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Canada is the third biggest exporter of music to the world.
That’s according to the inaugural “export power” ranking in Luminate’s 2024 year-end report. The music data tracking company, which also tabulates Billboard’s charts, defines export power as “a country’s ability to export recorded music globally.”
Canada is behind only the U.S. and the U.K., which hold the top two spots on the export power ranking. Canada’s top importers of music are the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, while Canada is also the number one importer of music from the U.S., emphasizing the entwined nature of Canadian and American markets.
The rest of the top ten is rounded out by South Korea, Germany, France, Puerto Rico, Australia, Sweden and Brazil.
While that might seem like good news for Canadian music, the report also includes some indicators that Canada is not in a growth period for exporting music.
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When it comes to the share of global premium (audio and video) streams, Canada saw the third largest decline last year, with its share down from 3.73% to 3.34%, also behind the U.S. and U.K. Mexico, Brazil and India had the biggest stream share growth.
That points to a trend where music from the global south — and in languages other than English — is seeing a major explosion in popularity.
The report also highlights that English and non-English-language countries are showing different trends when it comes to local vs. foreign content.
“English-speaking markets are losing local share to non-English language imports,” the report states, “while many non-English speaking markets show local content gaining share.”
That provides further evidence that non-English language music is on the rise across the board. In the U.S., Mexico and Chile (and, surprisingly, Ireland) had the biggest stream share gains, while Canada, the U.S. and Nigeria saw the biggest stream share declines. Canada also saw some of the highest stream share declines in the U.K., Australia, Japan and Brazil.
Canadian songwriters, however, are going strong, thanks in part to a few of pop’s biggest stars.
Canada ranks third for songwriter representation among 2024’s top 1000 most-streamed songs, again behind the U.S. and the U.K.
The Weeknd is a big reason for that position, ranking third amongst the most prolific and the most-streamed songwriters in the top 1000 streamed songs.
Pop comes out as the fastest-growing genre in the U.S., followed by rock, Latin music and country. That growth is led by a big year for women pop singers like Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter — and Canada’s Tate McRae, who places at No. 9 on Luminate’s Pop Artist Rank for the U.S.
Find more on Canadian data and trends in Luminate’s Year-End Report here.
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Unison Fund Launches Relief Program For Canadian Music Workers Affected By Los Angeles Fires
Canadian music industry charity Unison Fund has launched a new support program for music workers affected by the Los Angeles fires.
The Natural Disaster Relief Program provides one-time payments of $2,500 to Canadian music workers facing losses from natural disasters, including the wildfires.
The program is the latest initiative offering support to music industry members who have suffered devastating losses in the fires, which have resulted in at least 27 deaths destroyed more than 12,000 structures. The Palisades Fire is 22% contained as of Thursday, January 16, and the Eaton Fire is 45% contained.
“With so many Canadian music professionals living and working in L.A., it was important to create a program that offers meaningful support during difficult times like these,” executive director Amanda Power tells Billboard Canada.
“The Unison Fund Natural Disaster Relief Program is our way of helping our music community, providing immediate support to help rebuild lives and livelihoods after a crisis.”
Founded in 2010, Unison provides counselling and emergency relief services to Canadian musicians and the music community. The charity previously provided emergency support during 2020 and 2021 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, disbursing over $3.5 million in pandemic assistance.
Among the Canadians affected by the fires include Grammy-winning producer Greg Wells, who lost his home, and musicians Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida who were forced to evacuate. Tim Darcy of Canadian band Cola lost his house in the fire, with friends and community members fundraising to help Darcy and his partner Amy Fort, of FSR Radio.
To qualify for the Disaster Relief Program, applicants must have worked in the music industry for five consecutive years, with a majority of their income coming from music.
Anxious by nature, Matthew Willems has always been a planner. Founder of the electronic music label Perfect Driver and an engineer, DJ and producer who makes music as Matthew Anthony, Willems spent much of Monday, Jan. 6 at his apartment window. There he observed the strong, strange wind howling through Altadena, the eastern Los Angeles neighborhood where he and his girlfriend, Nicole Perkins, had lived for years.
Between the wind and lack of rain, Willems was uneasy. By 4 p.m. on Tuesday, he and Perkins packed go-bags with items including birth certificates, laptops and USB drives containing the source files for every track he’s ever produced and positioned them at the door of their one-bedroom apartment. At 6:50 p.m., they got the update Willems had been fearing.
