CBC MUSIC - Season Launch 2014-2015

CBCMusic.ca is a free digital music service designed to connect Canadians to the music they love. With 50 different Web radio stations, 12 distinct genre-based communities, plus Radio 2, Radio 3 and CBC Music Sonica, CBCMusic.ca provides listeners with access to the very best Canadian and international music. Featuring original content from the most knowledgeable and experienced music personalities and programmers from across the country, hundreds of concerts, features, blogs, playlists, contests and more, CBCMusic.ca is the place for music lovers to explore, discover and connect with a variety of musical genres.

Key features of CBCMusic.ca include:

• Completely free and easy to navigate - just click to play

• 50 different Web radio stations built from a library of millions of tracks of music, including two themed specialty stations.

• 12 genre-based music communities ranging from rock to classical, pop to jazz, hip hop to country, and everything in between.

• Unique Web radio stations curated by CBC personalities who guide Canadians through the infinite world of music, including Heppner’s Opera Gems, Jian’s New Wave, Tom Power’s Deep Roots, Laurie Brown’s The Signal and Bachman’s Guitarchives.

• CBC Radio 2, CBC Radio 3 and CBC Music Sonica

• Artist pages on more than 40,000 Canadian independent artists with thousands of songs you can play whenever you want

• New and exclusive music sessions recorded for CBCMusic.ca plus hundreds of concerts available on demand from the archives

• Original content including articles, blogs and playlists, updated daily

• Unique contests including Searchlight —the hunt for Canada’s best new artist

• CBC Music Magazine, featuring articles, playlists, exclusive video content and interviews (available for iOS devices)

The CBC Music App is available free from the App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch at itunes.ca/appstore and at cbcmusic.ca/android for Android devices and at Blackberryworld.com for Blackberry 10.

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CBC Music: Sonica is the place to discover adult alternative bands from Canada and beyond, combining new rock sounds of today with a sprinkling of Canadian heritage artists. Available on CBCMusic.ca and SiriusXM, you’ll hear bands as diverse as Arcade Fire, The Sheepdogs, The Wallflowers and the Black Keys. You’ll also tune into music from some of Canada’s greatest songwriters, including Ron Sexsmith, Kathleen Edwards, and Canadian music icons including Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Bruce Cockburn.

CBC Music: Sonica gives context to the music by including select short, first-person introductions to the songs by new artists and archival clips from heritage artists. CBC Music: Sonica is proudly Canadian, and all music selections are curated by CBC Music producers. The music playlist includes 85% Canadian content, 40% emerging artists and 25% new releases (within 6 months of release date), giving CBC Music: Sonica a current, fresh, Canadian sound.

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Over the past two years, CBCMusic.ca, Canada’s free online music service has connected music lovers with the very best Canadian and international music, concerts and features. Last year, CBCMusic.ca was proud to feature the inaugural CBCMusic.ca Festival that took place at Toronto’s Echo Beach and was completely sold out. This year, the CBCMusic.ca Festival will travel west, taking place at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby, B.C. on Saturday, June 14, 2014.

This incredible CBC event will showcase a stellar lineup of musical talent, including Tegan and Sara, Spoon, Arkells, Dan Mangan, Hannah Georgas, Chad VanGaalen, Wake Owl, Belle Game, Crystal Shawanda, and CBCMusic.ca Searchlight winner Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk. The CBCMusic.ca Festival will also highlight some of the exceptional talent from CBC Radio including Q’s Jian Ghomeshi, who will host the festival. In addition, there will be special guest appearances throughout the day from many other CBC hosts including On The Coast‘s Stephen Quinn, Radio 2 Drive‘s Rich Terfry who will DJ a special set, and members of The Irrelevant Show, who will perform some of their most popular songs and music-related sketches.

Highlights from the CBCMusic.ca Festival will air as an hour-long special on CBC-TV at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on Friday, September 5, 2014. Hosted by Jian Ghomeshi, the special will feature stellar performances shot exclusively by CBCMusic.ca at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby, B.C.

Continues summer 2014 on CBC Television

Fridays at 12 a.m. (12:30 NT)

CBC Music Backstage Pass is a weekly music program that airs coast-to-coast on CBC Television and online at CBCMusic.ca. The 30-minute show explores the world of Canadian music with creative performances, exclusive studio sessions and in-depth artist profiles. The program is hosted by CBC Radio’s Garvia Bailey, and grants viewers unrestricted access to the country’s favourite bands and musical artists. CBC Music Backstage Pass airs Friday nights at midnight.

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