According to Nielsen, Canadian sales of digital tracks in Canada increased 73%, well ahead of the 45% growth rate posted in the US. Digital album sales are up 93% in Canada while in the US they are up only 53%.

“This is great news,” said Canadian Music Creators Coalition spokesman Steven Page. “In fact, it is exactly the kind of news that we hope the government will consider when they work to rewrite Canada’s copyright legislation later this year.”

Major label representatives have consistently said that the only way the industry can survive is by making it easier to sue music downloaders and by providing legal protection to so-called “digital locks.” The member artists of the CMCC — the very artists copyright laws are designed to protect — aren’t convinced.

The CMCC is a coalition of nearly 200 Canadian acts who share the common goal of having their voices heard about the laws and policies that affect their livelihoods.

Membership rolls boast dozens of household names including Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Broken Social Scene, Matthew Good, Metric, Randy Bachman, Billy Talent, Sloan, Chantal Kreviazuk, Sum 41, Stars, Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace), The New Pornographers, Bill Henderson (Chilliwack), Ronnie King (The Stampeders), Dave Bidini (Rheostatics), John K. Samson (Weakerthans) and Sam Roberts.

The CMCC is united under three key principles:

1. Suing Fans is Destructive and Hypocritical
2. Artists do not want to sue music fans. The labels have been suing fans against artists’ will, and laws enabling these suits cannot be justified in artists’ names
3. Digital Locks are Risky and Counterproductive 

Post from: Toronto Unplugged

If some of the bands that have been on the scene of late made resolutions…and if I somehow knew what they were…and if they were resolutions that I wish lacked longevity and were in fact broken…than these would be them.

Picture the Broken Social Scene town meeting just before New Years,

“This year folks, we are going to collectively commit to no side projects.”

A hush of silence.

Some of the best albums of this past year in Canadian music have been Broken Social Scene sides.

I was saying to my wife a few days ago…I wish I was around for the days of bands like the Beatles and Dylan and the Stones who each put out 7 – 10 albums in 5 years. I said that it would never happen again. This might be as close as it will ever get.

Here are some more…

Local bands are going to keep grinding away on the traditional path to musical stardom.  Break it and try something bizarre and cutting edge to get your sound out.

Ticketmaster is going to add more convenience to their convenience charge – I can only imagine what this would entail…propably another $2.

Concert venues are going to continue pleasing the beer drinking audiences with serving only or two mainstream tasteless beers.  Come on…give us something decent and we’ll bitch less about having to pay $10.  Best venues for beer selection…Lee’s Palace, The Dakota Tavern and The Danforth Music Hall.

Post from: Toronto Unplugged

CBC Radio 3 handed out their Bucky Awards yesterday. Full stream of the Podcast can be found here. This is one of the Top streamed music programs on the Internet.

CBC Radio 3 has a broad understanding and grasp of the music scene in Canada. Their Indie reach and influence makes it a true promoter and advocate of music culture in our cities and towns.

Back to the Bucky’s. I love how the winner of each award is most often reached on the phone to get their reactions – winning categories like Best Lyrics, Best Sweatin’ to the Indies, and the last award of the cast, Song Most Likely to be a Future Classic. The congratulatory calls to the bands before 10am are often some good bits.

Song Most Likely to be a Future Classic: Feist: ‘1234′

Great song and a big steeping stone for Broken Social Scene global exposure. In an exciting time for Canadian music, this is one of the bands that will help define what we listen to in the years ahead.1234 is a song that almost didn’t make the final album cut.

Prior to the Apple iPod Nano commercial airing, The Reminder was selling at approximately 6,000 copies per week, and “1234″ at 2,000 downloads per week. Following the commercial, the song passed 73,000 total downloads and reached No. 7 on Hot Digital Songs and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Post from: Toronto Unplugged

These are some of my favorite nights. Got this text message at 10:21 pm on Thursday night,

Apostle of Hustle, Lee’s. Anytime now (10-15min). Come.

Already at the Press Club and not far from Lee’s, me and some mates jumped in a cab and darted to Lee’s Palace for the gig.

We walked in just as second opening act, Skin Tight, Outta Sight, was taking the stage. The Burlesque Revival show, led by dancers Gigi, Pussy and an apprehensive man of religion who eventually stripped down to an ass-less pair of stockings made me realize that the last-minute decision to check out this gig was indeed a great idea.

Apostle of Hustle is the brainchild of Andrew Whiteman – who is also lead guitarist for Broken Social Scene. Apostle of Hustle is a very cool experimental, latin-ish, poetic, innovative, electric side/main project.

As the story goes, during the Broken Social Scene sessions Whiteman enjoyed a two-month stint in Cuba. He learned to play the tres – a Cuban guitar – and the musical culture began influencing his playing and writing. Whiteman came back to Toronto to continue working with Broken Social Scene, but he couldn’t escape the Spanish flavours.
Eventually, Whiteman, Julian Brown and Daniel Stone formed what is now Apostle of Hustle.

On this night in the story, Apostle of Hustle took the stage at Lee’s Palace to set a mood and then entertained with spectacular talent, intimacy and passion within that mood. Their music is the show and they communicate it beautifully. They swung through tracks like Chances Are, My Sword Hand’s Anger, Kings Queens, Justine Beckoning

The live show is an interesting instrument combination from: two guitars (no bass)/drummer, one guitar/drummer/Andrew playing the bottom of of a plastic tub, guitar/bass/the playing of what looked like a marble slab. Again, definitely an innovative and experimental band.

Great band who put on a great show at a solid venue. The sound at Lee’s can be a bit off – a bit trebley – but the sight lines are some of the best in the city and it sure beats a big venue.

The next Broken Social Scene spin-off gig: Jason Collett Tuesday night at the Dakota. I ran into Kevin Drew at the AOH show and I asked if he’d be at the Dakota on Tuesday he replied, “you bet I will”. Check it out.

Post from: Toronto Unplugged

Musician and songwriter, Kevin Drew – who, together with Brendan Canning, founded the expansive Toronto baroque-pop collective Broken Social Scene – played the Kool Haus on Saturday night. Drew, along with many BSS’ers, were playing a solid repertoire of Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew’s Spirit If…

Our man Joe Manocchio was at the gig and had this to say:

“The opening band was great. Kevin Drew was great and he played for over 2 hours straight, sans encore. I had to leave the show at around 12:10 and they were still on stage. The show was pretty much all of Broken Social Scene, minus the ladies”

“Highlights….Cause=Time, Brendan Canning’s Hit The Wall, and KC Accidental”

Post from: Toronto Unplugged

Broken Social Scene’s Jason Collett is playing the Dakota Tavern on Tuesday night.

Most singer/songwriters are lonely souls with only a stool, an acoustic guitar and a heart-worn sleeve. Not Jason Collett. Oh sure, the Broken Social Scene guitarist has his instrument and a stack of intimate tales to tell-but his new solo album, Idols of Exile, sounds more like a house party.

What’s going on at the Dakota for the rest of the week?

Wednesday the 5th:

David Myles early show @ 8:00. Tickets $10 @ door

Flash Lightnin’ plays some lowdown southern boogie @ 10:00

Thursday the 6th:

Andy Swan early show @ 8:00. Tickets $5 @ door

Mr. Rick and the Biscuits @ 10:00

Friday the 7th:

Revival Dear w/ The Unionist Ministers

Post from: Toronto Unplugged