You can't turn on the radio or music video channel without hearing most of the songs on the Juno Awards 2007 album, but to have them all on one album and the proceeds go to a great cause is money well spent.
Combined, all four previous compilations have raised more than $450,000 for MusiCan, the music education program created by Canadian Academy Of Recording Arts & Sciences (CARAS) and supported by so many Canadian artists, who recognize music's importance within the schools.
As with the previous packages, the selection of artists on Juno Award 2007 doesn't get any better -- Nelly Furtado, k-os, Chantal Kreviazuk, Sam Roberts, Billy Talent, Mobile, Nickelback, Melissa O'Neil, Diana Krall, Loreena McKennitt, Pierre Lapointe, Jim Cuddy, Eva Avila, Stabilo, The Tragically Hip, Hedley, Three Days Grace, and Alexisonfire.
"These things are always extremely eclectic," says Roger Bartel, director of marketing at EMI Music Canada, the record company responsible for marketing and distributing this year's compilation.
"You've got such a diverse track listing that you're trying to appeal to every music consumer out there and that's really impossible to do. What we did do this year was try to put the really aggressive, heavy tracks at the end of the sequence, so that if a consumer who likes Nelly Furtado, Loreena McKennitt and Jim Cuddy doesn't like Three Days Grace and Alexisonfire, they can get out of the CD at a certain point without interrupting their listening pleasure."
The album, which is available at retail outlets and digital service providers, is a joint venture between CARAS, the organization behind the Juno Awards, and all four major labels. The first year, 2003, EMI Music Canada had the honour of marketing and distributing it and it achieved gold status (50,000 units). Next was Universal Music Canada with the same results, followed by Warner Music Canada, then Sony BMG Music Canada. All four have gone gold.
Now, it's back full circle to EMI.
"I've been on the MusiCan board since day one, going back 10 years," says Deane Cameron, president of EMI Music Canada. "We're always looking for initiatives to raise money for MusiCan and one of the ideas that came up was the labels donate money from their compilations packages -- Now, Big Shiny Tunes, and MuchDance and all the rest -- and then we came up with the idea of going to the artists and saying, 'If we do a package that's similar to the Grammy's package but the proceeds go to MusiCan, will you contribute?' Artists are being approached every day for charitable causes and this is one that the artists are loving and supporting.
"It was decided that that's where the proceeds will go, and I remember we were all in Ottawa at one of our lobbying events and we just drew names out of a hat -- and that's how we set the rotation schedule. We wrote it on piece of paper and I can't remember who had the hat, but there was really was a hat," he laughs. "We figured that is the fair way to do it. So we drew the names and, ironically, because I'd brought this idea up in MusiCan, EMI ended up with the first one, but that was only coincidental. It was kind of funny."
Determining the track-listing each year takes both skill and guesswork. Because the artists on the album have to be nominated for an award, under strict confidentiality the committee members get busy months in advance, using their knowledge of the Canadian music industry and what their own label submitted to predict the nominees that will be announced in February, and, therefore, the artists eligible to be on the album.
"Our track listing wasn't approved and confirmed until the day of the press conference, which was the 6th of February," says Bartel. "So then it's a scramble to get everything done and the CD made. We kind of know that there's going to be a last-minute scramble and we prepare for it the best we can. There's only about a two, two-and-half week window to actually take the master and take the artwork and start duplicating both to the manufacturing process.
"Ideally, what we're trying to do is put together 18 of the biggest hits on the record, based on the categories and the nominations."
The track listing is as follows:
1. Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado
2. Sunday Morning - k-os
3. All I Can Do - Chantal Kreviazuk
4. Bridge to Nowhere - Sam Roberts
5. Devil In A Midnight Mass - Billy Talent
6. Montreal Calling - Mobile
7. Far Away - Nickelback
8. Speechless - Melissa O'Neil
9. Little Girl Blue - Diana Krall
10. Caravanserai - Loreena McKennitt
11. Deux par deux rassembles - Pierre Lapointe
12. Pull Me Through - Jim Cuddy
13. Meant to Fly - Eva Avila
14. Flawed Design - Stabilo
15. In View - The Tragically Hip
16. Gunnin' - Hedley
17. Animal I Have Become - Three Days Grace
18. This Could Be Anywhere in the World - Alexisonfire