  Singer/pianist Daniel Powter. (SUN photo/Ernest Doroszuk) |
The 2006 Juno Award album, available at retail stores and digital service providers today (March 7) and benefiting Canadian music education programs, is a balanced reflection of the past year in Canadian music.
From breakthrough acts such as Daniel Powter with his hit “Bad Day,” Bedouin Soundtrack with “When The Night Feels My Song” and Massari with “Be Easy” to songs by perennial nominees like Blue Rodeo, Michael Buble, Jann Arden and Nickelback, the selection exposes fans of Canada’s established talent to some newcomers and vice-versa.
“ It really is a celebration of Canadian music because I don’t think people otherwise are thinking of a compilation in terms of Nickelback and Divine Brown and Great Big Sea and Feist all on the same package. It really is a show of support for what is Canadian,” says Toronto-based Lisa Zbitnew, president of Sony BMG Music Canada, the record company responsible for marketing and distributing this year’s Juno album.
A collaboration between all the major record companies — Universal Music Canada, EMI Music Canada, Warner Music Canada, and this year’s distributor, Sony BMG Music (Canada) Inc. — the meetings to determine what songs go on the CD begin long before the nominees are even announced by the Canadian Academy Of Recording Arts & Sciences (CARAS), the organization behind the Junos.
Taking into consideration sales figures, radio chart positions, and, in some cases, the artist’s history, committee members from each label, as well as CARAS, essentially guess who is likely to get nominated. They go through the list of submissions and start the licensing process, hoping they’ve got the majority of artists right.
The track-listing (see below) for the JUNO Awards 2006 compilation features songs by 18 nominees: Nickelback, Theory of a Deadman, Our Lady Peace, Hedley, Bedouin Soundclash, Metric, Daniel Powter, Rex Goudie, Feist, Great Big Sea, Kalan Porter, Massari, k-os, Divine Brown, Jann Arden, Boom Desjardins, Blue Rodeo, and Michael Buble.
“Because there’s this criteria of what gets on the package, our first choices are for album, single, group, and artist of the year categories,” explains Zbitnew. “You can get a pretty good sense of what has been selling very well over the course of the previous year for the majority of those categories.”
As with previous years, proceeds from the non-profit collection will go to CARAS’s MusicCan, a national music education program. Through initiatives such as Band Aid Grants, MusiCan provides schools with much-needed musical instruments that often help save music programs and inspire young Canadians to take up an instrument or continue with their lessons.
The previous three Juno Award albums have each gone gold, scanning about 50,000 units, according to Neilsen SoundScan Canada. Zbitnew is pleased with those sales figures.
“We expect it to do the same this season, which I think in the scheme of things needs to be celebrated too because the compilation business in Canada has been in steep decline over the last four years, so the fact that the demand for this maintains is great, particularly when the package is as diverse as it is,” she says.
This is the fourth consecutive years for the Juno album. Each years a different major label handles the marketing and distribution. The first year it was EMI Music Canada then Universal Music Canada, followed by Warner Music Canada. This year, Sony BMG Music Canada has the honour, and the process will repeat in 2007.
“Recognizing that all of the labels are in to support this, both for CARAS and specifically for MusiCan, it’s not like anybody is sitting crossed-armed going, ‘No you can’t have Blue Rodeo; you can’t have Our Lady peace; no you can’t have Nickelback,’” says Zbitnew. “So it comes together pretty fluidly because of that reason — everybody’s pretty much shaking each other’s hand and going, ‘Okay it’s all for the good.’”
Juno album '06 track listing:
1. Photograph by Nickelback
2. Santa Monica by Theory Of A Deadman
3. Where Are You by Our Lady Peace
4. On My Own by Hedley
5. When The Night Feels My Song by Bedouin Soundclash
6. Monster Hospital by Metric
7. Bad Day by Daniel Powter
8. Run by Rex Goudie
9. Inside & Out by Feist
10. Captain Kidd by Great Big Sea
11. Single by Kalan Porter
12. Be Easy by Massari
13. Man I Used To Be by k-os
14. Old Skool Love by Divine Brown
15. Where No One Knows Me by Jann Arden
16. Dieu by Boom Desjardins
17. Rena by Blue Rodeo
18. Home by Michael Bublé
