Panel 6 - The EMI Music Canada Collection and the Canadian Music Industry

[ CHAIR: Kip Pegley, Queen’s University ]

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This panel provides a variety of perspectives on research with the EMI Music Canada archival collection at the University of Calgary. It investigates the contributions of the Canadian subsidiary of UK-based EMI Music to Canada's musical culture and industry. EMI (and earlier, Capitol Records) was active in Canada from about 1950 until 2006 and during this period, the company discovered, developed, and promoted many of Canada’s most important musical acts. Key questions at the heart of this panel include: What role did EMI Canada (in its own right and as an example of a multinational major record company) play in developing Canadian popular music?; What resources did the company allocate to the production and promotion of Canadian artists in the late 1970s and early 1980s?; and, what is the relationship between physical infrastructure development and cultural policy? By using the collection, this panel brings unique data that considers new ideas about the nature of investment in Canadian music