Urban Artist: Canada vs US Podcast Urban Artist: Canada vs US

In the final episode of the series, we pose the burning question to Mr. Jermaine Jones; an artist manager in the urban music field. Jermaine is a native of Toronto, a co-owner of LC Films in Toronto, and manages artists such as hip hop artist Supreme Swiss. A true entrepreneur, he also has close ties to people in the industry in the United States, and he believes it is key for a Canadian urban artist to have exposure in the United States.
This is our final podcast of the four part discussion. We would like to thank everyone who helped out with this, the people we interviewed, Mrs. Kathleen Farley for teaching us how to create and promote podcasts, and of course, all our listeners or anyone who checked out our page. Thanks a lot, and let's held find a solution to the problem of exposure for Canadian urban artists!

This episode, we interview Mr. Don Garbutt, instructor, producer, and electronic music guru. Mr. Garbutt has performed solo electronic music, toured Europe in the folk duo Skyboat, provided technical support for many acts including David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Oscar Pederson, Lou Reed, and The Tragically Hip, to name a few. He produces and composes music of all genres, and has a gold record for producing track of Canadian urban artist Keshia Chante, who is from Toronto. He won a Juno award for this production.
He is currently composing and producing music for Chubby Checker, among various other projects, and is an instructor at the Harris Institute for the Arts. This just scratches the surface of his experience and credentials, and he is a perfect figure to be interviewing in the topic of Canadian urban music, having won a Juno and gotten a gold record for producing a Canadian urban act.

Bob Roper, President of the Bob Roper Company, was interviewed in this episode of Urban Artists: Canada Vs US.

Bob Roper has been involved in the music industry, both in the United States and Canada, since 1969. He was a perfect person to pose the question of "Why Canadian urban artists have a tougher time growing on the world stage than American urban artists." Mr. Roper has been an Independent Tour Manager, Ontario Promotion Rep with A&M Records, Ontario/B.C. Promotion Rep and National Promotion Director for Capitol-EMI Records, Tour Manager for Supertramp, Marketing Manager with Concert Productions International, General Manager of Elephant Records, VP of Anthem Entertainment Group, and was Executive Producer for the Juno Awards two years running. He is currently managing well known artists, and is an instructor at the Harris Institute for the Arts. His very broad experience is perfect for the type of question we asked.

In this episode, we discuss Mr. Roper's response.

Will Strickland of Urban Music Association Of Canada was the first to be interviewed on the topic of Urban Canadian exposure Vs American.


Will Strickland's career as a trailblazer is extensive and ever-expanding. Starting in 1986, this true hip hop culture enthusiast started his career as one of the youngest deejays and on-air personalities in the country while still in high school, parlaying this experience into his own college, community & commercial radio shows and a local video show once he matriculated to Rice University in 1988 on an academic and athletic scholarship. Will added to his collegiate laurels by launching UrbanArt Marketing and Promotions, a marketing, promotions and consulting firm, dealing with such corporate giants as Nike, HBO, Coca-Cola and more!

Full Biography on Will Strickland here: http://www.umacunited.com/board/#will