Did you miss the May 31st members only advance purchase registration deadline for the 29th annual FMO conference? Don’t worry – there are still savings available! Members and non-members can register at early bird rates (a full $100 off regular rates) until August 31. Visit the Conference page for more info.

Duplium Muzic provides independent artists with the opportunity to get their product made professionally AND affordably. Through an ongoing partnership with Folk Music Ontario, Duplium has introduced a series of discounts available to FMO members (individual, organizational and festival).

FMO members can offset or even recover their membership fee just by taking advantage of one of Duplium’s discounts (e.g., $49 off a fully packaged run of 500, or $99 off a fully packaged run of 1000, both including disc replication with complete print and packaging in a Jewel Case, Digipak, Propak or Ecosleeve and wrap).

For more information on these and other discounts offered to FMO members by Duplium Muzic, please click here. And be sure to mention your FMO membership the next time that you are doing business with Duplium!

Congratulations to returning president Alex Sinclair, and to the new directors on the FMO Board:

James Keelaghan – Perth
Jani Lauzon – Toronto
Preetam Sengupta – Guelph

Folk Music Ontario is pleased to announce the winners of the 20th annual FMO Songs From the Heart songwriting competition, generously sponsored by Galaxie, Your Musical Universe. Thank you to the following jurors for their time and efforts:

Graham Lindsey
Chris MacLean
Greg Torrington
Josée Vaillancourt

Click here to see the grand prize and sub-category winners.

Each year, Folk Music Ontario (FMO) honours the work of an individual or group that has made significant contributions to Ontario’s folk music community. The award is named after Estelle Klein, a long-time advocate of Canadian Folk music and one of the early founders of the Folk festival scene in this country. This year’s Estelle Klein Award recipient is Harvey Glatt.

Harvey is an award-winning Canadian music promoter, manager, broadcaster, record and instrument retailer and record label owner.  He has been a supporter of music in the Ottawa area for since the early 1950s. Harvey founded The Treble Clef, a record store that grew into a 15-store chain, Bass Clef Productions (large concert promotion ), Treble Clef Distribution (music distribution) and Bytown Music Publishing (music publishing), and started Ottawa’s CHEZ-FM. He later sold his radio interests to Rogers Media, serving as a board member and director of Canadian music development there. Harvey was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2007.

Click here to read more about Harvey Glatt and the Estelle Klein Award.

Click here  to see the schedule of official/family showcase performances and list of alternate showcase artists for the 2014 conference.

Folk Music Ontario and Folk Music Canada are pleased to partner with CAPACOA to deliver its mentorship and peer networking program, The Succession Plan (TSP), at the 28th annual FMO conference in Toronto from October 16-19, 2014. This is an opportunity for emerging and mid-career arts professionals to hone their skills, work one-on-one with a mentor from the international presenting community and build a network of peers that will continue to work together throughout the year. Candidates should complete the application and submit all required material ASAP, with an absolute deadline of Monday, August 4, 2014. Apply now!

Next week is Canadian Music Week! CMW 2014 is offering a 30% discount on its Music Summit 3-Day pass to Folk Music Ontario members. Your FMO membership must be current to access this discount. Call the FMO office at 1-866-292-6233 by 5:00pm, Friday, May 2 to check your membership status and get the promo code!

Includes: access to Music Summit seminars, Social Music Summit, Live Touring Summit, Songwriters and Publishers Summit, exhibits, International Marketplace, Music Festival Showcases, Film Festival & Comedy Festival.

Join more than 3000 international leaders, experts, colleagues and your peers this May (6-10) in Toronto for Canadian Music Week 2014 – the largest and most influential music and media conference and festival in Canada. CMW provides artists and industry professionals with the tools and knowledge to build their profile in the business and puts them face-to-face with the forward thinkers who shape the entertainment industries. With attendees and speakers from around the world, it provides the ideal platform to advance your career.

CMW 2014 confirmed programming includes:

• celebrity interviews with artists and legends Quincy Jones, Nile Rodgers, Diane Warren, deadmau5, Amanda Palmer, Bruce Cockburn and City and Colour;
• keynotes from music industry veterans Terry Ellis (Imago / Chrysalis Music), Martin Mills (Beggars Group), Daniel Glass (Glassnote Records), and Shelly Finkel (SFX Entertainment), as well as progressive movers Tom Windish (The Windish Agency), David Shing (AOL), Lee Trink (manager for Kid Rock), PJ Bloom (music supervisor for Glee), and Mathew Adell (Beatport);
• exceptional one-on-ones with social media and tech gurus John McAfee, Gary Shapiro (CES), Gary Vaynerchuk, and Erik Martin (Reddit);
• the CMW Synch Summit featuring more than 20 leading music supervisors looking to place music in upcoming advertisements, films, and TV productions and the exclusive opportunity to pitch them your music face to face;
• the International Festival Network – an exclusive networking and matchmaking session for companies to meet with representatives from various international festivals, booking agencies, and promoters from around the world;
• an international marketplace and Export Buyers’ Program featuring a Spotlight on Germany and a Focus on Austria & Switzerland with market overviews, presentations and incoming delegations
• the first-ever official mission from A2IM (American Association of Independent Music) with networking and B2B meeting opportunities;
• incoming delegation from Australia with formal and informal networking events;
• daily mentoring sessions with attending speakers and executives,
• plus performances from more than 1000 artists and much much more.

Between now and April 18, 2014, you can take advantage of a limited time offer of Lifetime Membership with FMO for just $500.00 plus HST*.

During this time period, those who purchase a Lifetime membership will also receive an elegant boxed set of six Stan Rogers CDs (plus a DVD of One Warm Line) from Borealis Records and a less elegant unboxed set of Tamarack CDs from SGB Productions. New Lifetime members will also receive an invitation to the President’s Reception at the FMO Conference.

Lifetime membership also relieves you of the stress of having to renew your membership each year, and contributes to the ongoing financial health and stability of FMO.

*After April 18, lifetime membership will jump back to its regular cost of $660.00 plus HST.

To take advantage of this special rate, please click here or call Jennifer Ellis by 5:00pm, Friday, April 18 with a valid Visa or MasterCard number at 1-866-292-6233 (or 613-560-5997 in the Ottawa area).

At the end of October each year, we ask our delegates to tell us how we can improve the conference experience, while still keeping it affordable for everyone. With that in mind, FMO will be making the following changes in 2014:

1. Official showcases will start on Thursday. FMO will present six showcases in one room on Thursday evening. Friday and Saturday will still each have twelve official showcases – six in each of two rooms, with staggered starting times.
2. Sponsored showcase slots will be available for booking on Thursday night (after the official showcases), Friday lunchtime and Saturday lunchtime. Private showcases will still be held only on Friday and Saturday night. There won’t be any overlap between sponsored and private showcases, so they will not be competing for each other’s audiences.
3. The conference will no longer include a gala dinner. Instead, Folk Music Ontario will provide complimentary breakfast food on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings, and will provide complimentary coffee and tea throughout the conference.
4. The awards that were presented at the gala dinner in the past will now be presented at an Awards Brunch on Sunday morning, followed by the Estelle Klein Award interview. A ”Sunday only” daily conference registration rate will be added to the daily rates already available for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.