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1 week ago | 
ca.billboard.com | Rosie Long Decter |Kerry Doole
Canadian musicians and music organizations are speaking out ahead of the federal election on April 28. Indie folk artist The Weather Station took to Instagram on April 15 to make an impassioned plea to Canadians not to check out of this election. She had just returned from a tour in the U.S., supporting her new album Humanhood, and told followers that now is the time to prevent Canada from following in America's footsteps.
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1 week ago | 
ca.billboard.com | Rosie Long Decter |Kerry Doole
The Beaches threw a party with G Flip at their Coachella debut. The Toronto quartet brought out the rising Australian star for a performance of their new single, "Last Girls At The Party." G Flip helped write and produce the track, and brought some high energy to the live version at Coachella on Sunday (April 13) in the Gobi tent. The single — which also debuts on this week's Billboard Canada Modern Rock airplay chart at No. 35 — is a celebration of rowdy late nights.
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1 week ago | 
ca.billboard.com | Kerry Doole |Billboard Canada FYI
George Olliver, a Toronto soul singer and keyboardist best known for his work in the Mandala and Gangbuster, died on April 6, after a stroke, at age 79. Born and raised in Toronto, Olliver sang in an Anglican church choir and studied classical piano. As a Globe & Mail obituary by Nicholas Jennings noted, "He then fell for the rock ‘n’ roll sound of Bill Haley & His Comets.
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1 week ago | 
billboard.com | Rosie Long Decter |Kerry Doole |Chris Eggertsen |Richard Trapunski
Canadian music is good for more than just the economy — it’s central to the country’s national identity. That’s the crux of a new open letter written by Erin Benjamin, president/CEO of the Canadian Live Music Association. The letter anticipates the Canadian federal election on April 28 and advocates for elected officials to understand the cultural significance of music to the country.
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2 weeks ago | 
ca.billboard.com | Rosie Long Decter |Kerry Doole
Canadian music is good for more than just the economy — it's central to our national identity. That's the crux of a new open letter written by Erin Benjamin, president and CEO of the Canadian Live Music Association. The letter anticipates the Canadian federal election on April 28, advocating for elected officials to understand the cultural significance of music to the country.
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2 weeks ago | 
ca.billboard.com | Kerry Doole |Angel Diaz |Angel Díaz
Veteran Canadian punk/hard rock heroes Headstones recently found a new label home in Toronto-based independent imprint Dine Alone Records. That union is now being launched in attention-grabbing style with the release today (April 10) of a new single, “NAVIGATE,” featuring a guest turn by new labelmate Dallas Green (Alexisonfire, City and Colour, You+Me).
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2 weeks ago | 
ca.billboard.com | Rosie Long Decter |Kerry Doole
Two Canadian hip-hop artists are scoring strong debuts on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart this week. Rapper and producer NAV enters the chart dated April 12 at No. 34 with his latest album OMW2 Rexdale. The hip-hop artist rose to prominence in the 2010s, signing to The Weeknd's XO label. He's collaborated with artists like Gunna, Travis Scott and Lil Uzi Vert, scoring a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with a feature on Internet Money's "Lemonade" in 2020.
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2 weeks ago | 
hamiltoncitymagazine.ca | Kerry Doole
Hamilton jazz vocalist celebrates 20 years of recording with soft winds and roses, her 11th full-length record, in which she tackles many contemporary favourites. Juno-winning Hamilton jazz vocalist Diana Panton has just celebrated a milestone 20th anniversary of becoming a recording artist in fitting style. She recently released a new album, soft winds and roses, her 11th full-length record in a discography now impressive in both its size and consistent quality.
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3 weeks ago | 
billboard.com | Eric Frankenberg |Kristin Robinson |Chris Eggertsen |Kerry Doole
Last week (March 26), Lady Gaga announced dates and venues for The MAYHEM Ball, marking her first tour in three years and the sixth such “ball” of her career, dating back to 2009’s The Fame Ball. With ticket sales rolling out this week (beginning March 31), Billboard estimates that the tour could land as her fourth trek to gross $100 million. An ever-expanding slate of shows have pushed Gaga’s 2025 projections from the brink of $100 million to surging toward $125 million.
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3 weeks ago | 
billboard.com | Kristin Robinson |Chris Eggertsen |Kerry Doole |Bill Donahue
National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) president/CEO David Israelite joined the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) to give his annual State of Music Publishing address on Wednesday (April 2) at Lawry’s in Beverly Hills. In his speech, Israelite discussed hot button issues for publishers, including Spotify bundling (“we are still at war”), AI concerns, PRO reform and more. Israelite started by sharing the NMPA’s data on the revenue sources for songwriters and publishers.
