Canadian Musician November / December 2019 | Page 17

The showcase festival and
conference schedule has been
announced for the 2019 edition
of Indie Week Canada, which is
being held around downtown
Toronto from Nov. 13-17 (con-
ference runs Nov. 14-16).
Indie Week Canada is one
of Canada’s top emerging artist
festivals, hosting more than 300
artists at 25-plus venues over
five days. The festival showcases promising independent and indie-label-signed
artists, representing all genres from Canada and internationally for fans and indus-
try delegates. Among this year’s artists are Midnight Shine’s Adrian Sutherland,
Secret Broadcast, Nikki’s Wives, The Wild!, Blow_flyy, and more.
Along with artist showcases, the Indie101 Music + Tech Conference brings
together industry leaders and over 80 speakers for practical, informative sessions
in an intimate setting. Indie artists have the opportunity to participate in mentor-
ship, classroom, and one-on-one sessions along with the regular industry panels.
This year’s conference includes a songwriting workshop, meetings with funding
programs, and sessions on publicity, running a business, social media, and more.
Canadian Musician Sr. Editor Michael Raine is moderating a panel on the stream-
ing playlist ecosystem.
For more information, go to www.indieweek.com.
Indie Week Canada to Bring Indie Artists & Industry Together
JESSIE-REYEZ
JUNO Awards Returning to Toronto for
50 th Anniversary
The JUNO Awards will be returning to Toronto for its
50 th anniversary, CARAS has announced. JUNO Week
will take place March 22-28, 2021, culminating in the
50 th annual JUNO Awards broadcast at the Scotiabank
Arena on Sunday, March 28, 2021, to be aired live by
the CBC.
According to CARAS, since 2002, when the JUNO
Awards began being held in a different location each
year, each host city has seen an average of over $10
million in economic impact from the awards broad-
cast, JUNO Week, and surrounding events.
For more information, go to www.junoawards.ca.
Best Recent Discovery Survey
In the past three to five years, what new item has had the biggest impact on your musical pursuits, either creatively or
professionally, and why? It could be an instrument or piece of gear, an app, web service... anything.
“Line 6 Helix. No more pedal shuffling on the board or dragging
amps around. So many sounds and rigs instantly at my disposal.” “Tunecore. It took most of the work out of the administration
with regards to the many streaming services.”
“Amuse music app. It is a free distribution service (no fee to use,
no fee to distribute) and 100 per cent of sales go to the artist.” “Delving further into all that is offered for artists on Reverb-
nation, even with a free account. Once you create a ‘show,’ it is
shareable in many platforms and easy to do!”
“Bowed instruments, specifically Jonathan Wilson’s GuitarViols,
because they gave me, as a guitarist, a way to access the orches-
tral strings world effectively. Since then, I’ve been using them a
lot in my productions and film scores.”
“The Axe-Fx III [from Fractal Audio Systems] has allowed me
to have unlimited amp and cab combos for an endless range of
tones. It is a great source of inspiration.”
“Zoom recorders. The size, ease of use, price, and quality of
audio (and video) makes it so useable for rehearsal analysis and
performance archives.”
“It would be the Boss SY-300 guitar synth. It’s the first synth I
found that requires no special pickups or modifications to my
guitars, and it has expanded my tonal palette incredibly for the
types of projects I’m involved in.”
“Soundbetter.com. I hired a mixer for three tracks, hired a
drummer for another recording, and hired a lyricist. Really cool!”
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 17