Billboard Canada is getting ready to spotlight some of the most vital players in the music industry: music managers.

Managers to Watch — Billboard’s spotlight on the teams behind music’s biggest breakout artists — will expand to Canada for the first time at this year’s NXNE festival.

A special invite-only Managers to Watch reception will take place on June 11, directly before Billboard Canada Power Players. The event will build on Billboard Canada’s new partnership with Music Managers Forum, which is moving its Honour Roll celebration of the most legendary managers in the business to NXNE this year.

Both recognitions will be given out at the Managers to Watch reception, after which all invited managers will be invited to stay and mingle with the most influential members of the industry at Billboard Canada Power Players.

The event will foster community and opportunity for self-managed artists and managers, who play a critical role in the success of Canadian artists on the international stage.

“We’re proud to partner with MMF Canada to spotlight the managers powering the next wave of talent,” says Mo Ghoneim, president of Billboard UK and Billboard Canada. “They’re key players behind many of the industry’s biggest breakthroughs, and we’re excited to recognize their contributions on a global stage through Billboard.”

The Music Managers to Watch list will feature a hand-selected list of artists and self-managed artists making waves in the industry. It will be chosen by the editorial team at Billboard Canada. Managers can submit for consideration using this form.

Find more info here. – Richard Trapunski

CIMA Makes an Appeal to Prime Minister Mark Carney

The votes were still being tallied in the Canadian federal election on Monday morning (April 29) when the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) sprang into action. The trade org issued a press release congratulating Mark Carney and the Liberal Party of Canada on their electoral victory while urging Carney to, in its words, “make the investment in and promotion of Canadian-owned cultural businesses a top priority.”

The statement stressed that “the global cultural economy is changing rapidly, and with it come significant risks to Canada’s cultural and economic sovereignty. Recent developments — including TikTok’s decision to walk away from licensing negotiations with Merlin, a key representative of independent music worldwide; Universal Music Group’s acquisition of Downtown Music’s assets; and the legal challenge by global tech platforms, in partnership with foreign-owned multinational record companies, to avoid regulation under Bill C-11 — starkly illustrate the growing concentration of global corporate power in Canada’s cultural sector. If left unchecked, these trends threaten to erode Canadian ownership of intellectual property, diminish our global competitiveness, and compromise the future of Canadian cultural exports.”

CIMA emphasizes four priorities for the most industry and suggests the government act quickly:

CIMA concluded by noting, “We are eager to work with your government to secure a strong future for Canadian culture — Canadian culture remains Canadian-owned, Canadian-created, and world-renowned.”

Read more here. – Kerry Doole

Black Eyed Peas’ Apl.de.Ap and Other Lapu Lapu Day Festival Performers Speak After Van Attack in Vancouver

Artists are sharing their heartbreak after a deadly attack at Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day festival.

The attack killed 11 people, leaving dozens more injured, when an SUV drove through the block party on Saturday (April 26.) A 30-year-old man has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder.

Organized by Filipino BC, the festival is a celebration of Filipino hero Datu Lapu-Lapu and an annual occasion for the Filipino-Canadian community to celebrate resilience and cultural heritage.

The attack took place in the evening, following a day of performances from artists like The Black Eyed Peas‘ apl.de.ap (the Filipino-American artist also known as Allan Pineda Lindo), multi-disciplinary artist Kaya Ko and R&B singer Sade Awele. Festival performers are sharing messages and calling for support for the B.C. Filipino community following the attack.

Apl.de.ap and Filipino singer J. Rey Soul had recently left the stage after finishing their headlining set when the attack took place.

“It’s hard to describe the shock and heaviness we feel,” they shared in a joint statement on social media. “Please keep the victims, their families, and the organizers in your prayers.”

“The one thing I have noticed, from the audience to the messages sent around, is the sense of community that wraps its loving arms around us.”

Festival chair RJ Aquino spoke about the support that’s been pouring in from around the world.

“It’s not lost on us … that the spirit of the festival was about that resistance, resilience, that courage, that strength,” he told reporters, per CBC.

“And you know, we’re going to have to call that up in ourselves.”

