Canadian Music Week’s Live Music Industry Awards Winners Include Osheaga, Rob Zifarelli, Billy Talent

Rob Zifarelli – Rob Zifarelli

The third annual Live Music Industry Awards took place during Canadian Music Week, Friday at Sheraton Centre in Toronto honoring the country’s venues, festivals, industry professionals and a few artists.

Agent of the Year was Rob Zifarelli of Paradigm Talent Agency, who recently spoke with Pollstar about the CMWs and the live music business in Canada. He also accepted the Booking Agency of the Year award with 30 other Paradigm agents at February’s Pollstar Awards in Los Angeles.
Manager of the Year was Ashley Poitevin, of Last Gang Management, who has helped establish the careers of artists like Lights and DCF.
The Concert / Club Talent Buyer of the Year award went to Denise Ross of Live Nation. 
Production awards abounded, but the Production Manager of the Year was Vanessa Arscott of Plan V Productions. The Road Warrior of the Year award went to Karen “Keeks” Weigold of July Talk. A/V Production Company of the Year was Metalworks Production Group.
Osheaga Festival in Montreal won the Major Festival of the Year award for its 2017 edition that featured The Weeknd, Muse, and Alabama Shakes.  The award for Medium Festival of the Year went to Field Trip in Toronto. Other festival winners included: Interstellar Rodeo in Edmonton, Alberta and Ontario Festival of Small Halls in Ottawa, which tied for Small Festival of the Year; Riverfest Elora in Elora, Ontario, for Green Operations Festival of the Year; Montreal Jazz Festival in Montreal for Not-For-Profit Festival of the Year; and Calgary Stampede for Family Program of the Year. Festival buyer of the year was Live Nation.
In true Canadian fashion there were a number of “Best Teamwork” awards for different styles of venue, and Toronto was well represented: Drake Underground won for Small Club; Mod Club won for Medium Club; Air Canada Centre won for Arena and Massey Hall in in Toronto won for Soft Seat Theatre / Performing Arts Centre. Toronto also won the Canadian Music City of the Year award.
The only other teamwork winner was Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver for Major Club.  

Osheaga At Night
Pat Beaudry – Osheaga At Night
Fireworks grace the sky over the Osheaga Festival Musique Et Arts.
Artist awards were highlighted by Daniel Caesar as New Touring Artist of the Year and Billy Talent as the Legends of Live Award Winner.
Other awards doled out were Band / Music Program of the Year, which went to Live at Massey Hall presented by TD in Partnership with Sirius XM; Licensed to Play Award, which went to The Cameron House in Toronto; and Music Canada Live Community Impact Award, which went to the Winnipeg Folk Festival. 
The host of the ceremony was Paul Shaffer, who recently chatted with Pollstar about Canada’s contributions to music culture and the influence of its neighbor to the south.
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