“My friend who lives a mile down the hill said, ‘Dude, get out of your house immediately. The sky above it is red. I can see flames,’” he recalls.
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A minute later, the couple and their dog, a pittie mix named Honey, were driving away. On the road they passed six fire trucks heading into the neighborhood, the sirens and wind creating an urgent duet. An hour later, they’d made it to a friend’s house across town in Venice, at which point their phones blasted the emergency alert to evacuate Altadena. By the next morning, their entire neighborhood — the hardware store, the dive bar, the restaurants and houses, including their own — was destroyed.
“It was like a plane crashed, or a bomb went off, or like we were attacked in an active war zone,” Willems says of the scene he witnessed after he crossed police barricades and went to assess the damage on the evening of Jan. 8. As he left that night, he saw the president’s motorcade entering his neighborhood to tour the devastation.
Willems, like so many others in Los Angeles this month, lost everything: clothing, keepsakes and all his studio equipment. At the same time, thousands of residents of Pacific Palisades and Malibu were fleeing their own homes as another monster inferno devoured city blocks. And his story is an all-too-familiar one across the city, as the fires continue raging into their second week with definite end, much less a timeline to repair the damage or rebuild.
On Jan. 11, California Governor Gavin Newsom told Meet the Press that these fires will likely be considered one of the worst natural disasters in United States history. At least 27 people and countless animals died and approximately 12,300 structures were damaged or destroyed, to the cost of an estimated $250 billion so far. These numbers are stunning. They also do little to fully relay the feelings of panic, shock and devastation permeating Los Angeles during a week when ash rained even on parts of the city that weren’t actively aflame.
Like many other groups in Los Angeles, the city’s music community has been hit hard, and is suffering. A widely circulated spreadsheet of music industry professionals who have lost their homes contains more than 360 names — of musicians, publicists, engineers, studio techs, podcast hosts, photographers, record executives and more, along with numbers tallying respective spouses, children and pets. The list includes legendary producer Bob Clearmountain, Griffin Goldsmith of the band Dawes, the musician Poolside and many others, both well-known and rank-and-file industry members; many entries include GoFundMe links, as people search for ways to try to rebuild at least some semblance of the lives they led before the flames.
“Every piece of gear. Every guitar. Every flier I saved. Every record I dug for years and years. It’s all gone in an instant,” Poolside, whose real name is Jeffrey Paradise, wrote on Instagram while sharing videos of his smoldering home.
Some are finding solace in a determination to be helpful to those in need, and both the music community and the general population have taken quick action to support survivors. Within hours of the first fires, a dizzying number of volunteer opportunities were created to provide shelter, food, clothing and other support. The operators of Zebulon, an independent venue in the city’s Frogtown neighborhood, have transformed the space into a donation hub where volunteers have spent days accepting and sorting clothing, diapers, sleeping bags and other necessities. Guitar Center’s non-profit Music Foundation is helping musicians replace lost instruments, while We Are Moving the Needle is offering micro-grants to early and mid-career creators.
Outside of official organizations, a quick scroll through Instagram after the fires first broke out found individuals offering services ranging from free acupuncture to sketches of the homes people lost.
“The response has been immediate,” says Alejandro Cohen, director of music content at the city’s globally influential NPR affiliate, KCRW. “It’s been heartwarming to see the outpouring of support in the form of something as simple as saying, ‘I’m here thinking of you,’ to financial donations, to material donations in the form of instruments or in the form of saying, ‘I have a recording studio. Do you want to come and finish the job you were working on?’ Any form of support you can imagine, everyone is offering it up.”
The station itself is serving the community by quickly building a robust online resource hub for how to get and give support, along with, Cohen says, just “sharing the music that provides comfort, companionship and sometimes even just a way to escape for a moment.”
The fires have upended the city’s event schedule and rippled through the music industry at large. The Weeknd cancelled his Jan. 25 show at the Rose Bowl and postponed the release of a new album, while Beyoncé postponed an announcement scheduled for Jan. 14. Many shows have been cancelled or postponed, with others shifting gears to become fundraisers. Meanwhile many large and small-scale benefits by a genre-spanning collection of artists and promoters will happen throughout the city in the coming weeks.
