Cristina Fernandes
Entrevistas

Cristina Fernandes

cristina fernandes - revista amar

 

Cristina Fernandes is the owner and publicist of Listen Harder—an independent music publicity company based in Toronto, Canada.

Born in Terceira, Açores, Portugal, Cristina immigrated to Canada in 1969 with her parents, Maria do Carmo and Aristides Fernandes, at 10-months-old. She grew up in Gatineau, Quebec and went to high school in Ottawa. Cristina’s interest in music and law led her to study these subjects at Carleton University, with the intent of potentially pursuing a career in entertainment law .

Once she heard that a new music business school named Harris Institute had opened in Toronto, she enrolled and moved to the city in the hopes of breaking into the music industry. Her bilingualism helped her quickly land a job at indie label, Eureka Records, where she handled Quebec radio promotion and national publicity for their artists.

After taking a two-and-a-half-year break from the industry to raise her son, Cristina ventured out on her own as an indie music publicist doing contracts with with Sony Music Canada and DMD Entertainment, before founding Listen Harder in 2004 with her longtime friend and business partner Jen Cymek.

Listen Harder has achieved noteworthy success in the alternative, indie, rock, metal, hardcore and punk scenes with an extensive, eclectic roster that includes many JUNO, Grammy and CMA award winning, and platinum artists including Alexisonfire, Barenaked Ladies, City and Colour, and The Lumineers.

 

cristina fernandes - revista amar
cristina fernandes – revista amar

Revista Amar: I would like to start this interview by asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself…
Cristina Fernandes: I was born in Terçeira, Azores and my family is also from the Azores. Me and my parents immigrated to Canada when I was ten months old. So, I was a little baby and it was the typical “want a better life” type situation. What I didn’t understand at the time is that there was a dictator, Salazar, ruling in Portugal, so I always was puzzled when my parents said, “Oh, we came to Canada to have a good life, to have a better life, etc.,” and I look at Portugal and think “It’s so beautiful…why would you want to come to a cold place?’ (laugh) But when I started delving into the history of Portugal and what was happening in the mid to late 60´s, it made a lot of sense to me. I was raised an only child and I have a wonderful son, James, who’s now 26 and who is working for me part time. I have an amazing husband who was a professional musician at one time… and a dog who I love named Ali, named after Muhammad Ali, because we’re big fans.

RA: Which year did your parents and you arrive in Canada?
CF: In 1969… February 8th, 1969. I still remember because we’d always celebrate. I grew up in Gatineau, Quebec so I learned French by default…none of the kids on my street spoke English. We moved to Ottawa when I was in grade 6 and I went to high school there. At the time there was a lot of political unrest in Quebec and my parents were a little bit worried.

RA: What is your relationship with the Portuguese community? Did you ever go to the religious events?
CF: Yes, absolutely. I have really fond memories because it was just such a big family, a million cousins. The joke always was we’d be at a wedding. I was young, and me and my cousins would say “Oh, oh, that guy, he’s cute!” and then my mom or my aunt would say “That’s your cousin!” (laughs)… You just never knew who your cousin was, because our family was so big. I just have fond memories when I was younger, my uncles were very musical, always with the accordion and playing “Ó malhão, malhão” and that was what we did… We sat and everyone did choruses, you know, talking shit about everyone like we do (laughs). So, I have really fond memories of that. But going to festas, when you’re a “too cool 14, 15-year-old girl”… I don’t know … I just didn’t enjoy being forced to go… at one point I just hated going, but when I look back, I’m so happy that my parents made me because in hindsight it was wonderful to experience all of the customs and traditions and I’m very grateful for that.

RA: Even if you grow out of it… but if they haven’t made you go, maybe you wouldn’t know the Azorean traditions the way you do and you weren’t the person you are today…
CF: For sure! And even back in the day, when I was younger, we would sit around helping my aunts because they’d be stuffing morcelas… it would be, literally, an assembly line of family stuffing the sausages and my uncles would skin the rabbits, right? And my parents would always make pimenta…get boxes of peppers at the market, put the huge pot outside and make pimenta. I still use pimenta to this day.

RA: And for sure you know how to do it?
CF: Yes, and I´m a pretty good cook I have to say. (laughs)

RA: That´s because you are Portuguese! (laughs)
CF: (laughs) Absolutely! It´s really cool that I was able to be part of these, what you’d think now are, pretty antiquated traditions. I don’t know if a lot of Portuguese, young Portuguese people growing up have that opportunity and I’m really grateful that I have that.

