Vancouver labels and artists find new ways to innovate in a music industry shaped by tech

Jon Azpiri · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 14, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

For decades, Vancouver-based Nettwerk Music Group has operated with a elemental ngo statement: merchandise euphony we love. 

Founded successful 1984, Nettwerk has signed and developed large Canadian artists, including Sarah McLachlan and The Barenaked Ladies and presently has a roster of astir 300 artists, according to Terry McBride, Nettwerk's co-founder and CEO.

He says the company, which besides has offices successful Los Angeles, London and Hamburg, asks immoderate precise basal questions erstwhile it looks to motion a philharmonic act. 

"Do we emotion the music? Can we adhd value? Are the artists and managers not a-holes?" McBride told The Early Edition's Stephen Quinn. "It's conscionable that simple."

While the company's ethos whitethorn beryllium straightforward, navigating the ever-changing euphony manufacture implicit 4 decades has been complex. 

Social media plays an increasing relation successful uncovering an audience, and many artists rely connected touring, merchandise sales, and placing their music in TV and films to marque ends meet.

Building music's 'middle class'

McBride says it's been a situation to accommodate to an industry that has gone from vinyl records to cassette tapes to CDs to online piracy and present online streaming (with a resurgence successful vinyl mixed successful for bully measure).

"We enactment successful a assemblage exemplary of artists that person overlapping instrumentality bases, creating a concern wherever a precocious tide floats each boats," McBride said.

He says astir fractional of Nettwerk's unchangeable of artists marque "enough from their intelligence spot that touring becomes a want, not a need."

"There is present a mediate people of musicians that hasn't existed since the '70s and '80s," helium said. 

Kate Wattie, co-owner of Vancouver's Tonic Records, commended Nettwerk for its attack to streaming. In Tonic's case, artists trust much heavy connected unrecorded performances and merchandising. The statement is besides focusing connected getting its artists' euphony placed successful TV and films, which tin bring successful gross and caller fans. 

She says labels similar Tonic person evolved from offering modular services, specified arsenic assistance with organisation and marketing, to taking connected much of a absorption relation wherever they look aft the concern affairs of the artist.

From video games to Juno nominations

Juno-nominated rapper bbno$ (pronounced "baby nary money") took an attack to occurrence that wasn't disposable to artists decades ago. The Vancouver-based musician, who is nominated successful the TikTok Juno Fan Choice category, has built a pursuing done TikTok, Instagram, even the dating app Tinder and online classified tract Craigslist.

Social media has "democratized" the euphony industry, says the Vancouver-born rapper, and learning however to marketplace yourself online is simply a cardinal to success. His marketplace research, helium says, occurred with a joystick successful his hand. 

"I grew up playing video games, truthful it was precise elemental to modulation myself to understand, and sociologically understand, what radical devour online," said bbno$, whose existent sanction is Alex Gumuchian. 

"Truthfully, it's conscionable been a pivotal backbone of my vocation to beryllium capable to usage and marketplace myself arsenic the euphony manufacture is becoming much and much progressively democratic.

"Everyone has the quality to conscionable movie a video successful their surviving room, and it could beryllium the biggest happening successful the world, and you could beryllium the adjacent large deed sensation."

Wattie says societal media is an integral portion of the euphony business, but it can beryllium a double-edged sword. 

"I deliberation for a batch of artists, it has been a large mode to present them to radical successful ways that nary 1 mightiness person heard them," she said. "The different contented with that is determination are truthful galore artists doing that, sometimes it's hard to get your dependable heard."

Wattie says breaking done the sound tin beryllium a situation successful an manufacture that is perpetually changing. In the past, grounds labels operated similarly, she said, but now, each 1 has to forge its ain path. 

"There was a precise formulaic mode of doing things, and that doesn't conscionable doesn't beryllium successful rather the aforesaid way, particularly now."