Giving a space for all in the music industry during Canadian Music Week

Music industry insiders are in the city as part of Canadian Music Week, running June 5-10 at the Westin Habour Castle in Toronto, networking and listening to the newest wave of talent looking for their shot.

“We are in the 41st year of Canadian Music Week. We’re celebrating 50 years of hip-hop, this is Canada’s biggest music business conference,” said Andrew Valle, general manager and festival director of Canadian Music Week.

“We have emerging acts that apply to play and we give them showcases during the week, and it’s a great opportunity, great platform for them to showcase in front of the industry. Even just being in the lobby right now, there’s everyone from the 101’s to some of the top execs in the business.”

This year Alïah Guerra, a Canadian-Trinidadian jazz vocalist, guitarist, producer, and Terez, a Métis singer-songwriter, are at the conference as part of Women In The Studio, a program started by Music Publishers Canada.

“Only three per cent of the music you hear is produced by women – we are making a change,” said Margaret McGuffin, CEO of Music Publishers Canada. 

She adds, “This program was founded five years ago. The accelerator focuses on women, non-binary, gender fluid producers who are already working in the field and want to build their career. We provide technical, creative and business support for this group over the next seven months. This is a life changer.” 

As part of the program, Terez met with producer Eli Brown, who has worked with Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR.

“We got to do about a three–hour session with him and it was so incredible, learning from him, getting to see his sessions, I mean there’s so many incredible people around Canadian Music Week and you kind of never know who you’re going to meet,” said Terez.

“When I was a kid it would have been a lot easier to see people who look like me, because it would give me the confidence to really believe yes, I’m a producer, and I’m very deserving of everything because I’ve been able to produce my own music. So essentially I think this gives young women, young non-binary people, the chance to actually see themselves and believe yeah, if I put my music out, I’m going to have a place where I can be celebrated,” said Alïah Guerra.

To find out more about Canadian Music Week, go to https://cmw.net/.

To find out more about Women In The Studio, head to https://www.musicpublishing.ca/women-in-the-studio.