A Jan. 8 photo of a mobile home park that destroyed during the Palisades Fire.
Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty Images
On Jan. 13, while firefighters were still working to contain the Palisades and Eaton Canyon fires, the Recording Academy announced the Grammy Awards ceremony will still happen on Feb. 2 at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, along with myriad related events such as the annual MusiCares fundraiser, which will raise funds for relief efforts. (Amid some backlash, the statement by the Academy stressed that all of the events “will have a fundraising element.”) MusiCares tells Billboard that it has already received more than 2,000 requests for assistance from music professionals affected by the fires, with the volume of need exceeding $4 million.
Universal, BMG, Sony and Warner, among other music companies including Billboard, subsequently cancelled their parties and events around the ceremony, with some of the money used to host these parties being diverted to fire aid support. Meanwhile, artists including Metallica, the Eagles, Doja Cat and Beyoncé have pledged millions to help support victims, as have corporations like Amazon, YouTube, Netflix and more.
But so far, Willems says the only immediate assistance he’s received has been from his GoFundMe. The day after his home was destroyed, he spent three hours on the phone with FEMA trying to access a $770 grant the organization is offering to fire victims; FEMA’s support team ultimately wasn’t able to provide the money. Willems says his email to MusiCares has not yet been answered, given the sheer volume of requests for assistance.
“Our team is working tirelessly to process these requests with the utmost care and urgency,” says Laura Segura, executive director of MusiCares. “Each individual’s request is carefully reviewed to ensure effective and equitable support is provided. For those with more significant needs — such as individuals experiencing medical challenges, the loss of essential music equipment, or longer-term displacement — we are conducting additional follow-ups to offer tailored assistance.”
“The minute I heard the apartment was gone I wrote copy [for my GoFundMe], found a compelling image then emailed the fundraiser to my music friends,” says Willems. “That’s the real community backing me up.” Willems has thus far been offered help by headliner level DJs he’s never spoken to before, along with many fellow artists and industry professionals who are sending money, helping him and his girlfriend find a new place to live and just checking in daily to make sure they’re okay.
Among the many things Willems lost in the fire was a jacket he got while working at electronic digital download platform Beatport. “I was really proud of that coat,” he says. “The someone else who works there was like, ‘Hey man, you can have mine.’ So now I own one coat.”
He calls such acts of kindness stabilizing in a deeply stressful and uncertain moment, when he and others have lost their homes, all their belongings and the sense of safety created by these things. Many of these people have reported bumping into price gouging as they re-enter the city’s already expensive rental market. Willems, like many others, observed looters rooting through burned down homes in Altadena before the fire was even out. He says he and Perkins will not be returning to the neighborhood, largely due to concerns about air quality during the coming cleanup.
“It’s not a day, and it’s not a week,” says Willems. “This is a recovery that’s going to take us years. We haven’t stood in front of our apartment to have a good cry. We haven’t had a chance yet. We’re too busy trying to not get f–ked.”
For more information or to apply for support, contact MusiCares at MusiCaresRelief@musicares.org or call 1-800-687-4227. To donate, visit musicares.org/firerelief.
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Kid Cudi was the victim of a home burglary that went on a little longer than it should have after the perpetrator was caught making himself a bit too comfortable and was eventually caught. The man was seen on Kid Cudi’s security system having a meal, a shower, and even using the bathroom before authorities nabbed him.
TMZ reports that the Los Angeles home of Kid Cudi, real name Scott Mescudi, was burglarized this week, with footage from Wednesday (Jan. 15) showing the shirtless man using the shower, having a meal, relieving himself, and generally enjoying the fruits of Cudi’s labor tax-free. Police arrived at the home around 5 PM local time and took the unidentified suspect into custody without incident.
Cudder wasn’t home when the crime took place so thankfully he was unharmed. It wasn’t listed in the report if any items from the home were stolen or if the man was just making a much-needed pit stop being going about his day. As the outlet notes, the breaking and entering came with a high ticket of. felony burglary and theft of utilities along with being held behind bars on $150,000 bail.
Cudi has been busy on both the acting and music front with his role in the Knuckles series starring Idris Elba, along with a role in M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap film. Cudi also released his two studio albums, Isano and Insano (Nitro Mega).
So far, Kid Cudi hasn’t made a public statement about the crime or the arrest.
