Music Canada Advisory Council Members Set An Example for Industry Leadership and Collaboration

Gathering insights and perspectives from across the music community is a crucial part of Music Canada’s mission of inspiring Canadians to truly appreciate the power and value of music. To further our ability to act as an agent of change and thought leader in the music community, Music Canada has created an Advisory Council. Announced in March 2019, and reporting directly to the President & CEO, the Advisory Council is comprised of 14 exceptional and passionate individuals representing various constituencies in the music industry. The group is a cross section of leaders reflecting diversity in thoughts, gender and ethnicity among many other attributes.

On September 12th, the Music Canada Advisory Council held their third meeting in Toronto. Chaired by artist, record label owner, and music festival founder Miranda Mulholland, the meeting was designed to facilitate dialogue around issues impacting the music sector today, and to exchange ideas on potential solutions. Topics discussed included the important role of artist advocacy and the value of working with all political parties to advance policies that support Canadian creators.

Music Canada’s Sarah Hashem led the Advisory Council into a strategic positioning exercise to help map out the music ecosystem. The exercise highlighted difference of opinions in defining the parameters of the music industry and its far-reaching influence into other sectors ranging from technology to education. Council members committed to building an illustration reflecting their shared views of the music ecosystem. The work will continue in subsequent meetings.

“While the council’s work has just begun, we are already seeing the great value in industry leadership and collaboration,” says Miranda Mulholland. “The council creates opportunities for the exchange of ideas – not only between council members and Music Canada and vice versa – it also creates opportunities for council members to speak directly to each other, creating valuable discourse as we work together towards the common goal of strengthening the Canadian music ecosystem.”

Music Canada’s Chief Operating Officer Jackie Dean advised that Music Canada has contracted experts to build a skills matrix and perform a gap analysis for the Advisory Council. Jackie has been leading an industry wide Equity, Diversity and Inclusion initiative, a commitment that has earned Music Canada recognition at the Ontario Business Achievement Awards this year. The skills matrix will be used to identify skills needed on the council when appointing new members and will ensure that the composition of the Council continues to reflect the music community’s diversity in order to reflect the Canadian Music Industry at large.. 

“The insights shared by the Advisory Council in this meeting underscored the incredible value of hearing from diverse perspectives from across the music sector,” said Graham Henderson, President and CEO of Music Canada. “The council members are helping us develop a more thorough picture of the music ecosystem and providing us continuous feedback on our strategic initiatives activities.” 

The next meeting of the Advisory Council will take place in December 2019.