RA: And what about Portugal… did you ever went back to visit the islands?
CF: I hate to tell you this, but I have not gone back yet. However, my son and I talked about going before the pandemic. We had booked a trip to Paris. He’s never been to Paris and I love Paris and I love traveling with him. We’re very, very close. My husband doesn’t like to travel as much… especially on an airplane, which is totally cool. But my son loves to travel. I’m a little bit torn because I obviously want to go to the Azores and I want to go to Terceira, São Miguel and Faial, because my dad was from Faial and I know Faial is beautiful. Hydrangeas are my favourite flower and it’s so beautiful to see all the hydrangeas in Terceira and Faial. But I would love to also see the mainland. So, yes, I do plan on going back but when you own a business, it’s very hard to get away. I love being my own boss, but I have a lot of clients, responsibilities, deadlines and timelines and I’m not the type of person that likes to go on vacation or away and be worried about work. When I’m away I don’t even want to look at my phone. So, yes, I haven’t been yet, but definitely, definitely in the next couple of years for sure we are going.

RA: But soccer is a thing, right?
CF: Oh, yeah! The story goes… and I have to say, my dad was a very, very honest man… he never made-up stories, so I believe him. Anyway, the story goes, my dad was such a good soccer player. I wish I had video of him playing. He was so good that he used to play for a farm team that apparently fed into Benfica. Benfica was his team. So yeah, soccer was and has been always a big thing in my household. It’s very difficult for me to watch the Euro Cup and World Cup because, much like my dad, I just get up and I swear and I go to the kitchen when there’s something wrong… but when it’s going well, I’m very excited, but I get very emotional. So, when we won the Euro Cup, that was… I just wished my dad was alive to see that because my son and I and my husband, although it’s not as meaningful to my husband because he’s not Portuguese, but still we just were jumping up and down, holding each other. It was such a big moment…that and the Raptors Championship because I’m a big Raptors fan too! (laughs) These are the two things in my life, sports wise, that were just incredible to be part of and witness. Yes, soccer is a big deal and I´m a fan, but I have to admit I don’t follow the FC, I don’t follow really the Champions or Premier League too much. But I used to watch with my dad, back in the day, when Figo was the captain and because my dad kind of looked like him. So, I have those really fond memories of watching the games with him.
One interesting thing about my parents, because of the PX Base and being around US forces – my dad was in the Air Force, Portuguese Air Force – my parents were very, very English. They were “Americanized”, as you would say and exposed to American music and culture. So my parents spoke English really well for that generation, although my mom had a thick accent, but just because of the influence of where they lived and where I was born.

RA: Was a career in the Music Industry your dream or did it just happen?
CF: I always loved music. My dad was a huge music fan. And since my mum worked at the American PX Base in Terceira, they had all the rock and roll records…

 

cristina fernandes - revista amar

cristina fernandes - revista amar

 

RA: … Elvis Presley?
CF: Huge Elvis fans, huge. But also just, you know, all the music of that day. My dad had a huge vinyl collection and that’s just some of my best memories, you know, just listening to music with my dad and just being in a house full of music and with parents who had a great sense of humuor… It was that kind of environment. So, I always wondered, could I get involved in music? How do you do that? So, that was always a dream of mine to work in the music industry since I was little. I went to Carleton University and thought, I’m going to maybe major in music. Well, I did Music and Law and thought maybe I’ll become an Entertainment Lawyer, but then I realized that was not for me… too much studying (laughs). At the time, because my mom always wanted me to be a lawyer, I thought, this is a good compromise, but when I was at Carleton, I think it was just after my second year, I heard of a music business school that was opening in Toronto and I also knew Toronto was the hub of the Music Industry for Canada. You’re not really going to get a job in the Music Industry in Ottawa at that time. So, I knew that if I really wanted to pursue it, that I had to eventually move to Toronto. So much to my parent’s chagrin, of course, moving out in my early twenties, I came here, and attended the newly opened Harris Institute. They had industry people teaching there and I knew that if I just could make the right connection that maybe that’ll get me in the door.

