Music Canada recently shared its latest report, “Closing the Value Gap: How to Fix Safe Harbours and Save the Creative Middle Class.” As the title suggests, the report examines the gap between revenues derived by online entertainment platforms - particularly YouTube - and the revenues returned to artists and labels, then offers five recommendations on how to address the issue.

On this week's podcast, Mike and Graham Henderson, Music Canada's President and CEO, dive into the report before getting into some important big picture conversations about philosophical shifts in how music is paid for, how the industry can make its case to the public and government, and even some politics.

Also, please visit www.friendsofjohncody.com and consider helping one of our own in dire circumstances.

For our feature interview, Mike catches up with Ben Rayner (22:40), the long-time music writer and critic at the Toronto Star. He’s easily one of the best music writers in Canada and it’s obvious that his love of music, and writing about it, is as strong as ever. As local newspapers disappear and even the big newspapers like the Globe & Mail and National Post diminish their arts coverage and move music journalists into other beats, Ben is among the last of a dying breed. Mike and Ben chat about changing nature of music journalism in Canada and the decline of music coverage in newspapers and then get into what impact this could have on artists and the country’s music industry.

But before we chat with Ben, we also meet up with Charlie Wall-Andrews (2:48), the executive director of the SOCAN Foundation. Charlie fills us in all the various grants and programs that the SOCAN Foundation has available to artists. Then she and Mike discuss the concept of corporate social responsibility, which is an area of particular expertise for Charlie, and how it applies to the music industry. www.socanfoundation.ca.

Tim Moxam has partnered with Toronto's StopGap Foundation, which builds ramps for community spaces to increase accessibility, and launched StopGap on Tour. Moxam collaborated with some fellow songwriters and crafters to build a series of special-edition StopGap ramps, pre-ordered and spec'd to accommodate the needs of non-accessible venues, cafes, record stores, and other community hubs that Moxam would be visiting on his recent East Coast tour. Hear about this cool initiative, how you can get involved for the future, and some of the peripheral benefits that come with it.

We also chat with Michael "Wanz" Wansley, who spent his life as a working musician before a song he featured on from a local rapper blew up into a global phenomenon. The song was "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, with Wanz's distinctive voice featured prominently in the chorus. That led to a whirlwind couple years for Wanz, allowing him to fulfill a lot of his childhood dreams, before the song receded in the public consciousness and he had to figure out life after sudden and short-lived commercial success. In this inspiring conversation, Wanz discusses life before, during, and after "Thrift Shop" and how it changed his thinking about fame and success in music.

The healing power of music is at the heart of The Awesome Music Project Canada: Songs of Hope & Happiness, which features intimate stories from Canadians of all walks of life - including Sarah McLachlan, Michael Buble, astronaut Chris Hadfield, Olympian Madeleine Thien, and NHL star Theo Fleury - on how music changed their lives. Rounding out the book are descriptions of the neurological research confirming that music is good for us and why.

Robert tells us about the origins of the project, some of his favourite stories shared in it, the research the project will fund, and a lot more.

Proceeds from The Awesome Music Project Canada will go to music and mental health research, starting with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital and one of the world's leading research centres. www.theawesomemusicproject.com.

This week, we bring you a special conversation with rap innovators Cadence Weapon, aka Rollie Pemberton, and Hua Li, aka Peggy Hogan, from the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. The two were part of the 20-day Banff International Songwriter Residency as a mentor and participant, respectively, and we dive into their experience, talk about the value of collaboration and idea-sharing, wax on the concept of "Canadian music," and more.

Plus, shortly after Canada started taking COVID-19 seriously in mid-March, a group of Toronto creatives launched a livestreaming initiative called URGNT. The idea was to broadcast sessions with a diverse array of artists from empty Toronto venues, ensuring every stakeholder would receive some compensation for their work at a time they'd really need it. We speak with co-founder Mark Marczyk about how everything came together.

http://canadianmusician.com

This episode is sponsored by Bandzoogle. Try it free for 30 days and use the promo code “CMPOD” to get 15% off your first year of any subscription. https://bandzoogle.com/?pc=cmpod

The London Royal Ravens lost the first map against the Atlanta FaZe on Saturday and were denied a chance to restart despite the fact they had to play shorthanded because Matthew "Skrapz" Marshall was not in his seat at the start of the match.

John Hillman may have already met his fundraising target, but he says he's determined to complete all planned 101 laps around his residence.

An Edmonton family is expressing frustration because their 12-year-old daughter, who has a rare disorder, cannot access the horse therapy she needs.

