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Canadian Music Week 2023 was recently held in Toronto. The events sparked talks about the impact of AI on the music industry and efforts to combat streaming fraud. The conference also featured events honoring and celebrating hip hop’s 50th anniversary.
The 5-day CMW is taking place for the 41st time conference took place at the Toronto Westin Hotel. DMN TV sponsored by Open on Sundaysfeatured panel discussions between artists, music industry professionals and speakers.
The event reached a point for the industry where it slowed after rapid expansion over the past few years. “Now the big labels expect much more moderate growth on streaming platforms,” says the DMN publisher Paul Resnikov written down. “The AI specter is upon us – we need to take care of this problem. Music IP ratings are coming back to reality. So there’s a lot that’s calming down that could lead to a re-focus on the art, on realistic business and realistic planning.”
And reality is definitely collapsing. At CMW, panel discussions ranged from AI threats to combating streaming manipulation and fraud.
Erin Reilly of the Moody College of Communication shared her perspective on protecting human art in the face of rapidly evolving AI tools. “I don’t think you can stop this movement or its development. (Let’s) think about who is actually building these lakes of data that we’re drawing from.”
Beatdapp co-founder and co-CEO Morgan Hayduk spoke about streaming scams and offered his thoughts on how scams are carried out across platforms. Hayduk explained that a sophisticated device on the Internet steals legitimate users’ account details to use them for fraudulent activities. “There is an infrastructure that reflects what you see in the legitimate industry. There are people who are experts at running bot farms. And then there are the people who provide frontline services to artists or organizations that want to monetize the music industry. So it’s not about pointing fingers at a unit or a country.”
CMW 2023 not only brought thought-provoking insights into the impact of developing AI and tackling fraudulent streaming counts, but also brought with it another clear goal: to honor and celebrate 50 years of hip-hop.
Rapper and activist Chuck D of legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy was the focus throughout the conference. Discussing the importance of hip hop’s 50th anniversary, Chuck D said, “Hip Hop 50 means that the people and the stories are just as important as the songs that people hear or care about.”
As co-host of dot Hip Hop, Chuck D joined classic hip hop group Cypress Hill’s B-Real on stage. Highlighting “a turn in American radio” in the mid-’90s, B-Real said, “They stopped playing conscientious hip-hop music, things that would inspire you positively.” It shifted more toward gangster- Rap. Then it evolved into what you hear today.”
Chuck D presented the audience with a first screening of his new PBS documentary, Fight The Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World. Part one of a four-part documentary featuring historic names in hip-hop like KRS-One and DJ Kool Herc, and its origins on the streets of the South Bronx, New York in the early 1970’s.
The Canadian Music Week 2023 conference was held June 5-10.