and get into cities with my friends and dogs. We'd take over a spot and play music for a week. Earn enough money to enjoy ourselves there, then move onto the next town.

About two and a half years ago a friend, Wilson, who runs Black Raven Records in Victoria, rather pressured me into making a demo of songs I'd been playing around the fire and that he really enjoyed. We recorded them in a bedroom, and he sent off my demo to Alan Anton from Cowboy Junkies. Kim got to hear it via Alan and he contacted me and brought me out to Toronto. This [a music career] was not something I was really pursuing or felt driven to. This is just something that has happened that I’m really enjoying and feeling really fortunate about.

I understand the recording of Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady was done really quickly?

When Kim flew me out to Toronto, we intended to do just one song, "Goodbye Molly", at Revolution Recording as a test run. We got that within a couple of hours and they had a rare free space at the studio so we decided to just keep going. We worked for three consecutive days and got all 13 songs done, all to tape. I was totally blown away that I had this short trip to Toronto and ended up with a finished record!

Can you tell us any musical or literary influences and inspirations for your work?

Biggest concert highlight for sure! But it’s also my dream come true. Shania Twain impacted my life when I was a little girl. I remember my grandmother having several country albums (mostly Loretta, who was her favorite), but when I found the first Shania Twain CD it was a turning point for me... She gave me hope that a Canadian girl from a small town and a big dream could succeed. Shania is by far my childhood hero and a huge inspiration for me.

Since winning the Summerside Festival Talent Search at the age of 14 it seems that you keep winning competitions, including a recent performance at the "Boots and Hearts" Festival. What else have you won and how did you engage your growing fan base in helping you?

I've won several contests, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy contests. It’s not easy. Would I recommend to a new singer, that is wanting to push their name out there in the music world, to enter contests in their hometown moving gradually to national exposure, heck yeah I would! There is so much talent in this world, and a ton of artists doing exactly what I am trying to do... 

I would say staying true to yourself and believing in your dreams definitely will help you shine the most... and I think that's how I keep my fans engaged. I am trying to show them that anything is possible, that dreams come true, and that you have the ability to do whatever the heck you want in this life. I love my fans... They are my backbone and I am pretty connected to them online.

A list of contests that I’ve won is actually kinda awkwardly long, but also meaningless when it comes to trying to write great songs and trying to become a unique creative artist. But since you asked, I won Sound-Off, an East Coast Battle of the Bands, SUGAR CRISP ‘s “The first 15” Canadian national songwriting contest, and I won Calgary’s Amp Radio Rock Star contest which gave me the funds to continue as an independent artist.

Although you began your career in PEI you moved west to Calgary back in 2011. What were the reasons for the move and who were the people responsible for the new location?

I spent the majority of my early music career in PEI and, don't get me wrong, I loved every minute of it. At some point, though, I realized that my dreams and aspirations were bigger and re-locating was the first step to making that happen. It was the best move ever!!  I had been introduced to music producer Trey Mills when I was about 17, and stayed in touch. He told me one day that he couldn’t help me if I was in PEI, so I packed my bags for Calgary- and we’ve been working together ever since.

Nashville is still the epicentre of country music and in the past few years you have spent a good deal of time down there co-writing songs. Who have you written with and have any of the songs been recorded? You also recorded your most recent EP "Open Skies" in Nashville with some amazing musicians. Feel free to drop a few names. 

I love Nashville! Ever since I was a little girl, I could only dream of making it to Music City. When I made my first trip, the little girl inside of me was screaming out with excitement. Since the first visit I've written with Nashville songwriters such as Bruce Wallace, Arlis Albritton, Marty Dodson, Jesse Lee and Daryl Burgess as a few examples. I've recently recorded a few of these cuts which might make my next release –you’ll have to stay tuned!  My top Nashville experience so far for me has been recording. Being in a room with the best of the best made me feel like a superstar. Notably Chad Cromwell, who records for Miranda, Blake, Lady A, Dolly, Garth.. and on and on. Such an amazing feeling!! 

He joked about playing with another Canadian… a guy name Neil Young.. “Do you know him?”

I noticed that your previous self-titled EP is now available as a free download and you also offer a free MP3 from your new EP for signing up to your newsletter. Is this method of marketing getting your music into more hands and attracting audiences to your live shows?

You have also invested a great deal of time, effort and expertise in music industry associations and endeavors.  How do you find the time, and is there a payback?

The music business has been very good to me so I’m more than happy to give back, currently to CARAS and the JUNO Awards, the Polaris Music Prize and Massey Hall-Roy Thomson Hall Corporation, in various advisory capacities.

