We surveyed our staff for favourite music memories from 2015. The responses include performances, songs, albums, and reflections on streaming music. Before we head into the new year, let’s take a look back!
That Tiny Band show was off the hook.
-Phil Gumbley, Director, Operations; Guitar, FACTOR’s Tiny Band
-Jeff Hayward, Project Coordinator
Getting involved with the Toronto Women In Music (TWIM) community has been one of the best parts of 2015. I’ve met so many talented and brilliant musicians, writers, and industry members through TWIM events. Last week’s holiday show featuring Twist, Bambii, and hey!dw was a big highlight!
Some of my favourite albums from 2015 were Milk & Bone’s Little Mourning, CHVRCHES’ Every Open Eye, Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion, and Marie-Pierre Arthur’s Si l’aurore.
-Megan Jones, Assistant Manager, Client Services
For my Nan’s 90th birthday some family friends joined the extended family at the assisted living home and put on a musical performance for my Nan and the other residents. They all loved it and sang along – and even danced! – to the best of their ability. Popular hits included: The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond, An Irish Lullaby, Red River Valley, and You Are My Sunshine. *sniff.
-Erin Kiyonaga, Senior Project Coordinator
Hop Along put out their new record and I lurrrvveee it.
Playing my first proper festival (NXNE) and my new band Specifics’ first show at ONO FEST were highlights.
-Jeremy Klaver, Jury Supervisor
I met Raphaelle from BRAIDS and I was SO excited and it was a nice little highlight for me.
-Karina Moldovan, Office Coordinator
Drake makes babies giggle 😂❤️ - Click here for the Hotline Baby video!
-Eryka Nilsen, Assistant Manager, Client Services; Mom to Hotline Baby
Playing with my old band at the Halifax Pop Explosion.
(Photo by Chris Smith)
-Allison Outhit, Vice President, Operations
I hope Massey Hall was able to clean up my heart/brain from the ceiling after seeing Tanya Tagaq and Owen Pallett. #masseyexplosion
-Lindsey Van De Keere, Project Coordinator
Listening to Ought for the first time (#polaris2016!).
ORRRRR being outrageously excited about meeting Fred Penner at Polaris - it was magical.
-Cathy Waszczuk, Communications and Stakeholder Relations Officer
All of us at FACTOR were devastated to hear that our favourite streaming service Rdio was going offline. The headache of migrating all of our favourite albums and carefully curated playlists over to a new streaming service seemed impossible. Combined with having to embrace a new less user-friendly interface like Apple Music or a service that evoked the memory of a mash-up between LimeWire and Winamp (Spotify), the future of streaming for us looked grim…
I also came to the alarming realization that I no longer owned any of my music with all of it existing up in the cloud; it was a startling realization for me as we transition to predominantly streaming-based listening. But short of going through the cumbersome process of downloading over-compressed .mp3s again, buying CDs (that only get played in the car) or purchasing a record player and adopting an expensive vinyl addiction, I had to make a choice: I chose Spotify, and I’m very happy that I did!
My transition onto the world’s largest streaming platform has been incredible and has coincided nicely with my discovery and newfound appreciation for electronic music, Top 40 pop, laptop/inside the box/VST production and single-based listening. I don’t have time for albums or album cuts anymore, I only want the singles/hits! Spotify focuses heavily on playlist curation and also gives artists an amazing opportunity to be heard by the masses if they can land one of their tracks on one of these featured playlists.
For better or for worse, these are the sounds that most people in the world are listening to right now, the numbers don’t lie and it’s pretty interesting to see the metrics by genre and region: Top Tracks of 2015 Global
Here is my Top 30 songs of 2015 Spotify Playlist (1/3rd CanCon).
-Derek Wilson, Project Coordinator
We hope you have a wonderful holiday season. See you in 2016!