15 emerging producers, songwriters and artists are gaining entrepreneurial skills through MusicLinks  

By Sarah Tomlinson 

Over the course of 21 weeks, 15 emerging Canadian artists and producers were selected to sharpen their craft by collaborating together musically while receiving business mentorship. 

MusicLinks is a publicly funded initiative that aims to provide comprehensive, wraparound service and support for local, emerging producers and artists. Assisting in honing and developing their craft, technical skills and sound, the initiative is part of a collective called JustOverMusic that was officially launched in fall 2019. 

JustOverMusic works with more experienced artists and producers whereas MusicLinks caters to creatives at the start of their journey, said Freddy Brobbey, JustOverMusic’s creative director, when comparing the two programs. 

“I think the focus of JustOverMusic is that the artists are market-ready. They’ve gone through that zone of failure already and they figured out what is the right path for them moving forward. All of our meetings are with labels and artists and it’s a lot less context for being able to develop your sound,” said Brobbey. 

With the music industry expecting upcoming artists to already have an established brand, it’s important for artists to have access to programs that provide guidance and resources, said program manager Denise De’ion. 

In her role, she oversees the flow of the program and coordinates resources for the participants. Nevertheless, she said she avoids doing the direct work for the artists. “My expectation is that while I’m going to help, I also want them to be able to kind of take the lead themselves,” she explained. 

The most recent cohort of artists were selected in October 2020 after a round of auditions. According to Brobbey, they received approximately 150 applicants. They were initially only to select 11 candidates, but were overwhelmed by the amount of talent and ended up selecting 15. 

Over the course of five months, participants rotate with one another every session in groups of five or six. The groups are comprised of producers, artists and songwriters. The goal is to produce one song per session. 

Brobbey said they produce 15 to 20 songs per week as an entity. 

“They’re working with so many people consistently, so they build a rhythm. They produce songs faster because they get through the creative drawbacks a lot faster when there’s somebody else there to fill in those gaps,” he said. 

Being in the industry as a producer and entrepreneur for over 10 years, Brobbey said he’s noticed Toronto is full of artistic potential. However, he said artists often never take a chance on themselves out of fear of failing. 

“I’m so used to hearing artists say ‘I don’t have money, I can’t get in the studio. I need to find a manager, I need to find a producer,” he said. Therefore, the program is geared towards eliminating any excuses by supporting artists in areas where they have common drawbacks to ensure “they’re making massive action towards their goal every single day.”  

Aside from collaborations with one another, candidates are offered mentorship with industry professionals like lawyers, sync directors and A&R’s, as well as vocal, piano, guitar and Pro Tools lessons with teachers and instructors. In addition, they receive marketing workshops, panels and events. 

Launched right before the onset of the pandemic, the director said the initiative actually gained traction during the lockdown. In fall 2019, they only had eight participants. By summer 2020, they had worked with approximately 200 artists.  

“Pre-pandemic, the world was already moving at a pace. Everyone was in their zone. In the pandemic, everything slowed down which helped us gain visibility,” he said. 

The idea behind the program, according to Brobbey, was to connect music to identity. “The focus isn’t the melodies. It’s how you feel, how you see yourself. It’s really just making sure that artists feel capable.”  

Meet The Participants 

Kindade is currently completing the program. Enrolled as an artist, he said he’s enjoyed collaborating with other participants because it’s taught him to control his ego. 

“It’s weird to meet other artists who are genuinely trying to help you because a lot of artists are really just trying to do it for themselves,” he said. By developing new habits like reading the dictionary, practicing guitar and watching interviews with artists, he said the program forced him to grow as an artist and “revamp” a side of himself that he had lost due to ego. 

He added that the program has offered him several connections, which helped him land a sync placement on the show Kim’s Convenience. He’s currently working on 10 songs and hopes to release an EP in 2021.  

Stream Kinkade’s music below.

THE Chmst, formerly known as Dantoni, completed the program from October 2019 to April 2020. Growing up, he was always surrounded by music through his father, who was a drummer. Learning the guitar and the steel pan at a young age, he branched out to production in grade 11. 

Through MusicLinks, he got to take piano lessons and network with professionals like Everton Lewis, former music supervisor for Vice Canada and current music supervisor for Wracket Music Supervision, and Eestbound, four-time platinum music producer and audio engineer.  

He said he’s grateful for the opportunity the program gave him to collaborate with other producers. 

“When you’re creative, you have to create your own opportunities. What MusicLinks does is it gives an open gym for artists and producers to come together and make tracks and get better,” he said. Following the program, he still works with the people he met. He currently has a collaboration with Kei-ez “OMO” released, along with his own track “Buy Back the Block,” which has over 12,000 streams on Spotify alone. 

He said he’d recommend the program to any upcoming creative, emphasizing the effect it has on how they learn to value themselves and the momentum it provides. 

“As the program was finished, it was up to me to keep the momentum from the training wheels, and it’s been a downhill speed race,” he said. 

A more recent participant, Malaika Khadijaa first joined forces in summer 2020 when MusicLinks offered free three-hour studio time to Black creatives in Toronto.

She later applied to the program itself and is currently completing it. She said her favourite part of the program is collaborating with her fellow artists. 

“Everybody in the program is very knowledgeable and very talented. So we’re also able to teach each other,” Malaika said. 

She added that the program’s loose structure allows artists to cater it to their own needs, whether that be music video making, branding or grant writing. 

“As an emerging artist right now, the resources are just so important.” Most of the time, she said she reaches out to the other participants and organizes her own collaborations. 

“They don’t really hand-feed you anything so that when you’re on your own, you can continue to create the same way,” she explained. “There’s 11 members and everybody works differently. So it’s learning how to work in a collaborative space.” 

Malaika has released several singles including “Story” which has over 1,000 streams and her latest release “Tears”. Drawing from her musical inspiration from her East African and Caribbean background, she blends Indie and RnB with a touch of African melodies. 

Kaevox joined MusicLinks in Malaika’s cohort as a producer. Although he decided not to apply as an artist because he was unsure about his musical identity, he said the program has helped him distinguish his capabilities from other participants.

“A lot of artists have helped me start thinking about myself as an artist, how I would approach writing a song,” he said. 

In addition, he was able to take vocal lessons with Nevon Sinclair, a Grammy-nominated vocal producer for his contributions to Daniel Caesar’s FREUDIAN album. 

“I really wanted to understand from someone that’s in the game right now that’s really killing it, and try to take some of his advice and steal some of his tricks,” he said. 

He recommends the program to creatives in Toronto. “Especially right now because of COVID, it’s so much harder to network with people. Being in this industry, you have to meet people.” 

Stream Kaevox’s music below: