At the recent annual general meeting of The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR) the following new positions were confirmed: Pegi Cecconi as chair; Nicole Jolly, vice-chair; Brian Hetherman, secretary; and Chris Lecomte as treasurer. Newly appointed directors are: Aubrey Winfield, pres. of Orange Records; Drew Keith, PD/operations manager of CHAM in Hamilton; and Grant Dexter, president/CEO, MapleCore.

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Maximum Music Group, the Vancouver-based label and artist management company, has launched the digital download label Maximum Digital. Its first release is "Dirty Dubs" by drum & bass DJ, James "Trek-e" Smith. This marks the beginning of a series of releases slated for this year.

Honoury Canadian singer Neko Case is in the studio finishing up a follow-up to her 2006 album "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood." While the release date for album hasn't been announced, it will be issued by Anti- Records in Canada. Case will perform at the Stanley Park Singing Exhibition in Vancouver Aug. 31 & Sept. 1, on a bill with the New Pornographers, Andrew Bird and Deerhoof.

The Watchmen will reform to play The Horseshoe in Toronto Sept. 26-27, 2008. The group was formed in 1988 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 2003, band members decided to go their separate ways but first they performed one final tour across Canada, billed as "The Watchman's Last Road Trip."

Michael Cohl has resigned as CEO of Live Nation's Live Nation Artists division. While he will also resign from Live Nation's board of directors, Cohl continues to be the firm's largest shareholder, and will now serve as a consultant. Long-time Cohl cohort Arthur Fogel takes over at Live Nation Artists and Randall Mays returns as chairman of the board.

The Canadian Folk Music Awards has announced five finalists for the first annual CFMA Classic Canadian Album Award. They are :

"Fogarty's Cove"-- Stan Rogers
"Lightfoot"-- Gordon Lightfoot
"The Songs of Leonard Cohen"-- Leonard Cohen
"La Ronde des Voyageurs"-- Éritage
"Kate and Anna McGarrigle" – Kate and Anna McGarrigle

Following public voting at www.canadianfolkmusicawards.ca, the winner will be announced at the Canadian Folk Music Awards Nov. 23, 2008 in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Corkscrew Media will produce the 2008 Canadian Country Music Awards being held in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Sept. 8. 2008. Brent Kawchuk and Paula Davies of Corkscrew Media will be the executive producers of this year's awards' broadcast to be televised nationally by CBC-TV with further airings on CMT Canada.

Canadian digital media distributor Yangaroo has expanded its partnership with Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS). Under the new terms, artists and labels that electronically send their music to Nielsen BDS for encoding will now have the option to use Yangaroo's digital media distribution service DMDSDirect to send their music digitally radio stations and other media contacts throughout North America.

RANDOM CHUCKLE

A veteran American music writer and columnist has resigned amid allegations he had used a ghost writer.

In April, 2008, a lawyer for journalist Douglas Shannon contacted the San Antonio Express-News seeking credit for stories Shannon claimed to have written for 52-year-old Ramiro Burr in the San Antonio Express-News from 2001-2003.

According to the Express-News, Burr resigned in the face of allegations that he violated the paper's ethics policy.

"Ramiro caused the Express-News to unknowingly publish work under his name that was not, in fact, his own work," says Robert Rivard, editor of the Express-News. "We have a zero tolerance policy whenever someone on our staff presents work as their own that is not their own."

A native of Laredo, Texas, Burr received a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Texas in Austin. He has covered the music scene for 25 years, working at the now-defunct San Antonio Light, and then for the Express-News. Since 1990, his weekly Express-News column, syndicated as "Ramiro Burr's Latin Music," had appeared in the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Austin American-Statesman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Laredo Morning Times.

A Billboard contributor, Burr penned the "Billboard Guide to Tejano and Regional Mexican Music" issued by Billboard Books in 1999. He was also a contributor to "World Music: The Rough Guide" by the London-based Rough Guides, and the "Hispanic Almanac" on Visible Ink Press.

