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MMF CANADA ONLINE | REAL TALK SERIES: Live Performance and Touring Realities

 MMF Canada Online | REAL TALK SERIES: Live Performance and Touring Realities

Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Online on the REMO platform
Panel: 1PM to 2PM ET
Networking: Between 2PM and 3PM ET


Free for Members
$30 for Non-Members

We've been seeing some big changes in the live sector these past few years. Artists, promoters, festival buyers, agents, and others in the industry have had to adjust significantly to the changing global environments. Our panelists will chat about topics such as the rising demand for festival and tour dates, the complex world of visa applications, shifts in fan engagement, performance sustainability, what the future of touring holds, and much more.

Speakers:

Eleanor McGuinness 
Agent/partner, Playbook Artists

Eleanor first immersed herself in the Dublin music scene in 2002, promoting acoustic nights & booking national tours for Irish artists.

Soon thereafter advancing to promoter & booker for POD Concerts which included bookings for Electric Picnic among other festivals, and alongside live bookings for a premier music venue in Dublin.

Finally joining Pitch & Smith Agency in 2011 helping to develop their roster and strategy across Europe before leaving and setting up PlayBook Artists Agency in 2021.

Her roster includes Andy Shauf, Arooj Aftab, Leith Ross, Son Lux and Beverly Glenn Copeland among others.


Gilad Carroll
Artist, Living Hour
Composer & Community Organizer
Founder, Real Love Winnipeg and First Date Touring

Gil Carroll is a Winnipeg born musician, booking agent, concert promoter, composer, and community organizer. Carroll is a founding member and guitarist of Winnipeg based bands Living Hour and Palm Trees and is the co-founder of Real Love Winnipeg, Real Love Summer Fest, and Slow Shine Records. Carroll is an owner and booking agent at the Winnipeg-based boutique booking agency, First Date Touring - he has booked tours for bands and solo artists all over Canada, USA, and the UK. He has toured extensively in the US, Canada, UK, and Europe with Living Hour. He was the editor of Manitoba’s only music magazine, Stylus Magazine, and is a volunteer DJ for the show Space Cadet and former staff member with CKUW 95.9 FM. Gil was the 2018 recipient of the Kevin Walter’s Legacy Award presented by Manitoba Music.


Merv xx Gotti
Artist, Merv xx Gotti, Samurai Champs, GHOSTFORM
Artistic Director, Trifecta Sound Co.

Merv xx Gotti is the Canadian, award-winning multi-genre artist behind solo singer-songwriter dream-pop project, "Guitar Songs”. He is also the singer of hip-hop/R&B duo, Samurai Champs, as well as indie-emo band, GHOSTFORM.

Additionally, he is the Founder and Artistic Director of Canadian DJ & artist collective, Trifecta Sound Co, as well as Archivist of Toronto’s ISO Radio.


Tao-Ming Lau
Founder of Blue Crane Agency
Agent with Paquin Artists Agency

Tao-Ming Lau is the founder of Blue Crane Agency (@bluecraneagency) and an Agent with Paquin Artists Agency. Blue Crane is a music booking platform centred on elevating women, artists of colour, and LGBTQ2S+ musicians on stage in North America and abroad. Tao’s roster currently includes Mustafa, Tanya Taqaq, Tegan and Sara, Ash, Wild Rivers, Priyanka, Begonia, Kiesza, Tia Wood, Billianne, Logan Staats, Ikky, and more. She founded Blue Crane with artists like Zaki Ibrahim, Shay Lia, Clerel, DJ NDN (Co-Founder of A Tribe Called Red), Vivek Shraya, BAMBII, and more. The agency has programmed festivals such as Pride Toronto and curated events for Nuit Blanche, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and more. Tao is a board director at Polaris Music Prize and Canadian Live Music Association and was chosen as a Rising Star in Toronto Life Magazine’s 50 Most Influential Torontonians of 2018.  Previously, she was at Chicago-based touring agency Billions, Universal Music Canada, and originally from Vancouver, on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Tao is a queer woman of colour seeking to open more doors and establish better infrastructure for underrepresented talent.