Country music is having a major moment in Canada and the CCMAs are getting one of the genre's biggest stars. Thomas Rhett will host the Canadian Country Music Association's annual awards ceremony on September 14, 2024 at Rogers Place in Edmonton. And the American star will be joined by a homegrown star, Alberta singer and actress Mackenzie Porter.
This year's awards come at a big time in Canadian country, with major festivals popping up across the country and new bridges being made with Nashville.
In addition to topping the Billboard Country Airplay chart 20 times, Rhett also has 16 No. 1 hits at Canadian country radio, so he's a natural choice to cross the border to host Canada's biggest country music awards.
“The way Canadian fans have embraced me throughout my career is something I never take for granted,” says Rhett Billboard Canada. “Every time we come there, we're blown away by the energy they bring and the love they have for country music.”
Traveling between Canada and Nashville, Porter is also making a lot of noise on both sides of the border. With 900 million streams already, he has a new album, No one is born with a broken heartwhich will be released on April 26th on Big Loud Records.
“I personally think this year will be the best show ever,” he continues. “Canadian country music has never been better and playing the show in Alberta, the home of country music, feels very fitting!”
CCMA President Amy Jenninga says they carefully selected the hosts “based on their significant contributions to the Canadian country music community,” with Rhett's significant Canadian fanbase playing “a critical role in our country's music ecosystem.” In addition, two of his band members are Canadian musicians, he notes.
Porter, meanwhile, is a great representative of Alberta's country music scene, he says. She's also a woman making waves in a genre usually overrepresented by male artists.
Nominations and programming have yet to be announced, but the CCMAs will take the lead from Country Music Week 2024, which kicks off in Edmonton on Wednesday, September 11.
The CCMAs will air on Saturday, September 14 at 8 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca and the CTV app. – Richard Trapunsky
Canadian songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. wins SOCAN award for Dua Lipa hit
Tobias Jesso Jr. made a splash as a solo recording artist, including a 2015 Polaris Music Prize shortlist for his album He continued, but has spent most of the last decade focused on writing for others. He has seen much international success, including winning the first Grammy for Songwriter of the Year.
Jesso Jr. now has a huge hit repertoire, contributing to songs by Adele, Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles, XXXTENTACION and more. Last year, he sold his goldmine catalog to Hipgnosis Song Management.
Now, he's getting some recognition back home, especially from the Canadian performing and collecting rights organization SOCAN. On April 5 in Los Angeles, Jesso received SOCAN's No. 1 Song Award for co-writing Dua Lipa's “Houdini.” This smash hit topped the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for 14 weeks starting in November 2023, and has garnered more than 380 million plays on Spotify and more than 104 million views on YouTube. – David Farrell & Richard Trapunski
Over 10% of the most streamed songs in Canada are by Canadian artists
According to a new report, of the 1,000 most streamed artists in Canada, 113 are Canadian. Laying a foundation for success, published by Music Canada—the association representing major record labels in Canada—takes a look at Canadian streaming data to determine whether Canadian artists are being heard. Studying the 10,000 most popular artists in Canada in 2022, Economist Will Page finds that 889 were Canadian. Of the 10,000 most popular songs, 1,013 were Canadian.
In the upper echelons of popularity, the trend holds: about 10% of the thousand most streamed artists and songs were Canadian. Canadian artists like Tate McRae and Charlotte Cardin beat out popular American stars like Selena Gomez on this list. Other Canadians among the 1,000 most streamed artists are country singer Josh Ross, Punjabi-Canadian artist Karan Aujla, pianist Alexandra Stréliski and singer Lauren Spencer Smith.
“In a world where fans can hear any artist, from any country in the world, and with almost every recorded song at their fingertips, listeners are choosing Canadian music,” says Music Canada's CEO. Patrick Rogers.
Of the 889 Canadian artists in the top 10,000, about 75% perform in English, while 20% perform in French. Page notes that the third most popular language segment is Punjabi music, which is also the fastest growing musical language in the country and accounts for 3% of the 889 musicians.
Recorded music revenue in Canada has doubled since Spotify launched in 2014, and is now as high as it was before iTunes launched in 2004. Page notes that according to consulting firm MIDIA, Canadian recorded music revenue they could soon reach one billion dollars for the first time.
The government is preparing to implement Bill C-11, the online streaming act, which became law last year, and Page's report suggests some policy changes. One is the “Command, Don't Dictate” approach, which involves modest government interventions, such as requirements that Canadian artists be highly indexed on playlists or that streaming services pay the Canadian music industry the same way radio stations do.
After all, for every one stream within Canada, Page writes, Canadian artists get about 10 overseas. Any government music strategy should focus on helping Canadian music thrive on the international stage, he says. – Rosie Long Decter
