Vancouver: 2007 Overview
Applaud! Magazine
Spring 2007
Back in January, as year-end chart tabulations were published and awards-season nominations announced, the music world once again had a decidedly west-coast Canadian tilt to it. Kelowna’s Daniel Powter topped Billboard’s 2006 singles chart, followed two spots back by Victoria native Nelly Furtado.
Nickelback remains the arena-rock king of its generation in terms of album sales and live receipts. Michael Bublé and Sarah McLachlan have both prospered, the former with the double-platinum (in America) It’s Time CD, the latter with a holiday disc that moved 200,000-plus copies in Canada alone in the pre-Christmas rush. Diana Krall, now nesting on Vancouver Island with her new-born twins, was second only to Bublé on Billboard’s 2006 jazz sales chart and will likely top this year’s model as her latest Verve release, From This Moment On, continues to sell through. Brian Howse ranks as the rock producer/writer du jour thanks to his work with the massively successful Oklahoma band Hinder. (The ex-DDT musician is behind “Lips of an Angel,” a #1 single for Hinder in Canada, the U.S. and now Australia).
So much for artists with literal west-coast roots. Factor in those with management connections to Vancouver, and the city remains as remarkably potent a factor on the international stage as it has been for almost a decade now. Norah Jones, one of many star clients with Macklam/Feldman Management, released her third Blue Note album, Not Too Late, on Feb. 2; it shipped 3 million copies worldwide. Nettwerk Management’s Avril Lavigne is due with her own third album, The Best Damn Thing, on April 17, and it will almost certainly debut at #1 in North America. Bruce Allen’s long-time Nashville connection, Martina McBride, remains one of country music’s most consistent stars and is likely to again deliver big numbers with Waking Up Laughing (April 3), her ninth album.
Hardly surprising, then, that no less an iconic trio than The Police spent late January rehearsing for their Grammy Awards reunion at Lion’s Gate Studio on the north shore. The presence of Sting and crew again underlined the irresistible nature of Vancouver’s world-class studios, relative isolation and cosmopolitan allure. Thirty five years after Bachman Turner Overdrive roared out of the west, 15 years after Bryan Adams hit the global jackpot with “Everything I Do (I Do It For You),” and a decade after McLachlan launched Lilith Fair, the city’s evidently still got it.
“You sometimes just have to pinch yourself and remember it’s not a fantasy,” laughs a weary Sam Feldman, phoning in from his Toronto hotel room following an 18-hour media blitz with Norah Jones. A few nights earlier he’d been up ‘til the wee small hours with Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Herbie Hancock in the wake of Mitchell’s induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“When you consider Vancouver’s population base and the geographic isolation, it’s an interesting story, no question about it,” muses Feldman, who along with Steve Macklam co-manages Jones, Mitchell, Krall, Elvis Costello, Ry Cooder and The Chieftains, among others. “What’s the reason? Well, my guess is that we’ve had to do it ourselves by devoting an extra amount of energy, will and expertise to the process. None of us have been able to sit back and be comfortable at home. We had to get across all these barriers – the border south, the Rockies to the east, the ocean to the west. And we’re the last place in the country to get on the government tit, so we have had to be much more independent.”
Back before the music business went into its sharp decline, there were some who believed Vancouver would develop into a bona fide industry centre, a Los Angeles counterpart to Toronto’s New York. Instead, as Feldman puts it, Vancouver’s continued prominence is essentially “a personality thing.” A small group of key industry players – Allen, Feldman, Macklam, McBride, McLachlan, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger and the latter’s attourney Jonathan Simkin – have put the city on the business map through experience, durability, evolving clout and alpha determination.
Apart from the powerbrokers, a deep wellspring of talent has long been the west coast’s chief resource. And it’s no coincidence that the big-four managers have relied on their natural A&R abilities from the outset. Allen and Feldman used street smarts in muscling their various management and agency acts onto North American stages. Macklam started out in the trenches with The Pointed Sticks, Vancouver’s flagship new-wave band, before refining his management savvy with k.d. lang and Colin James.
McBride and original partners Mark Jowett and Ric Arboit, meanwhile, learnt by doing in launching what is now known as the Nettwerk Music Group in the mid-1980s. With fourth partner Dan Fraser, they collectively steer a fiercely progressive company that continually challenges industry wisdom while remaining conservative where it counts at the bottom line. Nettwerk’s component parts include a vast management roster (Lavigne, McLachlan, Dido, Martha Wainwright, Billy Talent, etc.) a constantly evolving label (now led by the Be Good Tanyas, The Format, Delerium and new signing Great Lake Swimmers) and a smartly resourced publishing division. (The clothing company Chulo Pony is also part of the mix.)