Burr has reportedly now launched his own company, Ramiro Burr Communications.

Given the ghost writer allegation, there's obviously more money in writing on music in Texas than any other part of the planet.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Toronto-based entertainment lawyer Lynn Burshstein has moved from Taylor Mitsopulos Burshtein to Live Nation in Canada to become dir. of legal affairs.

The Winnipeg Folk Festival invites applications for the position of executive dir. Reporting to the Board of Directors, the executive dir. is responsible for all aspects of the operations of festival. The Board seeks a "high-motivated and innovative leader, an experienced cultural administrator and fund-raiser, a passionate advocate of the Festival's mission and vision."

Whew, over 99.9% of Canada's music community is disqualified under the "fund raiser" eligibility alone.

However, those interested should send a resume, cover letter, and a list of references by Aug. 8, 2008 to:

Margaret Genovese,
Senior Partner,
Genovese, Vanderhoof & Associates
gvasearch@gmail.com

FINAL NOTE:

After a long battle with cancer, Toronto-based producer Harry Hinde passed away on June 23, 2008.

He was 63.

When A&M Records of Canada opened in Feb. 1970, with four employees, Hinde, originally from Toledo, Ohio, was soon hired to produce the company's first domestic signing, the Toronto country rock band Tundra. The company had chart success with the band's debut single "Band Bandit" as well as strong airplay on the follow-up single, "Fit To Kill" (both can now be found on YouTube).

This was a period in which there were only a handful of record producers working in Canada, notably Jack Richardson, Art Snider, Jack Feeney, Greg Hambleton, Terry Brown, John Stewart, Bob Ezrin, Terry Jacks, and Cliff Edwards.

Buoyed by this early success, A&M Canada president Gerry Lacoursiere went on to sign more Canadian acts, including, Lorence Hud, and DJ/singer Keith Hampshire who scored three Top 10 singles in Canada with "Daytime Night Time," "The First Cut Is The Deepest," and "Big Time Operator."

In 1973, Hinde brought former Rain singer Phyllis Brown (soon renamed Charity Brown) to A&M. She had Top 20 hits in Canada with a series of R&B pop remakes, including "You Beat Me To The Punch," "Take Me In Your Arms", and "Anyway You Want."

After Hinde turned a version of Doris Day's 1956 hit "Que Sera Sera" into a Top 10 hit for Cherrill and Robbie Rae on A&M in 1977, he recorded their self-titled debut album in 1978. Their 1979 second album 'Dancing Up A Storm," also produced by Hinde, featured "A Little Lovin" (Keeps The Doctor Away)" that reached No. 13 on the RPM Weekly chart, No.5 on Billboard's Club Play list, and No. 61 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

Hinde's success with The Raes was pivotal to the career of an 18-year-old singer/songwriter signed to A&M-affiliated Almo Irving Music in Canada, Bryan Adams. His first solo single "Let Me Take You Dancing," produced with his songwriting partner Jim Vallance, followed the same disco path as blazed by The Raes.

Hinde went on to further make his mark in Canada producing hits for Copperpenny, Ginette Reno, Veronique Beliveau, as well as country acts Ronnie Prophet, the Wilkinsons, and Silver & Degazio. He also produced Louisa Florio, Jenn Marino, and Barbara Law.

Unquestionably, Hinde's biggest discovery was Shania Twain who he recorded in 1989 and 1990 while she was singing at Deerhurst Resort, Hotel & Spa in Huntsville, Ont. The tracks he recorded with her, including "Two Hearts, One Love," "I Lost My Heart When I Found You," "For The Love Of Him," "Half Breed," "Wild And Wicked," and "Rhythm Made Me Do It" would, however, only surface a decade later.

Here are memories of Harry Hinde by music industry friends.

"Harry Hinde was truly one of the pioneers of the Canadian music industry. He was one of the first of what would become one of Canada's music industry claims to fame forming a long line of great record producers. His string of hits with such artists as The Raes, Ginette Reno and Shania Twain form the basics of a star system that would inspire Canadians to keep building the record industry that we enjoy today in Canada.

"He was certainly a creative man with a tremendous ear for talent and a profound sense of professionalism in the area of record producing. As a man, he added a great deal to the world. His wonderful sense of humour, and his warm and genuine way made him a tremendous pleasure to be around. He will be missed by many and, in particular, those whose lives he touched." DEANE CAMERON, PRESIDENT, EMI MUSIC CANADA.

"Losing a friend after a long courageous battle with cancer is sad. Having known him for more than half of his life time, he has left me with a lot of great memories. Harry brought Tundra to A&M in 1970, which became our first Canadian signing. He produced their single " Band Bandit" which peaked at #24 in RPM. This was followed by him bringing us Charity Brown with whom he produced 11 chart records, three of which went top 10. That followed with his producing 5 chart records with The Raes, three of which went top 20. Turning his attention to the French market, he brought us Veronique Beliveau and Peter Pringle with whom we had a #1 hit with "Je Viens De Decouvrir" along with a platinum album. Harry had a knack of finding the artist and then the right song. We celebrated each of his successes. Harry has earned his rite of passage!

"(My wife) Gay and I were honoured to be host of his wedding to Urszila at our home in Stouffville, and then again, to be asked to be the godparents to their daughter Olenka. I will miss him but the friendship and the memories will remain." GERRY LACOURSIERE, FORMER CHAIRMAN/PRESIDENT A&M RECORDS OF CANADA.

"I first came to know Harry when I was A&R Director for A&M Records and he was producing Charity Brown for our label. The three of us enjoyed working together on her projects very much….Harry was a huge fan of The Funk Brothers, Motown's amazing studio session players, and he became longtime friends with their bass player Bob Babbitt. Harry even had Tom Baird, a music arranger with Motown, on several sessions for Charity Brown." MICHAEL GODIN, FORMER DIR. A&R, A&M RECORDS CANADA.

"Harry loved to talk about music, and his stories were great because he knew everybody in the business, on both sides of the border. Record executives, songwriters, musicians….everybody had time for Harry." VANCOUVER-BASED SONGWRITER JIM VALLANCE.

THE INTERNET: THE RITES OF PASSAGE FOR THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

A report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicts that global spending on recorded music will slip worldwide from $33.4 billion in 2007 to $32.5 billion by 2012.

While digital music services have yet to fully live up to their potential in becoming the next medium of choice for music purchases, digital formats are still expected to grow substantially in that time.

PWC predicts, in fact, that digital revenues will overtake physical revenues in Asia by 2009; Latin America by 2010; by 2011 in North America, and by 2010 for the rest of the world.

While mobile will edge out internet-based distribution as the more lucrative sector, the internet will remain the fastest growing, rising to $8.6 billion by 2012, while mobile phones will bring in $10.3 billion of revenue.

According to PWC, there were 361 million songs downloaded via mobile phone worldwide in 2007. It predicts growth of about 4% to 373 million downloads this year, and to 580 million by 2012.

Meanwhile, single track sales continue to be the dominant component of digital sales, but album downloads increased by whopping 54% in 2007 over the prior year.

PWC pegged the world's music subscription market at $201 million with 1.8 million subscribers. It indicates, however, that this market will only grow very gradually, at about 2% annually to $218 million by 2012.

Meanwhile, Apple's iTunes Music Store burst through the five billion download sales milestone on June 19. iTunes boasts a licensed catalog of more than 8 million songs, 20,000 TV episodes and more than 2,000 film titles.

With the growth of the marketplace, and the success of ITunes, the cost of digital music is rising, and falling, depending on where you shop online these days

This is leading to complaints that major labels are utilizing pricing strategies could stunt the establishment of a viable digital entertainment marketplace as well as revenue disputes by creators.

