2CELLOS Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser performing Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N’ Roses at their historical 5th anniversary concert at Arena di Verona, May 2016. You know where you are? You’re in the jungle baby.
Heavy Metal Cover of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme Song
Now this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air
Oltedal, Norway musician Leo Moracchioli created an awesome heavy metal cover of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song.
Sirius XM to make $480 million strategic investment in Pandora
SiriusXM (SIRI) and Pandora (P) announced an agreement under which SiriusXM will make a $480M strategic cash investment in Pandora.
Under the terms of the agreement, a subsidiary of SiriusXM will purchase an aggregate of $480M in newly issued Series A convertible preferred stock of Pandora. SiriusXM purchased $172.5M of Series A preferred stock upon execution of the agreement and has agreed to purchase the balance of the Series A preferred stock at a second closing. The Series A preferred stock will represent a stake of 19% of Pandora’s currently outstanding common stock and a 16% stake on an as-converted basis. The Series A preferred stock is convertible into common stock at a purchase price of $10.50 per share. The conversion price of the Series A preferred stock is approximately a 14.2% premium to Pandora’s volume weighted average price for the 20-day period preceding June 9, 2017. The Series A preferred stock will bear a 6% cumulative dividend, payable in cash, accretion of the Series A preferred stock or a combination thereof.
Through this agreement, SiriusXM is making a strategic investment in the leading U.S. provider of ad-supported digital radio. With a loyal quarterly audience of nearly 100M listeners in the U.S., Pandora is by far the leading player in the burgeoning digital audio advertising market. The capital provided through the SiriusXM investment will allow Pandora to make targeted investments and capitalize on opportunities to build on its position in the streaming radio business.
When the transaction closes, three individuals designated by SiriusXM will be named to the Pandora Board of Directors. One of those individuals will serve as Chairman and SiriusXM designated directors will serve as select Board committee representatives. With these appointments, the Pandora Board will be expanded to consist of nine directors. In connection with the transaction, Pandora agreed with an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR) to terminate their Investment Agreement announced on May 8, 2017, and pay KKR a termination fee of $22.5M.
Pandora is required to redeem the Series A preferred stock on the fifth anniversary of the closing for an amount equal to its liquidation preference plus all accrued and unpaid dividends. Pandora can also redeem the Series A preferred stock at any time after the third anniversary of the closing if the daily volume weighted average price of Pandora’s common stock is greater than or equal to 175% of the then applicable conversion price for a period of at least 20 days during a 30 day trading window prior to the notice of redemption.
SiriusXM will be subject to certain standstill restrictions, including, among other things, that it will be restricted from acquiring additional securities of Pandora for 18 months. After that period and for so long as a director designated by it is serving on the Board of Directors, SiriusXM has agreed not to acquire more than 31.5% of Pandora’s equity securities without the approval of Pandora’s Board of Directors. The second closing contemplated by the agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including antitrust approval, and is expected to close by the fourth quarter. The agreement may be terminated by either party if closing has not occurred by February 1, 2018.
First Look at Upcoming Feature Film About Iconic Band The Tragically Hip and their Historic Man Machine Poem Concert Tour
On the heels of a special sneak peek at the conclusion of its annual Upfront presentation, CTV today released a first look at the upcoming CTV Feature Presentation, a film about Canada’s beloved The Tragically Hip, their challenging year, and their momentous cross-Canada Man Machine Poem Tour.
The film chronicles the emotional and epic lead up to the iconic Canadian band’s now-legendary 2016 tour that captured the heart of the nation. Viewers will be given a unique and exclusive perspective into The Tragically Hip’s world through intimate moments, behind-the-scenes and on-stage footage, personal interviews with the band and close friends, as well reactions from their devoted fans from across the country.
Commissioned by Bell Media, the documentary is set for a fall theatrical run, distributed by Elevation Pictures, ahead of its television premiere in late fall on Canada’s most-watched network, CTV. The network premiere will be followed by airings on various Bell Media and on-demand platforms, including The Movie Network, MUCH, and CraveTV.
The film is directed by renowned Canadian documentary filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier (Manufactured Landscapes, Act of God, Watermark), and produced by Banger Films’ Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn (HIP-HOP EVOLUTION, RUSH: BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE).