After pioneering music on the then-novel world wide web more than a decade ago and backing iTunes to the hilt in its early days, Nettwerk is now marching ahead with viral marketing. "We are now entering the era where the socialization of the Internet is happening," McBride reportedly said at MIDEM earlier this year. "Why not truly harness the power of peer-to-peer?" (A recent deal with San Francisco-based Sonific LLC allows fans to post free widgets on their personal sites that will stream new music from Nettwerk artists.)
Tapping into the regional talent pool is the raison d’etre of 604 Records, the label launched on the heels of Nickelback’s international success and now representing such local bands as Theory of a Deadman, Marianas Trench and Armchair Cynics. “It’s the wild, wild west, and incredible acts just keep popping up out of nowhere,” says Simkin. “Those of us with some infrastructure and resources can capitalize.” Unlike major industry centres, where everyone seemingly knows everyone else’s business, Simkin says the relaxed pace out west is more conducive to a kinder, gentler brand of artist development.
The Universal-distributed 604 Records is one of a handful of significant labels in town in addition to long-standing indie bastion Mint Records (The New Pornographers, Nekko Case, newly defunct buzz band The Organ), respected roots label Black Hen Music (run by musician Steve Dawson) and relative newcomer Endearing Records (whose founder, Blair Purda, relocated the label from its long-time base in Winnipeg).
Bob D’Eith, president of the Pacific Music Industry Association, believes that the overall industry’s dramatic “contraction” in recent years has been a boon for local talent. “There’s been a significant increase in independent labels and artists in this town,” says D’Eith. “Niche market opportunities are coming along, and people here are taking good advantage of the new technologies.” Among the hometown successes he cites are a pair of labels: EMI Canada-distributed Boompa Records (launched by Scott Walker, formerly of Victoria, B.C. band The Salteens) and Shred Records (an urban/pop imprint helmed by writer/producers Anthony Anderson, Dane DeViller, Sean Hosein and Steve Smith).
Meanwhile, new artists continue to emerge from creative boltholes throughout the region. The band Mother Mother has just signed with Montreal-based Last Gang Records (home of Metric), while You Say Party! We Say Die! is now with Toronto’s Paper Bag Records. Tipped by some locals for major success are the bands Vincent Black Shadow (signed along with Bif Naked to BoDog Music) and rock-radio upstarts Art of Dying. The overall Vancouver scene will again be showcased at the New Music West festival, set for the May 2 weekend and now run by producer Jory Groberman (continuing a tradition launched by Maureen Jack in the late 1980s and run over the years by such notable locals as Laurie Mercer, John Donnelly, Frank Weipert and David Hawkes).
A perennially lacklustre live scene is one of the city’s weakest links, notes D’Eith in explaining the critical shortage of mid-range venues that could serve as a bridge between cozy favorites like the Railway Club to the 900-capacity, House of Blues-affiliated Commodore Ballroom. “Compared to Toronto, where there are so many great rooms, bands out here don’t have a clear ladder to climb in terms of live performances. It’s been that way since (Gastown club) The Town Pump closed in the 1990s.” Archaic liquor-licensing laws remain an issue, though D’Eith believes the province is willing to revise them with the 2010 Olympics fast approaching.
While live gigs remain sporadic, there’s enough talent-oriented infrastructure in town to ensure developing artists don’t starve. Watchdog Management, a division of the Feldman agency, is currently working with singer/actress Alexz Johnson (from the teen-oriented TV hit Instant Star) and the bands Hedley (which released its Capitol U.S. debut in the fall) and Pride Tiger (the East Vancouver answer to Lynyrd Skynyrd recently wrapped recording with Sum 41/Monster Magnet producer Matt Hyde). Watchdog also is working with clutch of young, major label-affiliated U.S. acts, among them A Fine Frenzy (Virgin), Jon McLaughlin (Island) and The Bird and The Bee (Blue Note).
“The fact is that all of us out here are representing artists of a genuinely international stature,” says Feldman in reference to the city’s major players. “Success in this business is about getting into a position where you don’t have to beat the doors down to get things done, and we’re all in that position right now. I don’t think anyone out here is thinking of world domination,” he concludes with a deadpan sigh, “though it’s always an option, I guess.”