Many thought you mad when you decided to co-venture in a full-line recording studio several years ago. What was it that you saw that others missed, and how are bookings at Revolution Recording?

You only go around once in life!  Revolution was perhaps the ultimate contrarian move, but I had the perfect alignment of partners (Joe Dunphy, Joao Carvalho and John Macdonald) to make such a venture possible.  With the halcyon days of studios like Manta and McLear and their ilk way in the rear view mirror, we decided to take a home run swing and give Toronto a large and impeccably crafted facility that would stand beside the best studios in the world.   Quite simply, we believed that if we built it, they would come.  The response from artists, engineers and producers thus far has been truly gratifying and we’re steadily an increasingly booked in all three rooms.

Pheromone has three new album releases coming out in September. All with interesting stories. Here's your chance to share and blow your own horn.

Thank you!

The Wilderness of Manitoba is a Toronto –based quartet whose new Between Colours album is a stunner.  The band shed their chamber folk roots and heads straight into Fleetwood Mac/10,000 Maniacs territory.  It’s out September 16.

Steph Cameron is a totally unknown, quite remarkable new talent.  At a young age Steph is an old soul with rich stories to tell in an acoustic finger picking, high tenor folk/blues style.  Think early Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.  Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady is out September 23.

Mo Kenney’s sophomore outing In My Dreams, again produced by Joel Plaskett, can be summed up in one word: growth, in all aspects of its art.  It’s a beauty and it’s out September 30.

Through the years you have met many interesting, successful and talented people. Some a mix of all three attributes. Who are the standout characters, and why?

That’s a tough one.  SO many to consider, but here are three:

Seymour Stein:   Seymour always paid very close attention to Canada as a source of talent and so we had a lot of interaction with him during my time at Warner on artists like k d lang, Barenaked Ladies and more.  As venerated as he is I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves for his groundbreaking A & R successes down the decades.  And just a little bit of a character!  'Seymour, write the damn book please!'

Robert Plant:  in 1985 Robert had launched his solo career on Es Paranza/Atlantic and as his Canadian marketing manager I suddenly found myself on the Time Warner corporate jet face to face with the icon for hours.  And he was every bit as funny, intelligent and absolutely suffused with music as legend would have it.  All of this made rather an impact on a young man whose life was inexorably changed in the summer of ’69 upon first hearing Led Zeppelin 1.  It’s no surprise that 45 years on from LZ 1 Robert is still releasing vital new music.

Chris Murphy:  in 1982 I got a call from Reen Nalli, then running Atlantic imprint Atco Records.  She wanted to sign an Australian band called INXS, but the manager needed to take the measure of the Canadian company and would I please help close the deal?  So started a relationship with the 6thmember of the band, Chris Murphy, probably the most driven, single minded, take no prisoners individual I ever encountered on the management side.  By 1988 and the Kick album, INXS were global superstars,  en route to a million plus units sold in Canada on that album, and my friendship with Chris continues to this day.

WILD CARD QUESTION: If you could affect policy, what changes would you suggest to better opportunities for Canadian music entrepreneurs and creators?

I have no complaints with the level of government and private  infrastructure support for the music industry in Canada. Between FACTOR, MEC, OSRTC, RSF and in Ontario the OMF, there is core financial support and specific assistance for recording and marketing artists, both in Canada and out.  It’s not a complaint, but the administrative challenges in managing the various requirements, particularly when a label has an artist in the sweet spot of multiple funding streams, is a job in and of itself.

I recently spent some with Mike McCarty, while at SOCAN on the happy occasion of  Alejandra Ribera’s SOCAN Songwriting Prize win  and he said that in 10 years we will all be financially comfortable, "we" being artists and labels.  His point I think being that streaming revenue will have scaled massively and globally by then.  I defer to the sage MCarty and hope he’s right—but the devil will be in getting there as Canadian labels try to manage the decline of the CD, the plateauing and first decline of the digital download market and a streaming business in its infancy with a wholly inadequate compensation structure. 

It’s also worth talking about Soundscan’s recent most streamed songs chart which was an eye opener.  The vast majority of the initial 100 list was pop/r'n'b/hip hop and almost entirely NOT Canadian.  It will be interesting to watch the evolution of that report as the streaming business evolves.

Canada is also served by a plethora of conventions/gatherings such as CMW, NXNE, Pop Montreal and M for Montreal, and between the JUNO Awards, Polaris, CCMA and ECMA we have a an English star system to complement Quebec’s.

