Manitoba Music Export Puts Local Music on the National and International Stage

Over a Dozen Manitoba Artist Entrepreneurs to Make Music Business Connections in Nine Cities Over the Next Three Months

Manitoba Music is gearing up to launch Manitoba Music Export, a packed season of export and market development events, across nine cities in three months featuring over a dozen local acts. The not-for-profit, member-driven music industry association will be presenting opportunities for several export-ready music entrepreneurs and connecting homegrown talent to influential industry contacts in key music markets in Canada, the U.S., and Germany.

Things will kick off south of the border with a return to music mecca Nashville for the AmericanaFest. Manitoba Music will combine its exporting power with prairie counterparts SaskMusic and Alberta Music to present events during the massive fest under the BreakOut West banner. The September 14 showcase at East Nashville haunt, The Groove, will feature a Manitoba act already turning heads in the hot Americana market, roots/pop outfit Sweet Alibi. The prairie triumvirate will also co-host a networking event with Nashville-based music publishers on September 12 featuring purveyors of Southern rock The Proud Sons, and more.

Simultaneously, the road to BreakOut West will be paved with export showcases and networking opportunities across the western Provinces, including a pre-BreakOut West stop in Winnipeg. Manitoba Music will take over The Good Will Social Club on September 12 for a showcase featuring yacht rockers The Middle Coast, indie darling Micah Erenberg, and electro-RnB trio ATLAAS. International industry reps will be in town to take in the showcase, speak about export-readiness, and meet with local industry and artists. Some of the best in the west – including Western Canadian Music Award nominees Mobina Galore, Kelly Bado, Madame Diva, and Alpha Toshineza – will then converge in Edmonton for the 15th edition of BreakOut West.

Indie rock outfit Mise en Scene, singer/songwriter Sierra Noble, and introspective pop act Boniface will head overseas with Manitoba Music for a return to the Reeperbahn Festival at Hamburg’s Kukuun on September 21 and 22. The delegation will also stop in Berlin for meetings with German music companies.

Manitoba Music closes out September with the third edition of the Manitoba X Minnesota Music Exchange. Teaming up once again with Minnesota Public Radio's The Current, the project deepens connections with Minnesota-based industry and media, offering the chance for four export-ready acts to expand their audience base and network with key industry players. This year’s event expands to three showcases, including a new stop in Fargo, featuring hip hop triad 3PEAT and electronic pop band VIKINGS alongside two Minnesota acts, and lands at The Good Will Social Club in Winnipeg on September 29.

Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern will play host to Boniface, punk rockers Tunic, dark synthpop duo Ghost Twin, and rapper Hellnback, who’ll perform for and network with key industry players on October 24, including labels, agents, publishers, supervisors, publicists and more.

On the horizon, Manitoba Music will head to Ottawa for showcases at the annual Folk Music Ontario conference, October 19-22. The fourth Montreal edition of Francophone music development project, Rame à la rencontre, will offer showcases and professional development, November 6-7. Manitoba Music will join a trade mission to Denver featuring indie rock five-piece Yes We Mystic, November 8-11. Details and performer lineups will be announced prior to each event.

Bringing Manitoba music to new markets and intensifying trade activity in existing markets is a key component of Manitoba Music Export initiatives. Manitoba Music Export is funded by the Province of Manitoba, FACTOR and the Government of Canada, Manitoba Film & Music, and Manitoba Trade & Investment. Through events like these, Manitoba Music is able to increase the connection between our province’s music industry and the broader national and international industry, which is vital to the career advancement of Manitoba artists and industry professionals, and contributes to the growth and development of Manitoba’s economy.