Awele shared her prayers for the B.C. Filipino community on Instagram. “I was barely able to sleep thinking about the tragic incident that occurred after the festival,” she said. “We can’t keep living like this — treating each other with hate and violence. We have to do better.”

Read more here. – Rosie Long Decter

Jack Antonoff was named ASCAP Pop Music Songwriter of the Year at a private event at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles on Thursday (May 1). The hitmaker co-wrote six of ASCAP’s most-performed songs of the past year: Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” and no fewer than five songs by Taylor Swift: “Anti-Hero,” “Fortnight,” “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart,” “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)” and “Karma.”

Antonoff, 41, has won 11 Grammys, including two in songwriting categories: song of the year for “We Are Young” (which he co-wrote with his fun. bandmates and Jeff Bhasker) and best rock song for “Masseduction” (which he co-wrote with Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent). He won best song musically and lyrically at the 2023 Ivor Novello Awards for “King” (which he co-wrote with Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine).

Teddy Swims’ breakthrough hit “Lose Control” is the ASCAP Pop Music Song of the Year. Co-written by ASCAP songwriter Joshua “Ammo” Coleman, it set a new record for the longest run song in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 (59 weeks, as of this week). The smash is published by Kobalt Music and Top Notch High Quality Music.

ASCAP Pop Music Publisher of the Year goes to Sony Music Publishing. Among their list of honored works are “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (Shaboozey), “Hot to Go!” (Chappell Roan), “Houdini” (Dua Lipa), “Not Like Us” (Kendrick Lamar), “Stick Season” (Noah Kahan) and “Texas Hold ‘Em” (Beyoncé).

ASCAP Pop Music Award-winning songwriters this year also include Amy Allen, Beyoncé, Chappell Roan, Dan Nigro, Dua Lipa, Justin Timberlake, Justin Tranter, Noah Kahan, Olivia Rodrigo, Shaboozey and Victoria Monét.

The ASCAP Pop Music Awards honor the songwriters and publishers of the most-performed ASCAP pop songs of 2024. The winning songs are determined by data for terrestrial and satellite radio and for programmed and on-demand audio streams, all provided by Luminate Data LLC.

More information on the 2025 ASCAP Pop Music Award winners is available at www.ascap.com/popawards25.

Jill Sobule, the acclaimed folk-pop singer and human rights activist, died in a reported house fire in Woodbury, Minnesota, on Thursday (May 1). She was 66 years old.

The groundbreaking artist, who identified as bisexual, began her career with her 1990 debut album Things Here Are Different. The set sparked her first appearance on Billboard‘s charts as its single “Too Cool to Fall in Love” hit No. 17 on Adult Contemporary. Five years later, she broke out with her self-titled 1995 album and its hit single “I Kissed a Girl,” which peaked at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top 20 of the Alternative Airplay chart (then known as Modern Rock Tracks). Meanwhile, the LP’s other big single, “Supermodel,” was included on the soundtrack to Clueless.

Sobule’s “I Kissed a Girl” was released 13 years before Katy Perry’s different song with the same title became a No. 1 smash in 2008.

Other albums in Sobule’s discography include 1997’s Happy Town, 2000’s Pink Pearl, 2004’s The Folk Years 2003-2003 and Underdog Victorious, 2008’s Jill Sobule Sings Prozac and the Platypus, 2014’s Dottie’s Charms and 2018’s Nostalgia Kills. The singer-songwriter was an early proponent of crowdfunding, with her 2009 album California Years entirely financed via donations from fans.

Sobule’s most recent project prior to her death was her autobiographical musical F*ck 7th Grade, which earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for outstanding musical in 2023 and is set to release an original cast recording on June 6 alongside a special 30th-anniversary vinyl reissue of Jill Sobule.

“Jill Sobule was a force of nature and human rights advocate whose music is woven into our culture…I lost a client and a friend today,” the singer’s manager, John Porter, shared in a statement. “I hope her music, memory and legacy continue to live on and inspire others.”

According to a release, a formal memorial honoring Sobule’s life and legacy will be planned for later this summer.