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Photo: Getty
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams was set to meet with Donald Trump in Florida, with many claiming he’s after a federal pardon.
A spokesperson for embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed that he would be meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday evening (January 16). “Mayor Adams has made quite clear his willingness to work with President-elect Trump and his incoming administration on behalf of New Yorkers — and that partnership with the federal government is critical to New York City’s success,” City Hall spokesman Fabian Levy said in an email. “The mayor looks forward to having a productive conversation with the incoming president on how we can move our city and country forward.”
The Democratic mayor’s meeting with Trump wasn’t on his public schedule for Friday (January 17) until early morning. The meeting is set for 1 P.M., where Adams said that the two will discuss “New Yorkers’ priorities”. The city will be funding the trip according to City Hall. Adams is the latest Democratic politician to meet with the president-elect; Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman recently visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Adams’ visit comes months before he is to stand trial after being indicted on federal charges of wire fraud, bribery, and accepting illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Adams was accused of pressuring the New York City Fire Department to approve a new high-rise building for the Turkish Consulate despite prominent safety issues with the construction. He also allegedly accepted over $100,000 in luxury travel, including hotel accommodations from Turkey and other nations. Trump has been publicly sympathetic to Adams, even hinting that he could pardon him after beginning his second term in the White House. Adams has also stated that he was interested in attending the inauguration next Monday in Washington, D.C.
The visit has drawn numerous critics, who see it as another brazen ploy to obtain a federal pardon. “Eric Adams should state immediately that he will not seek or accept a pardon from Donald Trump,” Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, said to the New York Times. “New Yorkers deserve to know that their mayor is putting their interests ahead of his own.” Others such as Rolling Stone contributor Noah Shachtman took a more sarcastic tone. “It’s such a relief to know that the mayor is spending every waking moment looking out for the people of New York,” he wrote in a post on BlueSky.
Chappell Roan has returned to No. 1 on the U.K. Official Albums Chart with The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, 15 months after its initial release in September 2023. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The debut LP from the Missouri singer has spent 40 […]
Gracie Abrams continues her reign over the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart, landing her eighth week at No. 1 with “That’s So True.”
The track, from the U.S. songwriter’s second LP The Secret Of Us, first hit the top spot in November, where it remained for five consecutive weeks until Wham!’s festive classic “Last Christmas” reached the summit. “That’s So True” marked Abrams’ first No. 1 in the U.K., and has stayed in the top spot following the holiday season.
Abrams’ closest challengers also maintain the same chart positions as the tally datedJan. 10. ROSÉ and Bruno Mars team-up “APT.” stands at No. 2, while Lola Young’s “Messy” comes in once again at No. 3.
Gigi Perez’ previous chart-topper “Sailor Song” lands at No. 4, while “The Days” from Bolton-born DJ and producer Chrystal rounds out the top five.
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2025 BRITs Rising Star winner Myles Smith continues his hot streak with “Nice to Meet Ya” rising to No. 6. It marks his second top 10 single in recent months, with silvery pop anthem “Stargazing” having peaked at No. 4 last year before being named by the Official Charts Company as the biggest single by a British act of 2024.
Sabrina Carpenter’s “Bed Chem” (No. 10) returns to the top 10 for the first time since November, while Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” is also enjoying a comeback moment, leaping six places back into the top 20 (No. 16).
Elsewhere on the chart, Hozier’s BBC Live Lounge cover of Arctic Monkeys’ “Do I Wanna Know?” – initially released in 2014 – enters at No. 26, having recently taken off on TikTok. This marks the fifth top 40 single from the Irish musician. “Push 2 Start” from Afrobeat superstar Tyla, meanwhile, earns a brand new peak this week (No. 23). Notably, influential alt-pop artist Imogen Heap earns a major career first, as she gains her first-ever U.K. top 40 entry as a solo act with “Headlock” (No. 37). Originally featuring on 2005 LP Speak for Yourself, the track’s resurgence is thanks to its inclusion in the 2024 horror game Mouthwashing.
