Where are you based?
The beautiful city of Montréal, Canada.
Where do you work? What do you do?
I am the managing director and A&R of Indica Records, a company I co-founded almost 25 years ago. I do management for two artists, Carlyn and Hey Major. I also co-founded MTL Women in Music, which is the Quebec chapter of Women in Music (Canada). The organisation is dedicated to fostering gender equality in the music industry through the support and advancement of female-identifying professionals and creatives at every stage of their careers.
What are you listening to?
It changes constantly, almost daily, but right now I am going through a 70’s “soul” phase!! Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Barry White…. I am also always listening to old-school punk music as it’s the music I grew up with and love, it keeps my energy going.
How do you discover new music?
Generally, it’s friends or artists I work with that will introduce me to new music.
Music is all around me and every time I hear something that catches my ear, I’ll Shazam and see who it is. My favourite way to discover music is live, going to shows, festivals and events.
What formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services? Why?
I listen to music on streaming services, it’s so convenient. Though I really love the beauty of vinyl, the artwork, the sound… I do have a small vinyl collection at home that I pull out when I just want to relax and listen to music on my old turntable. I still have CDs but nothing to play them on, so slowly getting rid of those!
Where do you do most of your music listening?
I listen to a lot of music at work. We always have music playing in the office. We share an office speaker and take turns playing tunes. But my favourite place to listen to music is either in my car or while walking.
Since music is such a huge part of my everyday life I also appreciate just being at home in silence, doing my thing.
“We always have music playing in the office. We share an office speaker and take turns playing tunes. But my favourite place to listen to music is either in my car or while walking.”
How do you find and listen to pre-release music?
I try to listen to everything that is sent to me that is not released yet, but I don’t actively search for pre-released music. I will also send pre-release music to some key people I know to get their opinion and thoughts on it.
What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?
I get a lot of music links sent to me and I like things to be simple, I don’t want to download, so SoundCloud, Byta or DISCO links are great. Just make sure the link actually works….
Streaming platforms have made it easy to listen to almost anything you feel like but my frustration is that there is just too much music out there and very little curation, and sadly not all of it is good.
“I get a lot of music links sent to me and I like things to be simple, I don’t want to download… Just make sure the link actually works!”
How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?
It’s so hard to keep track of everything but when I like something I’ll add it to a private playlist.
Do you tip other people off to new music? How?
When I really like something, I always want to share it! It’s the nature of our business too.
Anything you want to “promote”?
At Indica we are releasing a lot of music these days and I am absolutely loving it all. Check out Darkometro, Carlyn, Family Man and a band I just started working with called Ivytide.
