Billboard music producer executive, Terry “T-Nyce” Opoku, says Canadian record labels and Black artists in Canada need the right A&R’s and a stronger pipeline to the U.S. in order to be successful. Republished with permission from the author.
To those who have ears, let them listen!
I’ve been having conversations with my fellow Black colleagues regarding our Black artists here in Canada. It’s quite interesting, I must say. But I feel like we are at a space where only we (the Black folks) can tell our story. I highly suggest Black artists should have Black A&R’s helping to guide, shape, and rollout the story that connects with the audience. We don’t see enough of us Black folks who are professionally qualified in the building, guiding Black artist here in Canada.
Some would ask, “Hasn’t that always been the case?” Yes it has. They will not hire the Black A&R who is experienced and has strong relationships with their American counterparts. This is why we continue to miss the mark. Again, the goal is to break an artist in America, because we’ve already established that we can’t break artists in Canada. We are too small with a population of 40 million people, but that doesn’t mean we should forget home.
I have honestly made the mistake of trying to break an artist in America, while the artist is stationed in Canada. It never worked. Hence, the reason why I can touch on these matters. In fact, I realized in order to break Canadian artist in America, the artist must completely move there for a little bit to break through. Perfect example, Sadboi. She moved to Atlanta for a bit and started to tell her story with her team (LVRN) and it connected. She came back home to Toronto to tell the same story all over again, and now it’s connecting with Canada. Shoutout to LVRN, they are incredible at telling black artists story.
“When it comes to signing Black artists and creatives in Canada, labels in Canada should assign the right A&R executive who can speak the language of the artists…”
People always wonder why Black artists in Canada never want to sign in Canada first. Well, it’s two things. One, they think labels in Canada don’t have the money. And two, wrong A&R’s have been assigned by the labels here so artists don’t trust them to execute their vision and tell their story.
So what’s the solution? Here’s a solution. When it comes to signing Black artists and creatives in Canada, labels in Canada should assign the right A&R executive who can speak the language of the artists to position an understanding and structure early, to develop artists with their team first, then eventually upstream them to the American side. This becomes a win-win situation. Artists won’t be able to cut out Canadian territory in their deals, and Canadian labels here can be part of the development stage, but most importantly be part of the profit share. Even if they take a small portion of the pie, and do little work, while the labels in America do the majority of the work and carry the big load.
All of this can be done through relationships and communication between A&R executives from both sides. A strong relationship from an A&R on the Canadian side can structure a core idea and deals for signing artists early, then developing and connecting that artist through the pipeline of the strong relationships they have on the U.S. side.
Would you believe me if I told you the majority of the A&R executives individually in the Canadian label system don’t really have strong relationships or strong communication lines with the sister labels in America? Depending on which label, the A&R’s in America don’t know or have strong relationships with the Canadian side. I know and can freely speak on this because I am in the building doing business on both sides.
Now imagine if they did. Think of the bridge between the U.S. and Canada. Exporting and Importing. What I am essentially saying is without strong relationships from A&R executives, we will keep losing on talent. Just a reminder we’ve lost some incredible talent over a decade now (speaking from a label stand point). Here are just a few we’ve lost that labels in Canada had no clue about, or never jumped in early enough to sign and develop— Alessia Cara, Drake, The Weeknd, Tory Lanez, Shawn Mendes, Jessie Reyez, Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, Melanie Fiona, and the list goes on.
Yes, labels are shifting their model and downsizing, but they are also going back to what it used to be. They are believing in production labels again. It looks like we are heading back to labels being the distributor, partnering with many more production labels instead. That plan will forever work. It always worked. History shows it. Think of the Ruff Ryders, Roc-a-fella, So So Def, Murder Inc, Loud Records, SRC, Top Dawg, Big Machine, XO, OVO, QC, etc.
“…without strong relationships from A&R executives, we will keep losing on talent….A lot is changing in the music world, but Canada is still the lead hub for great talent.”
In conclusion, this isn’t about race. You don’t have to like me, nor my business practices, to know that help is needed. What this is about is simply connecting the broken bridge, and creating that strong pipeline between labels in Canada and U.S.
A lot is changing in the music world, but Canada is still the lead hub for great talent. I’m in the forefront when it comes to developing artists, putting them through my pipeline, my strong relationships across the border, to make their dreams come true.
Joel Naga is also doing incredible things for creatives, as well as Skip, on the developing side. Nobody else is operating at that level with any sort of success. Let that sync in. It is actually sad, and a bit crazy at the same time, but there is a Black A&R on the publishing side, Ricardo Chung, he is building that strong relationships with the U.S. side and creating opportunities for artists in Canada. The marathon continues. This is just my perspective on the labels vs artist scene in Canada; from a Black, African-Canadian perspective.
By the way, you can bet that I am being the change I’m seeking. Grateful for some of the doors open for myself and others here, in Canada. But a lot more doors have also been shut in my face. Yet, on the U.S. side I don’t experience this. Kinda hilarious. I still have hope; hope that one day a fellow Black man or woman with strong relationships on both sides of the border, will be appointed to run, and lead one of the labels in Canada, and will most importantly have better, fresh ideas, in connecting the dots and creating that relationship pipeline.
Terry “T-Nyce” Opoku is a Canadian Billboard Music Producer, Songwriter and the founder, owner, and CEO of Nycesound Production and President of Amory Records.
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