Universal Music Canada To Release Canada 150: A Celebration Of Music, June 30
Universal Music Canada is pleased to announce the June 30 release of a Canada 150: A Celebration Of Music. Issued on the eve of our nation’s sesquicentennial, these collections will be available digitally and in single CD, 2CD, and Super Deluxe 6CD Coffee Table Book editions, offering something for all Canadian music fans to celebrate.
“Assembling a package that sums up Canada’s 150 years would be impossible. A country as vast and diverse as ours, with rich histories from countless perspectives could not be contained in one place. But I believe it can be visited – and contemplated by viewing through the lens of the many thoughts expressed here in picture, story, and song,” says Jeffrey Remedios, President & CEO of UMC. “Hopefully, this one-of-a-kind odyssey across our country goes some way to answering the question of ‘how does a nation sing happy birthday to itself?’”
Packaged in a 60-page, 10×14” hardcover book, the Super Deluxe edition covers a great swath of our nation’s musical landscape from coast to coast. Included are some of the biggest and best in Canadian music from the ‘60s to today, themed across six discs that include current tracks, classic Pop and AC hits as well as one disc that reflects unique Canada-isms and geographical landmarks. The book features a double cover, with commissioned paintings from Marc Jordan and Murray McLauchlan on either front. Within are illustrations and symbols representing each province and territory in Canada. Essays and liner notes are provided by a number of the collection’s musical contributors as well as other prominent Canadians, including Rick Hansen, Tom Jackson, Bob Mersereau, Denise Donlon, and many others. Exclusive to the box set is a newly-recorded version of Leonard Cohen’s Tower of Song by Lighthouse, produced by Bob Ezrin.
The two-disc Now & Next version will equally highlight the most compelling current and coming generations of Canadian artists already topping global charts or heralding our rising future stars. The single disc ICON configuration highlights 11 of the most globally recognizable Canadian hits.
Pre-order Canada 150: A Celebration Of Music
Super Deluxe Coffee Table Book 6CD Edition
Disc 1: The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face / Hedley – Crazy For You (Radio Edit) / Justin Bieber – Sorry / Keisza – Hideaway / Shawn Mendes – Stitches (Canada Radio Version) / Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe (Single) / Shawn Hook – Sound Of Your Heart / Lights – Up We Go / The Sheepdogs – I Don’t Know / Serena Ryder – Stompa / Tegan and Sara – Walking With A Ghost / City And Colour – The Girl / Feist – I Feel It All / Broken Social Scene – Sweetest Kill / Metric – Help I’m Alive / Billy Talent – Fallen Leaves
Disc 2: Bryan Adams – Summer of ’69 / Colin James – Just Came Back / Tom Cochrane – Life Is A Highway / Avril Lavigne – Complicated / Loverboy – Working for the Weekend / The Spoons – Nova Heart / Platinum Blonde – Not in Love / The Pursuit of Happiness – I’m An Adult Now (original) / Barenaked Ladies – Lovers In A Dangerous Time / Corey Hart – Sunglasses At Night / The Northern Pikes – She Ain’t Pretty (Radio Edit) / Payola$ – Eyes Of A Stranger / Glass Tiger – Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone) (Single Mix) / Men Without Hats – The Safety Dance / Martha and The Muffins – Echo Beach / Rough Trade – High School Confidential / Gowan – A Criminal Mind
Disc 3: The TransCanada Highwaymen – It’s All Been Done / Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild (Single Version) / Bachman-Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet / Stampeders – Sweet City Woman / Lighthouse – Sunny Days / April Wine – Bad Side Of The Moon / Five Man Electrical Band – Signs / The Band – The Weight / Nick Gilder – Hot Child In The City / Alannah Myles – Black Velvet / Nickelback – Photograph / The Tea Party – Heaven Coming Down / Rush – Tom Sawyer / Triumph – Lay It On The Line / 54.40 – I Go Blind / Sloan – The Rest Of My Life / Teenage Head – Let’s Shake / The Headstones – Tweeter And The Monkey Man