A trial of Britain's proposed coronavirus test-and-trace app being conducted on the Isle of Wight off the coast of southern England is going well, Transort Secretary Grant Shapps said on Saturday.

Kohli admitted it was not easy in the initial days.

Six-year-old Yunosuke and four-year-old Koujirou can be seen training on the Swedish and Serbian legends in a viral video.

On the occasion of Mother's Day 2020, Indian captain Virat Kohli wished his mom and mother-in-law (Anushka Sharma's mother) by sharing a couple of adorable pictures on Instagram. The batsman and both his mothers were all smiles in the pics and as a result, the comment second of the post was filled with heartfelt messages.

The pandemic has thrown publishing and booksellers into crisis – and left customers struggling to obtain books when they most want them. But some in the industry sense an opportunity to drag it into the 21st century

On 18 March, Emma Corfield-Walters received the news that for the second year running, her shop, Book-ish, in Crickhowell in the Brecon Beacons, had landed the title for Wales in the regional round of the independent bookshop of the year award. Corfield-Walters has run Book-ish for 10 years. It has 16 staff and a cafe, is the base for a literary festival that she also organises, and is credited with having played a major part in the regeneration of Crickhowell’s award-winning high street. Above all, it is a highly successful business: 2019 was a record year. The fact that it would now again be a contender for the overall prize – to be announced in June at the British book awards – was for Corfield-Walters a hard-earned affirmation of a decade’s passion and work.

But she was hardly celebrating. Britain was then five days from lockdown. “It was surreal,” she says. “We’d won best bookshop in Wales, yet I wasn’t sure for how much longer I’d have a shop that people could visit. It was like that scene in Star Wars when the walls are moving in, and the room’s getting smaller and smaller. The goalposts were shifting every day. At first, we thought: OK, we’ll buy hand sanitiser! But by the weekend, it was clear the shop would have to close.” Her first thought was for her staff, who are “like family” to her; the government’s subsequent announcement of its furlough scheme came as a huge relief. But there was also the question of her stock, and how she might keep selling it. Suddenly, the Book-ish website, hitherto used only to sell event tickets and signed copies, came into its own: “On the Saturday before lockdown began, we managed to get all 6,000 titles from the shop on to our website.”

Coronavirus patients were being turned away from hospitals in the Mexican capital on Saturday, as both public and private medical facilities quickly fill up and the number of new infections continues to rise.

Venezuela's military said it seized three abandoned Colombian light combat vessels that soldiers found on Saturday while patrolling the Orinoco river, several days after the government accused its neighbor of aiding a failed invasion.

Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Sunday the government is looking to lift the state of emergency in "many of 34 prefectures" that are not among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic before the nationwide deadline of May 31.

Singapore registered 876 new coronavirus infections, its health ministry said on Sunday, taking the city-state's total to 23,336 cases.

China's National Health Commission reported 14 new confirmed coronavirus cases on May 9, the highest number since April 28, including the first for more than a month in the city of Wuhan where the outbreak was first detected late last year.

Washington has yet to respond to Iran about a prisoner swap, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei was quoted as saying by the government's website on Sunday, reiterating that Tehran was ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States without preconditions.

Boris Johnson will exercise "extreme caution" in easing lockdown restrictions, the Transport Secretary has said, as he warned the public not to "throw away" their hard work by going outside.

The Duke of Sussex has reflected on how "dramatically" life has changed, as he marked what would have been the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games.

Boris Johnson is to replace his "stay at home" slogan with a fresh rallying cry to the nation, as the battle against coronavirus rages on.

Felix Project volunteer Ed Preston shares his story You can donate at virginmoneygiving.com/fund/FoodforLondonNOW

Christopher Evans-Gordon from Family Meals shares his story You can donate at virginmoneygiving.com/fund/FoodforLondonNOW

Former US president Barack Obama has criticised Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling it an "absolute chaotic disaster".

It comes as trade union leaders warn that they will not tell their members to return to work unless safety standards are improved. Mr Johnson is expected to urge employees who cannot do their jobs from home to begin returning to their workplaces while following social-distancing rules.

The coronavirus in Japan has brought not just an epidemic of infections, but also an onslaught of bullying and discrimination against the sick, their families and health workers. A government campaign to raise awareness seems to be helping, at least for medical workers. When Arisa Kadono tested positive and was hospitalized in early April, she was only identified as a woman in her 20s in food business.

Singapore has reported 20 deaths and 22,460 COVID-19 cases as of Saturday, according to data tracked by Johns Hopkins University.

Cookbook author and New York Times cooking columnist Alison Roman has publicly apologized to Chrissy Teigen after receiving backlash for comments she made about her fellow culinary...

