Some of the biggest Canadian music discoveries of the past year are vying for the prestigious $50,000 Polaris Music Prize, which recognizes the best Canadian album of the year.
The ten albums cover a range of genres, from hip-hop to singer-songwriter to roots to dance music, with the majority of albums being made by women, non-binary and Two-Spirit artists.
The winner will be announced at the Polaris Gala on September 17th at Toronto's Massey Hall, featuring Charlotte Cardin, Jeremy Dutcher, Bambii, NOBRO, TOBi and DijahSB. Beaches singer Jordan Miller is also set to perform with his band The Thunder Queens. No word on whether Nashville-based Alison Russell or the notoriously elusive Cindy Lee will appear.
The 2024 winner will join a group of past winners that includes big names like Feist, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Kaytranada, Tanya Tagaq and last year's winner, Debby Friday.
The Polaris Award honors albums based solely on artistic merit, without regard to sales or label relationships.
Shortlist for the 2024 Polaris Award:
BAMBII – INFINITY CLUB
The beaches – I blame my ex
Charlotte Cardin – 99 Nights
DijahSB — The flower she knew
Jeremy Dutcher — Motewolonuwok
Elizabeth – Inuktitut
Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee
NUMBER — Release your pussy
Alison Russell — The Returner
TOBI — Panic
– Rosie Long Decter
M for Montreal Announces Billboard Canada as a featured partner
Billboard Canada strengthens its commitment to the Quebec music market through a new multi-year partnership with M for Montreal starting in 2024. The strategic alliance promises to elevate the music industry on a grand scale.
For 19 years, M for Montreal has been an important step between Canadian artists and global music markets. The festival will host this year's edition from November 20 to 30, with more than 70 events, including conferences, industry mixers, the SuperVISION: Guild of Music Supervisors Rendez-Vous and more than 40 concerts, including more than 30 that will be open to the public through the annual MARATHON Festival presented by SiriusXM. This year's edition will feature acts like Bibi Club, Karkwa, Peter Peter, Soleil Launière, Vox Rea, myst milano. and more. In total, more than 100 artists are set to perform.
M for Montreal is an important gathering for the music industry, with representatives from all over the world: not just Quebec and the rest of Canada, but France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and beyond. With more than 500 local, national and international representatives, it acts as a business catalyst for Quebec's robust and unique music industry.
In 2023, there were 27.8 billion streams on on-demand audio streaming services in Quebec, a 16% increase from 2022, according to the report La consommation d'enregistrations musicaux en 2023 au Québec. Quebec artists Les Cowboys Fringants and Charlotte Cardin are among the 20 most streamed artists in the province, while Quebec icon Celine Dion returns to the charts after her Prime Video documentary debut.
M for Montreal has a strong reputation for helping artists connect with potential team members and collaborators, as well as for exporting Quebec and Canadian talent to the global market. Meetings and exhibitions are held in both French and English as well as other languages, connecting an increasingly multilingual music scene and building relationships with notable music professionals across borders.
“This partnership is incredibly important to us,” he says Amanda DorenbergCEO of Billboard Canada. “Billboard Canada chose to partner with M for Montreal because of their shared commitment to promoting local talent and promoting the music industry both locally and globally. M for Montreal is a cornerstone convention for both the Quebec market and the wider Canadian music scene. We are excited to partner with them to drive global influence and recognition.” – Richard Trapunsky
Quebec's music video channel MusiquePlus is back for a special one-night TV special
A classic Quebec canal will come back to life this September for a one-night-only celebration.
MusiquePlus, the French-language equivalent of MuchMusic, is back in the form of an upcoming hour-long TV special, MusiquePlus en Rappelwhich is set to air this fall.
The channel, which originally aired from 1986 to 2019, shone a spotlight on music videos and up-and-coming Canadian talent. The Bell Media special produced by Zone3 will look back at the station's heyday and feature performances from contemporary musicians such as singers Naomi and Soran and hip-hop artist Aswell.
Bringing back the format of the old MusiquePlus storefront, Artists of the monthor Artists of the Month, the special will be filmed at the Société des arts technologiques in Montreal in August and will be hosted by television and social media personality Chloée Deblois.
Like its English Canadian counterpart MuchMusic, MusiquePlus was founded by Moses Znaimer alongside Pierre Marchand and is now owned by Bell Media. MusiquePlus officially ceased broadcasting in 2019 when it was renamed Elle Fictions.
Although music video channels like MusiquePlus and MuchMusic are no longer staples of pop culture, nostalgia for them has a lot of appeal.
The MusiquePlus revival follows the 2023 documentary focusing on MuchMusic, 299 Queen Street West, which saw packed screenings in Toronto and Montreal last fall (the latter counted former MusiquePlus host Sonia Benezra in attendance). This documentary was also scheduled to air on Crave before it was pulled from the Bell Media streamer's schedule amid a copyright dispute related to music footage.
Like MusiquePlus, MuchMusic has had its own next-gen revival, most recently as the Bell Media TikTok channel. Each has been a formative and important part of the Canadian music industry over the past few decades, and there's clearly life in both.
MusiquePlus en Rappel will debut on Crave, Noovoo and Noovoo.ca on September 3 at 8 p.m. ET. – RLD