Applaud! Magazine
Spring 2007
Back in January, as year-end chart tabulations were published and awards-season nominations announced, the music world once again had a decidedly west-coast Canadian tilt to it. Kelowna’s Daniel Powter topped Billboard’s 2006 singles chart, followed two spots back by Victoria native Nelly Furtado.
Nickelback remains the arena-rock king of its generation in terms of album sales and live receipts. Michael Bublé and Sarah McLachlan have both prospered, the former with the double-platinum (in America) It’s Time CD, the latter with a holiday disc that moved 200,000-plus copies in Canada alone in the pre-Christmas rush. Diana Krall, now nesting on Vancouver Island with her new-born twins, was second only to Bublé on Billboard’s 2006 jazz sales chart and will likely top this year’s model as her latest Verve release, From This Moment On, continues to sell through. Brian Howse ranks as the rock producer/writer du jour thanks to his work with the massively successful Oklahoma band Hinder. (The ex-DDT musician is behind “Lips of an Angel,” a #1 single for Hinder in Canada, the U.S. and now Australia).
So much for artists with literal west-coast roots. Factor in those with management connections to Vancouver, and the city remains as remarkably potent a factor on the international stage as it has been for almost a decade now. Norah Jones, one of many star clients with Macklam/Feldman Management, released her third Blue Note album, Not Too Late, on Feb. 2; it shipped 3 million copies worldwide. Nettwerk Management’s Avril Lavigne is due with her own third album, The Best Damn Thing, on April 17, and it will almost certainly debut at #1 in North America. Bruce Allen’s long-time Nashville connection, Martina McBride, remains one of country music’s most consistent stars and is likely to again deliver big numbers with Waking Up Laughing (April 3), her ninth album.
Hardly surprising, then, that no less an iconic trio than The Police spent late January rehearsing for their Grammy Awards reunion at Lion’s Gate Studio on the north shore. The presence of Sting and crew again underlined the irresistible nature of Vancouver’s world-class studios, relative isolation and cosmopolitan allure. Thirty five years after Bachman Turner Overdrive roared out of the west, 15 years after Bryan Adams hit the global jackpot with “Everything I Do (I Do It For You),” and a decade after McLachlan launched Lilith Fair, the city’s evidently still got it.
“You sometimes just have to pinch yourself and remember it’s not a fantasy,” laughs a weary Sam Feldman, phoning in from his Toronto hotel room following an 18-hour media blitz with Norah Jones. A few nights earlier he’d been up ‘til the wee small hours with Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Herbie Hancock in the wake of Mitchell’s induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“When you consider Vancouver’s population base and the geographic isolation, it’s an interesting story, no question about it,” muses Feldman, who along with Steve Macklam co-manages Jones, Mitchell, Krall, Elvis Costello, Ry Cooder and The Chieftains, among others. “What’s the reason? Well, my guess is that we’ve had to do it ourselves by devoting an extra amount of energy, will and expertise to the process. None of us have been able to sit back and be comfortable at home. We had to get across all these barriers – the border south, the Rockies to the east, the ocean to the west. And we’re the last place in the country to get on the government tit, so we have had to be much more independent.”
Back before the music business went into its sharp decline, there were some who believed Vancouver would develop into a bona fide industry centre, a Los Angeles counterpart to Toronto’s New York. Instead, as Feldman puts it, Vancouver’s continued prominence is essentially “a personality thing.” A small group of key industry players – Allen, Feldman, Macklam, McBride, McLachlan, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger and the latter’s attourney Jonathan Simkin – have put the city on the business map through experience, durability, evolving clout and alpha determination.
Apart from the powerbrokers, a deep wellspring of talent has long been the west coast’s chief resource. And it’s no coincidence that the big-four managers have relied on their natural A&R abilities from the outset. Allen and Feldman used street smarts in muscling their various management and agency acts onto North American stages. Macklam started out in the trenches with The Pointed Sticks, Vancouver’s flagship new-wave band, before refining his management savvy with k.d. lang and Colin James.
McBride and original partners Mark Jowett and Ric Arboit, meanwhile, learnt by doing in launching what is now known as the Nettwerk Music Group in the mid-1980s. With fourth partner Dan Fraser, they collectively steer a fiercely progressive company that continually challenges industry wisdom while remaining conservative where it counts at the bottom line. Nettwerk’s component parts include a vast management roster (Lavigne, McLachlan, Dido, Martha Wainwright, Billy Talent, etc.) a constantly evolving label (now led by the Be Good Tanyas, The Format, Delerium and new signing Great Lake Swimmers) and a smartly resourced publishing division. (The clothing company Chulo Pony is also part of the mix.)