Demi Lovato says she's really happy with Max Ehrich after posting their swoon-worthy moment from the new Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber video, "Stuck with U," directly to her own...

In the second installment of The Voice's virtual happy hour, the show's coaches shared their attempts at keeping busy and sane during quarantine, by sipping cocktails and sharing their...

Is Hannah Brown's mom throwing shade at one of her former exes? On Friday, Hannah's mom Susanne Brown took to Instagram on Friday to wish her youngest a happy birthday but in...

1. The person who loves us tirelessly and unconditionally: Ravi Shastri, Virat Kohli wish Happy Mother's Day  India Today
2. Maa Jaisa Koi Nahi: Virat Kohli and Virender Sehwag Lead Mother's Day Wishes  News18
3. Mother’s Day: Sports stars thank their moms for unconditional love, sacrifices and prayers  The Indian Express
4. Always amazing & irreplaceable: Sachin Tendulkar redefines word 'AAI' on Mother's Day  India Today
5. Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh Lead Wishes As Sports Fraternity Celebrate Mother's Day 2020  NDTVSports.com
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Happy Mother's Day: Karisma to Sushmita, a look at Bollywood's single mum's who have paved their own way  PINKVILLA
2. Mother’s Day 2020: Single Mothers of Bollywood  News18
3. Happy Mother's Day 2020: Kareena Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty lead B-Town stars celebrate motherhood, wish mothers on this precious day | In Pics  Jagran English
4. View Full coverage on Google News

Watching 'Saturday Night Live' adapt to the lockdown era has been a fun and joyful respite. This third episode of 'SNL at Home' suggests the show will be missed even more than usual until its return in the fall

Dropped by the original publisher after a staff protest, the film-maker’s autobiography can be brutally honest but also a bore, and neither he nor Mia Farrow come out of it well

Though I see what he was getting at, I don’t quite agree with Hilaire Belloc, who once wrote that just as omelettes are either admirable or intolerable, and nothing in between, so it is with autobiography. Most memoirs, alas, struggle over the same things: fame, for instance, is often less interesting (or perhaps simply harder to describe) than the struggle to achieve it; the central irony of autobiography is that it’s far easier to be truthful about other people than it is to be honest about oneself. Such books tend, then, to be patchy: utterly delicious at times, but at other moments, stodgy and in need of seasoning.

If Woody Allen’s Apropos of Nothing was an omelette, you’d scoff down two-thirds of it pretty smartish, I think, after which – sated, to a degree – you’d mournfully scrape what remained on your plate into the bin. Later, you might be troubled by a hint of indigestion; even a little light queasiness. But in the morning, contemplating the Alka-Seltzer, I’m not sure you would be full of regret, let alone inclined to avoid omelettes for life. What I’m trying to say is that Allen’s autobiography is a mixed bag. If he can write (obviously, he can), and if he is, at points, surprisingly honest (eye-poppingly so, on occasion), then he can also be a bore and a self-deceiver. Of course, if you’re one of those who, disgusted by what you regard as his moral failings, has vowed never to watch Annie Hall or Manhattan again, then you’re unlikely to want to embark on Apropos of Nothing in the first place – and fair enough, that’s up to you. But I’m not in that camp. Nor can I comment on Allen’s alleged abuse of his adoptive daughter, Dylan, a crime of which he was first accused in 1992 (two police investigations into this have come to nothing). What I will say, however, is that I regard it as both disgraceful and alarming that Hachette, his original publisher, gutlessly dropped his book following a walkout by some of its staff – and that though I was sometimes repulsed by it myself, I was also fascinated, even entertained. So, shoot me. Again, that’s your choice.

The Government's new "stay alert" slogan for the next stage of the UK's fight against coronavirus has divided opinion.

Cookbook author and New York Times cooking columnist Alison Roman has publicly apologized to Chrissy Teigen after receiving backlash for comments she made about her fellow culinary...

Demi Lovato says she's really happy with Max Ehrich after posting their swoon-worthy moment from the new Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber video, "Stuck with U," directly to her own...

In the second installment of The Voice's virtual happy hour, the show's coaches shared their attempts at keeping busy and sane during quarantine, by sipping cocktails and sharing their...

Is Hannah Brown's mom throwing shade at one of her former exes? On Friday, Hannah's mom Susanne Brown took to Instagram on Friday to wish her youngest a happy birthday but in...

Brunch, sorted

Chelsea star Christian Pulisic says he will be "forever" grateful to Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp for giving him his first chance to impress at Borussia Dortmund.

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes Liverpool will still be considered "champions in everyone's head" – even if they are never crowned.