Disc 4: Lighthouse – Tower of Song / Michael Bublé – Home / Ron Sexsmith feat. Chris Martin – Gold in Them Hills (Remix) / Bachman feat. Neil Young – Little Girl Lost / Marc Jordan Feat. Johnny Reid – Rhythm Of My Heart / Robbie Robertson – Somewhere Down The Crazy River / Bobby Bazini – Leonard Cohen / Daniel Lanois – Flametop Green / Sarah McLachlan – Angel / Cowboy Junkies – Misguided Angel / The Rankin Family – Fare Thee Well Love / Loreena McKennitt – The Mummer’s Dance (Single Remix) / Shania Twain – Man! I Feel Like A Woman / Alan Doyle feat. Ed Robertson – 1,2,3,4 / Nelly Furtado – I’m Like A Bird / Dream Warriors – My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style / Rascalz feat. Kardinal Offishal, Thrust, Choclair, Checkmate – Northern Touch
Disc 5: Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah / Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now / k.d. Lang – Constant Craving / Anne Murray – You Needed Me / Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme from “Titanic”) / Blue Rodeo – Try / Burton Cummings – Stand Tall (Live At Massey Hall) / Gino Vannelli – I Just Wanna Stop / Murray McLauchlan – Whispering Rain / Bruce Cockburn – Pacing The Cage / The Jeff Healey Band – Angel Eyes / Buffy Sainte-Marie – Up Where We Belong / Ian & Sylvia – Four Strong Winds / Jann Arden – Good Mother / Johnny Reid – What Love Is All About / The Tenors – Home I’ll Be / Tom Jackson – Promises (remake)
Disc 6: Big Sugar – O Canada / Catherine MacLellan – Singing Sands (CBC Radio 2’s Great Canadian Song Quest) / Matt Andersen – Alberta Gold / The Guess Who – Runnin’ Back To Saskatoon / Max Webster – Toronto Tontos / Spirit Of The West – Canadian Skye / Rush – Lakeside Park / The Trews – Highway Of Heroes / City And Colour – Coming Home / Dan Mangan – Pine For Cedars / Gordon Lightfoot – Canadian Railroad Trilogy / Sam Roberts – The Canadian Dream / Sarah Harmer – Escarpment Blues / Various Artists featuring Marc Jordan & Ian Thomas – Sing It Together / Stan Rogers – Northwest Passage / James Barker Band – Lawn Chair Lazy (AM Radio Mix) / Dean Brody – Canadian Girls / Kathleen Edwards – Hockey Skates / Stompin’ Tom Connors – The Hockey Song
2CD Now & Next Edition
Disc 1: The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face / Hedley – Crazy For You / Justin Bieber – Sorry / Keisza – Hideaway / Shawn Mendes – Stitches / Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe / Shawn Hook – Sound Of Your Heart / Lights – Up We Go / The Sheepdogs – I Don’t Know / Serena Ryder – Stompa / Tegan and Sara – Walking With A Ghost / City And Colour – The Girl / Feist – I Feel It All / Broken Social Scene – Sweetest Kill / Metric – Help I’m Alive / Billy Talent – Fallen Leaves
Disc 2: Alessia Cara – Here / Walk Off The Earth – Fire In My Soul / Dear Rouge – Black To Gold / Alx Veliz – Dancing Kizomba / Tory Lanez Feat. Sean Paul – LUV / Jazz Cartier – Tempted / The Strumbellas – Spirits / Arkells – My Heart’s Always Yours / Timbre Timbre – Black Water / Reuben And The Dark – Bow And Arrow / Whitehorse – Boys Like You / July Talk – Push + Pull / Mother Mother – Love Stuck / Grimes – Kill V. Maim
1 CD ICON Edition
Bryan Adams – Summer of ’69 / Tom Cochrane – Life Is A Highway / Shania Twain – Man! I Fell Like A Woman / Nelly Furtado – I’m Like A Bird / The Band – The Weight / Bachman-Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet / Rush – Tom Sawyer / Nickelback – Photograph / Robbie Robertson – Somewhere Down The Crazy River / Nick Gilder – Hot Child In The City / Glass Tiger – Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)
Vintage TV Canada launches on Rogers cable and satellite service
Vintage TV Canada, the nation’s only network focused solely on music performances, interviews, and carefully curated playlists, is delighted to announce it has been added to all subscription packages for Rogers customers. Vintage TV Canada is available on Channel 700, the first channel in the music and entertainment section of the dial. For some subscribers, the “music” button on their remotes will direct them to Vintage TV Canada instantly.