In today’s episode of ‘Billboard Unfiltered,’ Billboard staffers Trevor Anderson, Kyle Denis and Damien Scott react to LiAngelo Ball signing a deal with UMG & Def Jam after “Tweaker” became a viral sensation, Drake’s defamation lawsuit against UMG over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” and more! Kyle Denis: Like give to people who actually do […]
ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” is now solely the highest charted song by an act prominent in K-pop (Korean pop) on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, as it ascends a spot to No. 4 on the latest, Jan. 25-dated ranking. The song surpasses BTS’ “Dynamite,” which peaked at No. 5 on the radio ranking in December […]
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B.M.F founder Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory is throwing a concert celebrating his freedom after 16 years of federal detention.
The 56-year-old drug kingpin was originally sentenced to 30 years in prison following his 2008 conviction for drug trafficking and money laundering. According to the Associated Press, he was released to a residential reentry program in Miami in October. His official release from federal custody is scheduled for the end of this month, setting the stage for the concert scheduled Feb. 13 at the Amerant Bank Arena in Miami. A flyer of the event is floating around on social media.
According to Complex, the show is produced by XO Touring and AG Touring. The show aims to unite the music industry in honoring Big Meech. Dubbed the Big Meech Welcome Back Legacy Concert, the show will feature performances by Lil Baby, Rick Ross, Sexxy Red, 21 Savage, 42 Dubb, Moneybagg Yo, and a slew of Detroit rappers including Payroll Giovanni, Tee Grizzley, Babyface Ray, and Icewear Vezzo.
The Detroit native and his brother Terry “Southwest T” Flenory are notorious for their criminal enterprise and foray into the music industry in Atlanta during the early 2000s with affiliations with Bleu DaVinchi and Jeezy. At the height of the B.M.F’s success, a billboard loomed over Atlanta with the ominous message, “The World is B.M.F’s.”
The brothers’ life story has been brought to the small screen with a series on Starz produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and starring Meech’s son, Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory, Jr. In a 2023 interview with CassiusLife, Lil Meech said, “I’ve always looked up to my dad. But, I didn’t want to be him. I wanted to make a way for myself, like he did…but my own legacy.”
Season 4 of BMF will drop in the middle of 2025. Per The Direct, Creator Randy Huggins has hinted at possible time jumps to accelerate the story, suggesting that the show may delve into the complexities of the BMF’s rise before its eventual downfall in the early 2000s.
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The problems between Cam’ron and Jim Jones continue to be a hot topic in Hip-Hop. Maino is doing damage control with Cam’s story about being confronted by Jim, but the internet proves that Cam’ron was right.
As per HipHopDX, Maino paid a visit to Way Up With Angela Yee. During the broadcast the radio personality asked him about the recent headlines Cam’ron made when he said that Jim Jones pressed Maino about some lyrics and Maino didn’t go for it. To hear Maino tell it, Cam’s version of the story wasn’t 100% accurate. “The song he’s talking about is the song that put me in the game, ‘Rumors,’ where I was talking about all the rumors in the industry,” he explained. “The thing about that is I mentioned [Cam’ron] in the song; I didn’t mention Jimmy. Jimmy didn’t like me [because of that] so when we saw each other, we would have these ‘face fights,’ but nothing ever happened.”
Maino went on to detail how he and Jim Jones settled things during a random moment while shopping at a mall in Atlanta. “He didn’t approach me and press me or none of that. We had a conversation. It wasn’t spectacular, nobody swung. Once we started to talk and realized that we had things in common, we were cool from that point on. We’ve been way cooler than we were [enemies] because we didn’t know each other. That was a long time ago.”
During The Breakfast Club DJ Envy also chimed in on the previous tension that Maino and Jim Jones had and told a story where Maino pretended to have a gun on him in order to get the Byrd Gang to back up. During the same segment with Angela Yee he said that DJ Envy’s story was also incorrect. “I think maybe Envy is maybe confusing some incidents that maybe he was a part of because for one I’ve never in my life ever faked like I had a gun for nobody,” Maino added.
But one thing about the Internet, it always keeps receipts. Back in 2021, DJ Envy was a guest on Maino’s podcast Kitchen Talk. During the episode DJ Envy explained how the two originally met on the wrong foot but would soon become close friends. So close they would frequently go to nightclubs together. One night while partying, they see Jim Jones and DJ Envy tells the same story about the fake gun while Maino is sitting right next to him. If body language is any indicator, it seems that Maino was in agreement with Envy’s recollection of that evening.
You can see DJ Envy tell the story with Maino below.