National Music Centre hosts week-long camp for Indigenous recording artists

The National Music Centre hosted emerging Indigenous artists last week to help them navigate the business side of the industry.

Calgary’s National Music Centre (NMC) is hosting a five-day event to help Indigenous recording artists learn the business side of the music industry.

The Ohsoto’Kino Music Incubator is an intensive development program that sees six Canadian Indigenous artists converge on Studio Bell to learn new skills, connect with music industry experts from across the country and hone their craft and professional chops.

“They call it the ‘music business’ for a reason,” said David McLeod, NMC Indigenous advisory committee chair. ”People want to know the ins and outs, so we certainly take time to talk about that.”

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“We come together as a community here. Indigenous people feel like they know it’s a safe place. People can share similar stories, they don’t feel alone – and I think that’s at the heart of what this program is all about.”

Ohsoto’Kino is a Blackfoot word that means “to recognize the voice of,” and when the committee was looking for a program name four years ago, the committee wanted to honour the land that the NMC is on.

McLeod says many young artists don’t realize how much more there is to the business than playing an instrument and writing songs.

“I think when people are looking at the mainstream music industry, you can get advice, and the difference with this is, it’s how can you make your way through that maze as an Indigenous artist? Like radio, Serious XM, online streaming services, festivals - how do you get into festivals? How do you get touring going? There’s a lot of huge questions.”

Damase Elis is an emerging artist who started playing an instrument when she was 12 and wrote her first song a few years later.

She says the incubator is an intensive learning experience that she thinks will help her in her music career.

“For me, learning about how to use social media a little bit better was a really big one,” she said. “And as well, just looking at maybe placing more importance in my own practice on songwriting – and collaborating with other people in that process.”

Celeigh Cardinal is a mentor for the program who’s sharing her experiences, many of which were learned the hard way.

“That’s information that takes a long time to learn, so I’m happy to have walked on that path and be able to share that info,” she said. ”Having support from people who have done it before – I mean, that’s the best kind of knowledge; that’s the way that you can really learn and really grow."

Shelby ‘Beaatz’ Sappier, Beatrice Love, Brandi Vezina, Lacey Hill, Raven Reid and Uncle Trent and Friends have also been selected as participants for this year’s Ohsoto’Kino Music Incubator program.

Sappier, who’s been performing for 10 years, says he always wants to learn more about his craft and the music industry.

“In today’s society, it’s hard being an independent artist,” he said. “You’ve got to wear all hats; you got to be your manager, you’ve got to be the artist, the producer, the social media guy – you’ve got to do it all.”

He says being accepted in the program has opened his eyes to what he needs to focus on to advance his career even further.

“I’m a very creative person, so I love to stay in that creative zone,” he said. “But I know what it takes. You have to be business-orientated; you have to know the business side of things, and if you don’t know your business, then your brand isn’t going to be successful.”