The Departure Festival + Conference, formerly known as Canadian Music Week, is an industry conference and music festival held in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada.David Friend
"Canadian Music Week buyers rename event Departure Festival, expand its scope"
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Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', November 12, 2024. The event announced its new name in November 2024, noting that it will expand its focus to include art, comedy, technology, film and fashion events.

History

The event is an annual four-day music and media conference that began in 1981. It is one of Canada's largest and most influential conferences, drawing top industry professionals from around the world. The event is designed to stimulate the exchange of market intelligence, increase dialogue, and provide networking opportunities. The conference includes a variety of activities, such as conferences, award shows, and one of Canada's biggest "New Music" festivals. The festival features performances by emerging and established artists at venues ranging from bars and halls, to clothing stores and cafés. It draws in significant numbers of A&R representatives. Emerging new bands use the festival as an opportunity to be spotted by these representatives. In January 2017, Jim Beam along with Canadian Music Week Canada launched the "Jim Beam Make History Talent Search", a talent search program designed to discover the next big Canadian music star. Canadian Music Week has become an important platform for the Canadian music industry consistently bringing together more than 3,000 music industry professionals for the week's events. It is the single, longest running multi-day Canadian music and media event that helps to increase the visibility of emerging artists and encourage collaboration among industry professionals. In June 2024 festival founder Neill Dixon announced his retirement and the sale of Canadian Music Week to a partnership led by Randy Lennox, former CEO of Universal Music Canada. The partnership is between Lennox's Canadian production house LOFT Entertainment and US-based sports & real estate company

Oak View Group Oak View Group, LLC (OVG) is an American professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Denver. It manages several sports venues, including Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, which was constructed under the company's supervision. ...

Notable participants

Notable speakers and performers who have been a part of the event include: *

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, celebrity interview artist *

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; ; born August 25, 1949) also known by his stage persona "The Demon", is an Israeli-born American musician. He was the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, which he co-founded wit ...

, celebrity interview artist * David Foster, celebrity interview record producer *

Dennis DeYoung Dennis DeYoung (born February 18, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and keyboardist. He was a founding member of the rock band Styx and served as its primary lead vocalist and keyboardist from 1972 until 1999. DeYoung was the band's most ...

, celebrity interview artist/songwriter *

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D is also a me ...

, keynote speaker artist/record producer * Stereos, pop-rock band * Alan Parsons, keynote speaker British record producer * Hollowphonic, an ambient,

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

unit *

Seymour Stein Seymour Steinbigle (April 18, 1942 – April 2, 2023), known professionally as Seymour Stein, was an American entrepreneur and music executive. He co-founded Sire Records and was vice president of Warner Bros. Records. With Sire, Stein signed ba ...

, president of

Sire records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteh ...

Trapt Trapt is an American rock band formed in Los Gatos, California. Nine studio albums have been recorded to date: ''Amalgamation'' (1999), '' Trapt'' (2002), '' Someone in Control'' (2005), '' Only Through the Pain'' (2008), '' No Apologies'' (2 ...

, a

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop music, hip hop, funk, industrial music, industrial, and grunge. Nu ...

rock outfit *

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

group * Cassius Khan, Indian classical musician; The Ghazal Tabla Wizard *

Wolfmother Wolfmother is an Australian hard rock band from Sydney. Formed in 2004, the group is centred around vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, who is the only constant member of the line-up. The band has been through many personnel changes since t ...

, rock band * MENEW,

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band *

The Exies The Exies is an American Rock music, rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States, formed in 1997. Their name, "The Exies", is short for "The Existentialists". Their two Virgin Records releases, ''Inertia (The Exies album), Inertia'' ...

, an indie rock band *

Glen Ballard Basil Glen Ballard Jr. (born May 1, 1953) is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer. He is best known for co-writing and producing on Wilson Phillips' debut and sophomore albums, '' Wilson Phillips'' and '' Shadows and Light'', ...

, producer *

Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was (), is an American musician, record producer, music director, film composer, documentary filmmaker and radio host. Since 2011, he has also served as president of the ...

, producer * Sturle Dagsland, Norwegian artist * Mark Hudson, producer *

Mathew Knowles Mathew Knowles (born January 9, 1952)Knowles in is an American record executive, businessman and university lecturer. He is best known for being the manager of Destiny's Child. He also once managed the solo careers of his daughters Beyoncé a ...

, keynote speaker – World Music Entertainment C.E.O. *

Sir George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

, producer *

Jordan Galland Jordan Galland (born 1980) is an American filmmaker and musician based in New York City. Early life Born in Farmington, Connecticut, Galland was raised in New York City and graduated in 2002 from New York University, where he studied film, anim ...

, panel member, director/musician * Gastón Iungman, rock musician and producer; * Bullmoose, indie rock band.

Halls of fame

Canadian Indies Hall of Fame

CMW honors important independent and alternative artists with its annual "Canadian Indies Hall of Fame" program. Artists who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame include Parachute Club, The Pursuit of Happiness, Martha and the Muffins, D.O.A. and Rough Trade.

Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame

Canadian Music Week hosts the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame. In 2008, singer-songwriter

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, she became a cultural phenomenon during the mid 199 ...

was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame. In 2016,

Andy Kim Andrew Kim (born July12, 1982) is an American politician and former diplomat serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2024. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...

, Rob Steele, André Ménard and Alain Simard were made inductees.

Featured Cultural Spotlight performances

* 2010 Spotlight on India – Rock Showcase featured a number of South-Asian-Canadian acts such as J'sin who performed tracks from his Fatlab's produced first album, ''Born''.

Canadian Music Fest

Since 2009 Canadian Music Week has referred to the festival component of the event as Canadian Music Fest, which it calls "Canada's largest new music festival".

Startup Launchpad

In 2016, CMW hosted its first annual Startup Launchpad event, a pitch competition for startups in the music industry. Seven startups were selected to pitch their business to potential investors and a judging panel including Michael Wekerle and Ted Cohen. The first finalists of this event were Mugatunes, an intercollegiate music sharing site, Audiokite Research, a market research company for musicians, Mission Control, a music management platform, Aybo, Trebba, and Notetracks, a music collaboration app.

Canadian Radio Music Awards

In 2016, the CMW launched an award show, called the Canadian Radio Music Awards. The show, similar to the

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

s, recognized and celebrated Canadian music artists. The award show has not been held since 2018.

References

External links

Canadian Music Week
official website {{Authority control Music conferences Rock festivals in Canada Music festivals in Toronto Music festivals established in 1981 Pop music festivals in Canada Conferences in Canada