BMG Partnering With Black Box Music To Expand Reach In Canada

BMG is scaling up its music operations in Canada with dedicated A&R, marketing and promotion resources in Toronto for the first time. The development comes via an innovative partnership with leading Canadian independent Black Box Music, headed by Jason Murray. Murray will head up the operation in Canada, reporting to Zach Katz, BMG US President Repertoire & Marketing and Jon Cohen, BMG EVP, Recorded Music.

The move demonstrates BMG’s commitment to the burgeoning Canadian music market, which grew by 14.4% in the first half of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016 according to figures from Neilsen. According to The 2017 IFPI Global Music Report, Canada is the world’s sixth biggest global music market.

“Canada has a long history of generating great artists. Canadian people are great music fans. So it is absolutely natural for us to have a strong presence in Canada,” said Katz. “We have made no secret of our goal to build a recordings business as strong as our presence in music publishing. Scaling up in Canada with a trusted and credible partner like Black Box will enable us to further improve our service to artists.”

“In an ever-changing musical landscape that has more than ever before become an industry without borders, it’s exciting to be part of a forward-thinking global music company,” said Murray. “Watching first hand what their team have built in both the publishing and recorded music businesses, in such a short period, is awe inspiring.”

BMG recently signed two of Canada’s biggest stars, singer/songwriter Avril Lavigne and rock band Nickelback. Nickelback’s new album Feed The Machine was released on June 16 and debuted Top 5 in the U.S., Canada, and around the world. Lavigne is currently in the studio finishing work on a new full-length album to be released later this year.

BMG’s publishing roster of Canadian songwriters already features Paul Anka, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings (The Guess Who), WondaGurl (Drake, Rihanna, Travis Scott), electronic musicians Keys N Krates, as well as rising stars NAV (Drake, Travis Scott), Jazzfeezy (Drake, T.I.), Jessie Reyez, and rockers The Glorious Sons.

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Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at lhollabaugh@musicrow.com.

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