RA: And did you?
CF: Thankfully, because I spoke French and not a lot of people weren’t bilingual in Toronto, I got a job at an Indie label that was distributed by a major label, EMI… and that’s where I kind of learned the ropes. I was basically handed a phone and a list and said, “this is what you’re doing” and it’s a good thing that at the time, I didn’t realize how difficult it was. (laughs) But I started off doing Quebec radio promotion… it was my job for that label to deal with the music directors at radio in Quebec and try to promote a song so that they can take it to their meetings and add it to the radio station for airplay. In retrospect, yeah, it was very challenging, but at the same time it was the best way for me to learn because it was literally “here’s the phone and you’re going to call this guy and this is what you’re doing.” So, I learned a lot from that process. So that’s kind of basically my start, I’d say.

RA: In this Indie label, did you realize that that was a publicist job?
CF: Yes… but keep in mind that at the time, Indie labels were not as popular as they are now. There was a time where an Indie label would put out stuff, but the really big artists were on major labels and that, through the course of my career, has changed… you know, where a band doesn’t even have to be signed and they can get on the radio and they can get popular with social media, and blow up without even having a formal record contract. But at the time, we had a couple of good acts – no one that you would know now and I, admittedly, did not enjoy doing radio promotion as much because radio promotion is tough… It’s about business. It’s not as much about how good the music is… funny enough.

RA: Why did you start to do National Publicity?
CF: I started to do some national publicity because they needed the help and because at the time the video shows were just breaking… we are talking 1991 and it was Good Rockin’ Tonight and all these video shows that started becoming popular. Then there was MTV and, of course, Friday Night Videos in the States and I was asked to do national publicity, because we already had a woman, Michelle, who handled local publicity, like MuchMusic. So, I really grew to like that part of the job because I was able to interact directly with the artist, as well as the promo side. So, yes, I have to deal with media because as a Publicist it’s my job to try to get my artists in the newspaper, on the cover of a magazine, on TV… I handle Barenaked Ladies for Canada and if you see Barenaked Ladies on TV, that was my job to get that interview for them because they have something to promote. So, I really enjoy going with artists to do stuff like that. For instance, this is a very unusual situation for me, because right now you’d be talking to my artist not me, and I’d be hanging out over there (laughs). So, I still have that connection to the artist, but the other part of my job is writing press releases and working with media which I also enjoy. I just became really enamored with publicity decided that was the path I wanted to take.

RA: Did you ever consider leaving or switch careers?
CF: After I got married and when I was getting ready to have my son, I knew I wanted to take time to raise him… It was very important to me, so I just got out of the Music Industry completely, which is funny because I didn’t think that I would ever go back. I thought, “Oh, I did it. I had my fun. It was cool. I’m headed in a different direction now.” I had my son and raised him for two and a half years and then, I remember the moment, I was watching the MuchMusic Awards, and I´m sitting there going “Hmm, I kind of miss this.” I realized I never really gave it my all and I was still young. It felt like an itch I hadn’t fully scratched.

 

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RA: Was your “come back” easy?
CF: It was interesting. I was lucky… I knew someone that was vice president at Sony Music with whom I had worked with in the past and we had a really great relationship. So, I was able to work part time as a contractor – working some of their artists that were not part of the domestic portfolio. What domestic means is signing a Canadian band to Sony’s roster which was taken care of by their promo reps. But they had another department that put out cool stuff like a Tony Bennett record and MC Mario, who was big DJ in Quebec, in Montreal. So, they had all these specialty records that weren’t prioritized within the label because they were busy with the big domestic artists, which is completely valid and, of course, the way it should be. So, she hired me to help with the promo and send press releases. So I took time off to raise my son but then got back into the industry trying to establish myself as an independent publicist, doing contracts for Sony Music Canada, working from home. It was important to me to still have a work situation that was flexible as I built my publicity business because of James. It takes a lot of time to build your reputation and forge relationships. James’s Dad, Paul, my ex, deserves a shout out for supporting our family while I built my business. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him and for that I am grateful. So that’s how I got my foot back in the door.

RA: How difficult is it to became a publicist?
CF: I get asked to speak on Music Industry panels sometimes or do like group sessions, that sort of thing and I will have people who are in university or who have already graduated and they’re very educated with a degree in whatever it is, and then some of them also have a diploma in Music Management or in Music so that they can learn the Music Industry and they come up to me and say “How do I do what you do? How can I be a publicist?” and I always hate to crush their hearts because the truth of the matter is: you can’t just go from school and become a successful music publicist. A big part of my success stems from relationships I’ve nurtured with media. That’s the reason the entertainment reporter for Canadian Press will read my email before someone else who he may not be familiar with. I’ve been working for many, many years and with many, many artists to get here. Once you start doing publicity, one of the biggest parts of your job is dealing with media. Media is very busy; they get so many press releases. They get a ton of what we call pitches…

RA: … pitches?!
CF: … “Hey, will you interview my artist?”, that’s a pitch. I’ll say here are all the reasons why you should be interested in helping me promote this artist and if they don’t know you, they’re not going to read your email. Or yours is not the first email they’re going to read, let’s put it that way. If you are an unknown person coming up in that job and you’re working a band that is unknown or an artist that is unknown, it’s very, very challenging. So, you need to work alongside someone who has the connections, reputation and the experience and that’s how you learn and how media get to know you. For instance, even my son working for me right now, a lot of people have known him since he was little because he’s been coming to shows and he’s helped me with media at festivals, but now he’s officially working with us and it’s important for me to bring him in – and people don’t need to know he’s my son and people who don’t know, I wouldn’t say anything to – but the point of that is, I say “Hey, David, I’m ccing James. He started working with us. He’s going to be taking this over…” and through that introduction, they get to know him and then he can build his own profile as a Publicist. We have this wonderful woman that works with Jen and I named Jessica. When started with us, it was important to introduce her in email to media but now she’s established her own relationships so I no longer need to vouch for her. She’s full-fledged and still works with us and another entertainment company. Often it’s an internship that gets you through the door – try to get an internship at a label or with a publicity company or with an artist management company or with an agent who books shows and that’s how you’re starting. You’re going to start to learn and more importantly, you’re going to be in situations where you’re going to meet people who are important in the Music Industry and if you’re a “go getter”, personable and you work hard, people will notice that! And then you’ll start getting other work and then you can get to a point that, maybe, if you want to, you do your own thing. If you want to become independent, you can! Or you just try to find different jobs in the industry, but that’s really what you need to do. A lot of it is connections and who you know, I mean, it makes sense, right? Who are you going to hire? Someone that you already know, or that is referred to you or a complete unknown who’s never worked in the industry?

 

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RA: Were Alexisonfire the first band that you promoted?
CF: Oh, no. At the beginning, it was a lot of unknown independent artists that needed help because they were playing at Canadian Music Week and they needed some help to try to get press and send their music to media. At the time we mailed everything, right? We mailed press packages out with photos. Thank goodness we don’t have to do that anymore. And we mailed out music which cost a lot of money for the artists to pay for just to mail out their records, you know? It was so challenging. When I did the Sony stuff, those were the bigger artists, but very unique albums. In around early 2002 there was a talented band that was getting quite big in Canada…basically Canada’s boy band (laughs) called ID… so I worked them and at the time they were quite popular. So, we were always at MuchMusic and MTV which helped me make more connections. One of them, Gary, is Portuguese guy and we’re still very close to this day. He actually works in the Music Industry as well. Anyway, when I started, I was approached by this gentleman Adrian who owns a radio promo company that still exists and works with a lot of big artists called DMD… and he approached me because he was impressed with the work I did with this unknown artist from Vancouver and that I got some good press for him, because he knew it wasn’t easy. He’s like, “How did she get this for this guy?” And that’s what happened. He said “I need someone to do publicity.” So, I did a contract with him and we worked a lot of cool stuff like Afro-Cuban Allstars. But everything really changed when a gentleman named Ryan who worked at EMI, gave me the first Alexisonfire CD that had just come out and he said “I think you’re going to like this!”. We had become friends and he knew some of the stuff that I was interested in musically and thought I might want to work the band. I heard that record and it gave me goose bumps. Alexisonfire was signed to a small label called Distort, but that label was distributed by EMI. So, I approached their manager, Joel, who I still work really closely with today – he is the founder of Dine Alone Records. So, I met him and they were basically friends and he was managing the band… I met him and the owner of the label Greg and I said “I love this band. I am so drawn to them.” It was very heavy and it was not something that was easy to sell because, essentially, it’s hardcore music but I just loved it and had a feeling about it. I’ve been working with them over 20 years and they are like family to me.

RA: And you did sell them!
CF: Yes, and things just started to take off for them with MuchMusic and George Stroumboulopoulos especially… he was a big supporter and used to wear their t-shirts on MuchMusic when he was a VJ and the guys were very charming when they were interviewed. So even though it wasn’t mainstream music, they had such a huge fan base that really supported them. And then I got to work with another band at the time Bedouin Soundclash, who I’m so happy to be working with again after many years, and I adore them. I then made the decision to leave DMD after about a year and do my own thing.

RA: In 2004 you and your best friend/business partner, Jen Cymek, founded your company Listen Harder. How did you meet?
CF: I met Jen at DMD. She was an intern and going to York University. So, her and I worked really closely, and I’d always drive her home so we became very close friends. When I left DMD, Jen said “I want to come work with you.” I said “I can’t afford to pay you very much money, maybe like once a week or something.” And she said, “I don’t care.”. So, she came with me and that was it! We started by sharing offices with Alexisonfire’s label and that’s how Listen Harder was born. Eventually, Jen became my full-fledged business partner… I always say Jen’s my secret weapon. She’s an incredible Publicist and she’s such a beautiful human and without her I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you.

RA: Sound´s like you are the perfect team?
CF: Yes, we are! I just am so lucky because her and I are always on the same wavelength. Oh, my gosh… In all these years, we’ve never had words. We might talk stuff out and we might not agree, but it’s very strange that we always are on the same page and very supportive. Yeah, we just we just click. We just have a great chemistry and what we do is: she has her artists that she handles and I have mine and then if I’m away, she can take over. We share all of our files, so at any time, I can step in and take care of something that she’s doing, but we find it works best is that we work our own projects independently. And then of course, we’re collaborative.

RA: And what is the meaning behind Listen Harder? What does it represent for you?
CF: Listen Harder, is a pun. Listen harder means listen, listen harder! Like you have to really listen, but also because we worked so much hard music. So, Listen Harder was a play on ‘listen to harder music’.

RA: The Music Industry is very hard and very demanding. What is or are the main difficulties in this industry?
CF: I’ll tell you right now… the most challenging thing is having less media because of the nature of the digital age. When I was working with Alexisonfir and Bedouin in the mid 2000´s, there were so many magazines and publications. So, there was printed magazine in Vancouver and in different major markets across Canada, weeklies and monthlies. Exclaim is one of the bigger and more prominent entertainment publications we have in Canada. So, we used to have so many media outlets, but of course, over time in the digital age, a lot of these places shut down because people aren’t buying or reading paper anymore. I mean, I’m guilty of it, too. Everything’s on my iPad. I like a good magazine, but I read it on my iPad. I don’t go and purchase a magazine. So, there’s been such a shift in the industry, but on the other hand, because of the digital age, there are so many more releases. Anyone can really figure out how to write, record an album in their home, get it on Spotify, Apple Music and be independent and have a career, which means there’s so much more “noise” out there. Therefore, you’re competing with so many more artists and so many more publicists to get attention. There’s only one spot in a paper for entertainment story, and all of you are trying to get that spot. So, it is much more challenging to get certain kinds of press for artists than it used to be. But having said that, I think in my job that is probably the most challenging thing… There’s so many releases and media can only talk about so much. One thing that Jen and I do really well is, we position our artists in the best light for that publication. We don’t just say “Hey, do you want to do an interview? Here’s the press release.” Even with Barenaked Ladies, who’s huge, who doesn’t know Barenaked Ladies? I still will put together an email that says “This is what’s happening. This is what they’re doing. This is why you’re going to want to talk to them, because this new stuff is happening.” We take the time, depending on the media outlet, to find the things about that artists that are of interest to their readers or their viewers and I think that because we do that, Jen and I have a bit more success with getting press for our artists. But don’t get me wrong, sometimes we get nothing, ok not totally nothing, we always get something, but not as much as we hoped. It can be very discouraging because we don’t only work bigger artists…we like to work with independent artists too.

RA: Before you book an artist or a band, what do you take in consideration?
CF: The most important thing, to Jen and I, is “Do we love the music? Does it resonate with us?” It doesn’t have to be something I’m listening to every day, but if she’s into it and I like it, we have to be proud to promote it. That’s one thing I really appreciate…I’m lucky that we get to choose what we work, whereas if you’re at a major label, you don’t get that choice. So, that’s really important to us, that we work with good people. We’ve turned down good bands because we know the team or someone on the team is not a good person, so it has to be good people, we have to really be into the music and the timing because we get booked up in advance quickly so timing is very important as we can only take on so much. I can’t take on 10 clients that have a record coming out in October… It’s just impossible! That’s how we operate. What Jen and I also do is, we’re very honest and upfront. I will always be honest with a client and say “We love you; we want to work with you, but this is the reality of the situation. This is the first record you’re putting out and the media doesn’t know who you are. It takes time.”. I was Arkells first publicist. I was working with them for years until they went to Universal… it was not easy doing their press at first. They had to grow, to get better live and people had to learn about them. They had a song that got really big on the radio and then things started to evolve.
RA: What about The Lumineers?
CF: The same with The Lumineers. I worked The Lumineers for Canada before “Ho Hey” became popular. So, just those few months leading up to when that song was released were challenging to get attention. I’m trying to pitch media on this band from the States, which is sometimes a little bit harder because a lot of Canadian publications want to focus on Canadian artists. But as we know, things worked out for them (laughs) It’s really, really interesting to see that shift when you work with an artist. So, we’re always very upfront with new artists and say it’s going to take time. You have to plant seeds and then you nurture them, they grow. Don’t expect you put out a record and “boom”, everyone’s going to write about it or everyone’s going to know who you are. It’s not going to happen that way. It’s going to take time. I know that people really appreciate that we are honest with them. The last thing I want is an artist to be disappointed because of something that is the norm.