After pioneering music on the then-novel world wide web more than a decade ago and backing iTunes to the hilt in its early days, Nettwerk is now marching ahead with viral marketing. "We are now entering the era where the socialization of the Internet is happening," McBride reportedly said at MIDEM earlier this year. "Why not truly harness the power of peer-to-peer?" (A recent deal with San Francisco-based Sonific LLC allows fans to post free widgets on their personal sites that will stream new music from Nettwerk artists.)
Tapping into the regional talent pool is the raison d’etre of 604 Records, the label launched on the heels of Nickelback’s international success and now representing such local bands as Theory of a Deadman, Marianas Trench and Armchair Cynics. “It’s the wild, wild west, and incredible acts just keep popping up out of nowhere,” says Simkin. “Those of us with some infrastructure and resources can capitalize.” Unlike major industry centres, where everyone seemingly knows everyone else’s business, Simkin says the relaxed pace out west is more conducive to a kinder, gentler brand of artist development.
The Universal-distributed 604 Records is one of a handful of significant labels in town in addition to long-standing indie bastion Mint Records (The New Pornographers, Nekko Case, newly defunct buzz band The Organ), respected roots label Black Hen Music (run by musician Steve Dawson) and relative newcomer Endearing Records (whose founder, Blair Purda, relocated the label from its long-time base in Winnipeg).
Bob D’Eith, president of the Pacific Music Industry Association, believes that the overall industry’s dramatic “contraction” in recent years has been a boon for local talent. “There’s been a significant increase in independent labels and artists in this town,” says D’Eith. “Niche market opportunities are coming along, and people here are taking good advantage of the new technologies.” Among the hometown successes he cites are a pair of labels: EMI Canada-distributed Boompa Records (launched by Scott Walker, formerly of Victoria, B.C. band The Salteens) and Shred Records (an urban/pop imprint helmed by writer/producers Anthony Anderson, Dane DeViller, Sean Hosein and Steve Smith).
Meanwhile, new artists continue to emerge from creative boltholes throughout the region. The band Mother Mother has just signed with Montreal-based Last Gang Records (home of Metric), while You Say Party! We Say Die! is now with Toronto’s Paper Bag Records. Tipped by some locals for major success are the bands Vincent Black Shadow (signed along with Bif Naked to BoDog Music) and rock-radio upstarts Art of Dying. The overall Vancouver scene will again be showcased at the New Music West festival, set for the May 2 weekend and now run by producer Jory Groberman (continuing a tradition launched by Maureen Jack in the late 1980s and run over the years by such notable locals as Laurie Mercer, John Donnelly, Frank Weipert and David Hawkes).
A perennially lacklustre live scene is one of the city’s weakest links, notes D’Eith in explaining the critical shortage of mid-range venues that could serve as a bridge between cozy favorites like the Railway Club to the 900-capacity, House of Blues-affiliated Commodore Ballroom. “Compared to Toronto, where there are so many great rooms, bands out here don’t have a clear ladder to climb in terms of live performances. It’s been that way since (Gastown club) The Town Pump closed in the 1990s.” Archaic liquor-licensing laws remain an issue, though D’Eith believes the province is willing to revise them with the 2010 Olympics fast approaching.
While live gigs remain sporadic, there’s enough talent-oriented infrastructure in town to ensure developing artists don’t starve. Watchdog Management, a division of the Feldman agency, is currently working with singer/actress Alexz Johnson (from the teen-oriented TV hit Instant Star) and the bands Hedley (which released its Capitol U.S. debut in the fall) and Pride Tiger (the East Vancouver answer to Lynyrd Skynyrd recently wrapped recording with Sum 41/Monster Magnet producer Matt Hyde). Watchdog also is working with clutch of young, major label-affiliated U.S. acts, among them A Fine Frenzy (Virgin), Jon McLaughlin (Island) and The Bird and The Bee (Blue Note).
“The fact is that all of us out here are representing artists of a genuinely international stature,” says Feldman in reference to the city’s major players. “Success in this business is about getting into a position where you don’t have to beat the doors down to get things done, and we’re all in that position right now. I don’t think anyone out here is thinking of world domination,” he concludes with a deadpan sigh, “though it’s always an option, I guess.”