Riverfest Elora is calling on Canadians to support the local live music scene.
Organizers for the Ontario music festival submitted a call to action through Elora’s local newspaper, Elora Fergus Today. It’s addressed to Canadian businesses, citizens and policymakers, advising them to invest in live music before more local organizations continue to dissipate.
“Arts and culture are essential infrastructure for thriving communities. Riverfest Elora was a powerful local example of how arts and culture generates economic activity, attracts visitors, cultivates identities, and creates opportunities for emerging artists to be developed and discovered,” the statement reads.
Organizers point to this year’s Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) Hear and Now report, illustrating that “local festivals and events are only part of a much larger story.” According to the study, in 2023, live music and associated tourism amassed $9.9 billion in visitor spending. It showcases the interconnectedness of live music with travel, hospitality, retail and other relevant sectors.
Beyond economic impact, festivals like Riverfest Elora made a sustained, meaningful investment in homegrown music.
“The loss of Riverfest Elora — and the pressures that festivals, venues, and live music organizations across our region now face — underscores a hard truth: we cannot expect arts organizations alone to carry the burden of sustaining this vital public good,” organizers write.
Over its decade-and-a-half run, Riverfest brought in local and international acts including Blue Rodeo, The Flaming Lips, Bruce Cockburn, Metric, Violent Femmes, Monster Truck, Sam Roberts Band, Charles Bradley, Fleet Foxes, MGMT and more. This year’s headliners were Silversun Pickups, Fitz and the Tantrums and City and Colour.
Last month, the fest announced it was shutting down after 15 years through a Facebook post, citing financial strain.
“The reality is stark: costs have surged, revenues have fallen behind, and the changing festival landscape has made it impossible to sustain the model we’ve fought to keep alive,” organizers wrote.
Earlier this year, Billboard Canada spoke with Erin Benjamin, CEO of CLMA, who doubled down on the hardships local festivals face — many of which are facing post-lockdown circumstances, including rising production costs, fewer corporate sponsorships and hesitant audiences.
“COVID ripped up the playbook,” she said. “The cost of goods and services and labour and talent is extremely high. And it continues to go up.”
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Amy Eligh Promoted to Vice President of Publishing and Licensing at Arts & Crafts
Amy Eligh is stepping into a new role as vice president of publishing and licensing at Arts & Crafts.
The music industry executive joined the independent publishing company in 2017 as director of publishing and licensing, remaining in that role for over eight years. During her almost decade-long tenure, Eligh assisted the indie label in expanding its indie rock roots to include songwriters from a variety of genres, including country and pop.
Now, Eligh’s role will expand to include the company’s global business development strategy as she continues to nurture both A&C’s new and legacy rosters. Her new role will ensure the company maintains its presence in all aspects of the industry as the Canadian music industry landscape evolves.
“I’m excited to be expanding my role here at A&C with the steadfast support of the executives and team,” says Eligh. “I’m so appreciative of the autonomy and trust I’ve been given to grow our small but mighty publishing company. We will continue to strive to be a creative and innovative contributor in this corner of the industry that I love so much.”
Formed in 2003, Arts & Crafts has been known as a hub for some of the most celebrated indie artists in the country, from Broken Social Scene to Constantines, Feist to Mustafa.
More recently, the company’s publishing department, Arts & Crafts Music Publishing, has been one of its biggest successes. A&C has secured a small roster of emerging songwriters, some of whom have played a part in penning hits for some of today’s biggest artists. Ontario native Megan Bülow is a credited songwriter on Beyoncé’s Grammy-nominated hit “Texas Hold ‘Em” from her Grammy-winning album Cowboy Carter. Songwriter Josh Berkowitz has written a handful of tracks for pop artist Kelly Clarkson, Canadian singer-songwriter Forest Blakk and Nigerian gospel musician Blessing Offor, including “Somebody’s Child” featuring music legend Dolly Parton.
Another major moment for Arts & Crafts Music Publishing was the signing of Toronto rock band The Beaches back in 2022. A&C’s additional register of rising songwriters includes artists Broken Social Scene, Young Friend, Jordan Hart, Sylo, Katie Tupper, Dear Rouge, plus solo songwriters like Parker Bossley and Steve Bays, who have written for homegrown artists such as Hotel Mira, Dear Rouge, Fitz and the Tantrums and Yukon Blonde.
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HAVEN.’s ‘I Run.’ Charting on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 Following AI Deepfake Allegations
Is electronic duo HAVEN. finding haven on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100?
After a major industry controversy and conversations surrounding AI deepfaking, the pair’s viral track “I Run,” featuring singer Kaitlin Aragon, has found a stronghold on the Canadian Hot 100. In its third week, the song sits at No. 59.
Two months ago, “I Run,” the EDM track from HAVEN., comprised of London-born producers Harrison Walker and Jacob Donaghue, became a viral hit on TikTok, amassing over 110 million plays — but it had yet to be officially released.
Through the fanfare, it caught the attention of major and independent labels, along with U.K. R&B singer Jorja Smith. To many, the uncredited female vocalist on hypnotic “I Run” sounded eerily similar to Smith — which kicked off the song’s controversy. In a now-deleted TikTok video, she acknowledged the track, asking in the caption: “who actually is this?” Then, HAVEN. added #jorjasmith to a now-removed social post promoting the song. “It was more so just embracing that it does sound like her,” a spokesperson for HAVEN. noted. “It became an organic trend.”
As it continued to build momentum, the track was removed from streaming services. The Orchard — which distributes Smith’s FAMM label — issued various takedown notices for “I Run” upon its official release, alleging varying issues with the song, including that it “misrepresents” another artist and constitutes copyright infringement.
Due to the dispute, the song was withheld from the Billboard charts at the time after one week on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, with Billboard reserving the right to withhold or remove titles from appearing on the charts that are known to be involved in active legal disputes related to copyright infringement that may extend to its deletion on digital service providers.
While some claim the original version uses an unauthorized AI deepfake of Smith’s voice, the duo told Billboard that they wrote and produced the song in ProTools, and Walker used his own voice to record the vocals. He says that he then ran it through layers of AI-assisted processing using the AI music tool Suno and filtered it to turn it into the female-sounding voice heard in the track — with no reference to Smith. It’s worth noting that Suno has been sued by multiple music companies, including all three major labels, claiming that the model was trained on copyrighted music — which could include Jorja Smith. In November, Warner Music Group settled its portion of the lawsuit against Suno after signing a licensing deal with the AI company.
While the disputes are ongoing, HAVEN. since released a re-recording of the song in November, featuring singer Kaitlin Aragon, who was discovered by the duo’s team after posting a TikTok cover of “I Run.”
This is the version currently charting on the Canadian Hot 100.
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