Launched in October 2016 on the Shaw Communications network, Vintage TV Canada derives its brand and ethos from seven-year-old Vintage TV in the UK, the most popular destination for music programmes in the country, routinely beating a wide range of entertainment offerings, including those carrying such eminent brands as Sky, MTV, Discovery, Sony and BT.
As well as having access to more than 800 hours of original content produced by Vintage TV in the UK, the Canadian channel is hard at work creating new programming, with some 40 hours already prepared, and more in the works. Among the artists featured on Vintage TV Canada are Tom Cochrane, Randy Bachman, Lights, Barenaked Ladies and many other legacy and up-and-coming Canadian talent, and look for a few hours of myself talking about my all-time favourite videos, too
Vintage TV Canada’s Creative Director, Alan Cross, is spearheading the effort to bring real music content to Canadian fans. “Vintage TV is committed to music and music programming that is of the utmost quality and unlike anything else available on TV. If you watch just once, you’ll be hooked,” he says.
Vintage TV Canada has the expertise of a diverse Board of Directors, including Sunni Boot – former President and CEO at ZenithOptimedia Canada; Deane Cameron – President and CEO of The Corporation of Massey Hall, Roy Thompson Hall; Rita Cugini – a communications industries expert and former CRTC Commissioner; and Ivar Hamilton – VP Catalogue & Sports Music Marketing, Universal Music Canada.
Bryan Adams, Andy Kim, Hedley To Receive SOCAN Awards
The sweet success of Canada’s most accomplished songwriters, composers and music publishers will be honoured at the 29th annual SOCAN Awards on June 19th in downtown Toronto, where Canadian rock legends of the last three decades will mix with today’s hottest Canadian producers, writers and publishers of urban, country, rock, film & television, jazz, electronic dance, folk-roots, pop and classical music.
Honourees will include:
- Bryan Adams & Jim Vallance – Canada’s greatest songwriting duo of the last 30 years will be honoured with the SOCAN Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the music industry’s greatest accolades.
- Nineteen85 – SOCAN Songwriter of the Year Award. The Grammy-winning Scarborough, Ontario-based producer behind many of SOCAN member Drake’s biggest songs, including “One Dance,” “Hotline Bling,” and “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” and hits by Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Hudson and Majid Jordan.
- Hedley – the British Columbia-based pop-rock band will receive the SOCAN National Achievement Award for the band’s massive career contributions to songwriting in Canada.
- 2017 JUNO Awards Breakthrough Artist of the Year Ruth B, country star Jess Moskaluke, global megastar Shawn Mendes, and international alternative R&B sensation Alessia Cara.
- “Sugar, Sugar” by Andy Kim – few songs made in Canada have achieved such global popularity as the immediately lovable 1969 hit co-written by one of Montréal’s favourite sons, who will receive the SOCAN Cultural Impact Award.
“Nowhere in Canada is such diversity of music creation and publishing celebrated as exuberantly as at the SOCAN Awards,” said SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste. “We will be honouring lifetime careers, recent bursts of global success, culturally significant songs and compositions and the business acumen of music publishers in equal measure. As with our counterpart awards gala in Montréal, the SOCANs are a night that is unique in the Canadian music ecosystem.”
“The SOCANs” will include live performances by world-renowned songwriter Ron Sexsmith; Derin Falana and Tay of The Remix Project; JUNO Award-winning alt-rockers July Talk; Jess Moskaluke; superstar film and television composer Keith Power; DJ-singer-songwriter-producer Shaun Frank; dance/electronic artist Delaney Jane; Ruth B; and a few surprise special guests. The show will be hosted by TV and radio personality Arisa Cox.
SOCAN achievement award winners are determined collaboratively between the Membership Committee of the SOCAN Board of Directors and leaders in the SOCAN Membership department.
More than 50 awards will be presented on the night for success in songwriting, composing and music publishing based on SOCAN data compiled over the last calendar year.
SOCAN Achievement Award winners will receive “The SOCAN” – the world’s first and only music industry trophy that’s also a musical instrument, incorporating five custom bronze crotales, tuned this year especially with notes from the chorus of “Summer of 69” by Adams and Vallance.
The full list of this year’s SOCAN Award winners will be released on the evening of June 19, 2017.