In sum, I  think it’s less about more infrastructure support than this latest in what seems to be a non stop paradigm shift in the industry’s business model.

In the meantime Pheromone and the many independent labels in a similar position will continue to hew to their aesthetic, fight the good fight in the marketplace and enrich Canada’s culture in the process.  But it’s a hard slog and not for the faint of heart.

A sampling of artists Kim has signed at Warner/MapleMusic Recordings/Pheromone:  Sarah Slean (twice), Odds, Big Wreck, Colin James (twice), Paul Brandt, Natalie McMaster, Great Big Sea, Sam Roberts, The Dears, Kathleen Edwards, Martha Wainwright, Joel Plaskett (twice), Skydiggers, Pilate, Beast, Mo Kenney and Alejandra Ribera.

So I went to Fanshawe College for recording engineering, met Jack, and was lucky to get hired to work at his Nimbus 9 studio. Jack and Bob (Richardson and Ezrin) were song guys, and by working with them I eventually learned that the secret to making a magic record did not lie in the technology, or the performance of the artist. The secret is  in WHAT they are singing – the song. Jack’s mantra for success was very simple and I still believe in it as a universal truth: 'Great songs sell, shitty ones don’t!'

Of course there are many factors that bring commercial success, like marketing, production, an excellent music publisher, and, of course, having a strong music rights organization that has the back of its members!

Since arriving at SOCAN, what is the most important message you have heard back from the membership?

Across all three categories of members – songwriters, AV (film and television composers), and music publishers, I see in their eyes, and hear in their voices, the same two things about the disruptive technology wave: excitement and frustration. They are excited about the freedom to create music in new ways and connect directly with the audience. They can see that in theory, we should be entering the most exciting time ever for creators, rights owners, and consumers of music. At the same time, they are tired of waiting for their fair share of the enormous pile of money that the tech, telecom and ISP industries have been making from their music. Napster was released in late 1999, and here we are, 15 years later, still waiting for the long promised digital economic ship to come in.  

What is the most important message you would like to impart to members?

More than ever before, you will survive, thrive, and succeed based on making or publishing great music. As Steve Jobs said, 'Good is not good enough, great is not good enough, only insanely great will do.'

Can you speak to some of the new programs and international reach that you’re currently developing for SOCAN members?

SOCAN is fortunate in that our business has remained healthy despite the widespread challenges in the music business. This is partly because the legacy elements of our business – traditional radio, TV & cable and live concerts have all been holding up well, along with smart management of the business, and keeping costs in check. International revenue hit an all-time high last year due to the growing international success of our members. However, with a rapidly changing industry landscape, we see that more than ever, SOCAN can play a larger role in helping our members develop their craft, careers and businesses. We have a number of ideas on how to accomplish this and we are taking the first step by introducing A & R skills into our membership department. Although the U.S. PROs have played a valuable role in this area for many years, we are the first PRO to call it what it is – A & R.

Our A & R people will utilize their industry contacts, as well as their talent assessment, career development and people connecting skills to add value on behalf of all members – songwriters, composers, and music publishers  - to connect them with each other, and the industry at large, to create new opportunities for their careers and businesses.

Rodney Murphy was just promoted to Manager of A & R, we are hiring a great A & R executive in Vancouver, and at the beginning of the year we named former songwriter/composer/artist/publisher Chad Richardson as our new General Manager, Los Angeles Division. He hit the ground running and has been using his skills and contacts to help our members 'put more pucks in the net' in that market. This includes AV composers and music publishers, not just songwriters. Soon there will be A & R people in Quebec as well, helping to connect our members with each other, and the domestic and international marketplace. The bottom line is, by various means and programs, we will be creating more value for our members by helping them engage the marketplace even more.

SOCAN is often lauded as one of the most comprehensive/best PROs when it comes to collection. How do you feel SOCAN can most improve its overall service to members going forward?

Transparency and innovation – these are two of our biggest strengths. We hear from international publishers and PROs that SOCAN is considered to be one of the most transparent and innovative PROs in the world.

One of our key responsibilities is to get the most money possible into our members’ hands as quickly as possible at a reasonable cost. To that end we are putting a great deal of effort into imagining and implementing new ways of managing music rights and royalties. The PRO model is a great one, but, like everyone else, we need to change with the times and stay ahead of the curve. As a world leader in our business, SOCAN is well positioned to survive and thrive for generations to come.

'Keeping the innovation pedal to the metal' is how we can best serve our members in the future.