RA: What about a big name? Does it make your job easier?
CF: Sometimes (laughs)… it depends. I mean, easier in the sense that, obviously, there’s publications that want to write about popular artists because they want to move magazines or they want to move newspapers or they want people to tune in to eTalk, but if they put on an unknown artist, even though they’re trying to help break an artist, they’re not going to necessarily attract viewers. It makes sense, right? Who are you going to put on the cover of a magazine? A complete unknown or Madonna? And I get that! But, sometimes, it can be a bit more of a headache when you’re working with bigger artists because there’s a lot of expectations and you have to sometimes manage personalities. I really can’t say it’s necessarily easier to work with a bigger artist in terms of media because the expectations are different and it also depends on the artists. There are some artists that are successful, but the media are just not interested in as much. It’s interesting. They might sell out a venue in Toronto, but the media doesn’t really care to write about them. Then there’s smaller artists that really resonate with people and funny enough, sometimes we get more press and it feels easier to do press for bands that are not mainstream at all. Punk bands, hardcore bands, metal bands… because they all have an audience. They all have publications that support that type of music. So, sometimes, we can get a lot of pickupsfor those kinds of very niche artists as opposed to a mainstream artist. And in truth, there’s very few mainstream artists that we would take on for publicity. If you’re like a straight up rock band that just has a very generic kind of mainstream sound… that’s not interesting to us.

 

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RA: Does it happen that the media calls you?
CF: Yeah. I mean at this point, because of the relationships we have, some of the bigger journalists, sometimes they’re doing it industry stories and they call saying “I’m doing a thing about the Junos and I want to talk to people who won Junos in the past. Do you have any artists?” or they’ll say “I l would love to get City and Colour to do this interview.”. So yeah, that does happen, but the main reason for doing publicity is that there’s something to promote. If you have a record to promote, if you have a tour to promote… that’s when we’re going after media.

RA: What is the process to have clients? Do they look for you, by referral or do you have to look for them?
CF: Other than Alexisonfire, thankfully, it’s all referrals. People refer us and come to us which we’re very fortunate that way… We don’t advertise. We don’t need to. It’s all word of mouth and word of mouth is still the best publicity.

RA: You have worked with awarded artists. How does it feel to know that you helped them to get a Platinum album/single or Juno Award?
CF: I have to say that it is an incredible feeling when an artist that we work with, especially one that we’ve worked with for so long, like Alexisonfire and Bedouin Soundclash, to see them recognized. I was recently watching the footage of when Bedouin got their Best New Group, at the Junos, and I’m in the audience and hugging them before they go up. You know, it’s on TV and just that feeling, how excited you are for them that they’re being recognized by the greater music community is pretty awesome for artists that you personally know started from the bottom.

RA: I would like to invite you to leave a message to our readers.
CF: I mean, in general, this is a thing that I say all the time as far as giving advice to people who want to do what I do. We try to treat everyone like we want to be treated. And I know when you work in an industry like the Music Industry, a lot of people feel like they’re above others, especially when they work with big artists. But just be respectful and just because you’re getting a little bit big, don’t let it go to your head because the next day no one can give a shit about you. So, I think if you have that motto and that’s how you kind of live your life and how you treat people, that would be my message…be a good human. Don’t be a garbage human (laughs). You never know, one day a young person who works at a campus paper asking to interview your artist, may become the editor of a big major paper that you have to deal with in future. The music industry seems big, but it’s not. Everybody knows each other, so don’t publicly talk badly about people in the industry. I mean, everyone has their beef, but keep it to yourself. I guess that’s my advice across the board, not just in the music industry. Be a good person.

 

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