Sponsors of the 2017 SOCAN Awards are Gowling WLG, KPMG, Long & McQuade, Music Canada, Ontario Media Development Corporation, and Yamaha Canada. Official charity partner: Unison Benevolent Fund.
The SOCAN Awards have been held since 1990 as an annual show in Toronto and the Gala de la SOCAN in Montréal, which celebrates and honours the work of SOCAN’s Francophone members.
SOCAN connects more than four-million music creators worldwide and more than a quarter-million businesses and individuals in Canada. Nearly 150,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers are its direct members, and more than 130,000 organizations are Licensed To Play music across Canada. With a concerted use of progressive technology and a commitment to lead the global transformation of music rights, with wholly-owned companies Audiam and MediaNet, SOCAN is dedicated to upholding the fundamental truths that music has value and music creators and publishers deserve fair compensation for their work.
That Time Pearl Jam Dressed Up As Devo And Performed “Whip It”
Let’s go back to Pearl Jam’s Halloween 2009 concert in Philly, in which the group turned in a fun cover version of the 1980 Devo hit Whip It.
https://youtu.be/c5_H0RClfRY
Chris Martin performs Everglow with a fan in Munich
Last night at Coldplay’s show in Munich, Germany, Chris Martin invited a fan onstage to perform “Everglow” with the band. 19-year-old Ferdinand Schwartz was holding up a sign that read “Can I play Everglow for you?” Once Martin noticed him in the crowd, he invited Schwartz onstage. You know what happens next. That’s right. Pure awesomeness.
PJ Harvey and Ramy Essam Release ‘The Camp’ on Friday June 9th
PJ Harvey and Egyptian recording artist Ramy Essam have come together to write and record ‘The Camp’ – a track which they hope will raise awareness and much needed support towards the health and educational well-being of displaced children in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon.
‘The Camp’ will be digitally on Friday 9 June 2017. Harvey and Essam recorded the track in Bristol with Harvey’s longtime collaborator John Parish, who produced and mixed the track, and also appears on drums and guitars. The artists will donate all net profits from the track to Beyond Association in the Bekaa Valley, a national Lebanese non-Governmental Organization. Beyond Association provides services such as access to education, healthcare, and psycho-social support mainly through art therapy, neuro-physiotherapy, and recreational activities.
“It is hard to comprehend the scale of the crisis in Lebanon, a country of 4 million now hosting over 1 million Syrian refugees,” states photo-journalist Giles Duley whose arresting photographs feature in the official music video, edited by Rick Holbrook. “The infrastructure of the country is pushed to its limit, and nowhere is that situation more desperate than in the Bekaa Valley. However, there are some amazing organizations doing incredible, effective, and selfless work on the ground there, and all of the NGOs I have documented, none have impressed me more than Beyond. To visit their schools and witness their programs is to see hope – and that is something we have to support.”
Discussing how the project came to be, PJ Harvey explains how she instinctively knew that she wanted to collaborate with Essam; be it as a contribution to one of his ongoing projects, or something entirely new. “I began putting some ideas on paper, and sent over rough demos of two or three songs in their early forms,” recalls Harvey. One of these songs would ultimately become The Camp.
When discussing the subject matter of the track, Ramy Essam speaks of his experiences during the revolution in the streets of Egypt. “I dealt with fights, beating, torture and the loss of friends,” he explains. While Essam’s struggle continues, he speaks fondly of the unique opportunity to work with PJ Harvey. “She is a humble person and true artist that I only could dream to even meet – and now I’m singing with her for this important cause, for humanity,” said Essam of the collaboration. “It was an honour to work with PJ Harvey, and I found it so inspiring. It gave me a chance to live my dream for a while.”
“When Polly and Ramy asked me to help provide some of the visuals for The Camp, I had no difficulty in deciding what photographs we should use,” says Giles Duley. “In my work I have documented the effects of conflict and humanitarian disaster across the world, but little has had greater impact on me than the human drama I witnessed on the island of Lesvos in 2015. I thought I had seen it all, but I can honestly say I have never been so overwhelmed as by the human drama that I watched unfolding on those beaches. Its sheer scale was hard to comprehend; the lack of response impossible to explain or excuse. So it is those images from the beaches, and the refugees’ journey from Greece to Germany that we used in the video for The Camp.”