For example, Kid Rock has said he would rather have fans steal his music than buy it from iTunes. He now refuses to put his albums on iTunes because he says iTunes doesn't pay artists enough.

Meanwhile, as digital music services, excepting iTunes, continue converting their libraries to digital rights management-free sales, the demand by the major labels to establish variable pricing for digital downloads.

While several digital music services now either have variable pricing, including Amazonmp3—or plan to begin testing it in the near future as part of new DRM-free deals—such as Napster—the impact of the strategy will be minimal until iTunes comes onboard.

Aside from a brief flirtation with a $1.29 price point when EMI Music Group launched DRM-free downloads on the service, iTunes has refused to move from its 99-cents-per-song strategy.

The idea behind variable pricing is for labels to make more money from those who download a higher quantity of songs by raising the price on certain tracks, while at the same time convincing those who rarely download to buy more at reduced pricing.

Whatever the outcome, with CD sales continuing to decline and digital revenue still not making up the difference, major labels are going to continue trying to exact hefty advances from digital music operators, as well as seek an equity stake in companies.

Ad-supported download service SpiralFrog, for instance, paid more than $3 million in upfront advances to Universal Music Group prior to being launched; while Imeem reportedly paid advances as high as $20 million and also gave labels equity in the company.

Major labels argue that such strategies are just the cost of doing business in today's music industry.

Independent labels and artists, still second class citizens in the digital music sector, want digital media companies to pay music creators fairly and not to have them just use content to build their businesses.

MONTREAL MEANS JAZZ

This year, Jim West celebrates 25 years as founder and owner of Canada's leading jazz imprint, Justin Time Records.

On July 5th, at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, Justin Time will be celebrating its quarter century with "A Night To Remember," an all-star concert at Place Des Arts featuring Billy Bang, Ranee Lee, the Montreal Jubilation Choir, Coral Egan, Yannick Rieu, Chet Doxas, Lorraine Klaasen, Dawn Tyler Watson and Paul Deslauriers, Bryan Lee & The Blues Power Band and, of course, Oliver Jones.

On June 24th, 2008, Justin Time released, "25th Anniversary Collection" with tracks by Canadians Oliver Jones, Diana Krall, Ranee Lee, Dave Young & Oscar Peterson, the Montreal Jubilation Choir, and Americans David Murray, Billy Bang, World Saxophone Quartet and Hank Jones.

West founded Distribution Fusion 3, the leading Canadian-owned independent distributor, after working first as a sales rep at a Sam the Record Man store in downtown Montreal and as a sales rep at Montreal-based distributor Almada Corp. When Almada folded, West stayed on to supervise its closure. He was given catalog as severance pay, which he used to start the distribution company.

Since bowing in 1983 with pianist Oscar Jones' album "Live at Biddle's Jazz & Ribs," Justin Time has become an integral component of Canada's musical culture.

In 1990, West launched Just A Memory Records, a label devoted to unique re-issues and previously unreleased gems. In 1997, he launched the rock-based label Just A Minute Records.

Justin Time has issued more than 370 albums (one-third of them produced by West)—the majority by Canadian artists. Besides the above acts, this also includes recordings by David Clayton-Thomas; pianists Paul Bley and John Stetch; saxophonist/flautist Jane Bunnett; bandleader Rob McConnell; and the Susie Arioli Swing Band.

Although Justin Time is recognized mainly as a jazz label, its catalog includes recordings of blues, gospel, world, tango, folk, comedy, pop and rock.

West signed Diana Krall to her first recording contract in 1992, and she debuted on Justin Time with "Stepping Out" the following year. Although Krall signed shortly afterward to Impulse!/GRP, Justin Time continued distributing her catalog for two further albums.

West recalls watching Oliver Jones performing at Biddle's before a wildly enthusiastic audience of 200 in 1983. "I only did the label because of seeing Oscar perform," he says. "I was blessed to have recorded him first, and he's the reason I continued the label. I thought all artists were like him."