Resource Notes
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[PMH 9.2 (2014) 195-205] Popular Music History (print) ISSN 1740-7133 doi:10.1558/pomh.v9i2.29459 Popular Music History (online) ISSN 1743-1646 Brock Silversides Resource notes Brock Silversides is Director of Media Commons University of Toronto as the University of Toronto. 130 St. George Street Toronto, ON Canada M5S 1A5 [email protected] Canadian popular music resources can be found in numerous heritage and academic institutions scattered throughout Canada. One of the more important archival and special collections can be found in Media Commons at the University of Toronto. Toronto, the largest city in Canada, has traditionally been the centre of the nation’s music production, distribution, management, booking, record label head offices, live sound and lighting companies, event producers, scoring for films and television, advertising production, music journalism, and music broadcasting. It also boasts several colleges that provide training in the above activities, and is the location for much of the scholarly research in the field. Toronto is home to Can- ada’s largest community of musicians, the majority of the industry organizations (such as the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences), and the most active club scene. And as strong international business, cultural and educational net- works have developed around these related industries, the city is an important centre in global music circles. The University of Toronto is Canada’s largest university, and its library is ranked by the Association of Research Libraries as one of the top three academic libraries in North America (along with Harvard and Yale). This is due in no small part to its voluminous, rich and unique archival and special collections, many of which per- tain to popular music. Established in 2003, Media Commons is the library depart- ment tasked with acquiring, administering and preserving media-based resources for the University of Toronto community—both for teaching and research pur- poses. It is comprised of three sections—the circulating Audio-visual Library, the Microfilm Library, and the Media Archives. The mandate of the Media Archives section reads: ‘Media Archives acquires, preserves and makes available archival and special collection materials of Cana- dian national and regional significance relating to the audio-visual and media © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2015, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX. 196 Popular Music History communities, the entertainment industry, and popular culture. This includes, but is not limited to, historical and contemporary film/video production, animation, broadcasting, photographic arts, advertising, multimedia, and popular music pro- duction.’ The collections strategy is thus wide-ranging, and pertains to both the home-grown music scene, as well as to Canadians who have achieved a measure of success on the global scene. It is now opening up to international material as well. The archival fonds/collections in Media Commons are intended to document and provide primary source material for the three-pronged critical study of music as a creative and artistic process, as a business and industry, and also as an evolv- ing continuum of technologies. Archival collections are crucial for true scholarly research—how and why a musical production was created on a personal and technological level, how it was funded, marketed and disseminated, how it was received and how it affected musical trends as well as the industry and society. The finished works—whether a single song, an album, a televised concert or a video— are important to retain for posterity, but a researcher can only glean so much from them. Instead one needs to consult all the primary source documents gener- ated in the making of that final product as well as the various stages of production to fully understand the work and its milieu. Thus, the list of representative archival documents Media Commons seeks includes the following (both analogue and digital): 1. Textual: Correspondence, memos, corporate documents (incorporation, annual reports, employee records), contracts (production, recording, management, publish- ing, etc.), budgets, track sheets, editing notes, sheet music, lyric sheets, press kits/releases, published reviews/profiles, record company catalogues, Ameri- can Federation of Musicians engagement contracts, tour documents (itinerar- ies, crew, etc.), sales figures, royalty statements, files relating to music industry associations and organizations, music video scripts and storyboards. 2. Graphic: Album/CD artwork and logos, separation negatives and proofs, advertising, posters, promotional and candid photographs (negatives/prints/slides—live, studio, press conferences, etc.), certificates/awards, promotional memorabilia. 3. Audio: Multitracks, master mixes, alternate mixes, outtakes, live performances, rehearsals, composing tapes, demos, radio interviews/performances, lacquers and test pressings, copies of commercially pressed/released product, film and television soundtrack elements. 4. Film/Video: Unedited camera original film, field videotapes, rough cuts, fine cuts, print- ing elements and soundtrack mixes, master/finished productions, television interviews/performances. © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2015. Resource notes 197 To this end, Media Commons engages with and acquires fonds/collections from musicians, producers, managers, record companies, booking agencies, advertis- ing companies (for whom music is integral to their finished product), film/video producers (who also use music in all of their work), music industry organizations, and even still photographers, graphic artists, fans, and record and memorabilia collectors. Representative and outstanding parts of the collection include the following. Record companies/studios Alert Music Founded by Tom Berry in 1984, this Canadian independent record label has brought to the public the likes of Holly Cole, Kim Mitchell, Michael Kaesham- mer and The Box. The collection follows the careers of its artists—with pre- and post-production documents, master tapes, alternate takes and outtakes, and press and reviews for each and every album. But it also documents the history of the company—its incorporation, contracts with artists and producers, business and marketing plans, sales statements, posters, videos—both raw footage and edited music videos as well as live footage. True North Records True North Records—one of the earliest Canadian independents and the brainchild of Bernie Finkelstein—was founded in 1969. It too contains the complete production packages of recordings and music videos of artists such as Bruce Cockburn, Murray MacLachlan, Syrinx, Rough Trade, Barney Bentall, the Rheostatics, Colin Linden, Blackie & the Rodeo Kings and many more. It also contains posters, gold/platinum records and marketing and promotional merchandise. Wellesley Sound This was a full-service recording studio founded in Toronto in 1976 by Jeff McCulloch. It serviced the regional, national and international music commu- nity, as well as numerous advertising agencies . Some of the artists whose mul- titrack and master mix tapes are represented in the fonds include Lee Aaron, Johnny Dee Fury, Dream Warriors, Leslie Spit Tree-o, Maestro Fresh Wes, Pun- jabi by Nature, Razorbacks, Sturm Group, Alfie Zappacosta, Shirley Eikhart, Images in Vogue, Tom Jackson, Strange Advance, Maurice Gordon and ex-Byrd Gene Clark. © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2015. 198 Popular Music History Individual artists Blue Rodeo The archive of this well-known Canadian band which began in 1984 includes all of their studio and live recordings, as well as outtakes, alternate takes, alternate mixes, live performances, bootlegs (they collect their own bootlegs which is very forgiving of them), raw footage for music videos, and dubs of all their television and radio performances. Other material includes lyric sheets, fan mail, contracts, press, photo- graphs, gold/platinum records/CDs, posters—even t-shirts and other apparel used for marketing. In addition there are solo recordings, and recordings from their pre- Blue Rodeo period when they were known first as the Hi-Fi’s, then Fly to France. Cowboy Junkies This is another comprehensive archive by a band that has managed its own business and ran its own record label from its beginnings in 1985. The textual records include the business correspondence, performance contracts, manage- ment contracts, legal documents, financial records and voluminous press. The video materials are a combination of television performances, television inter- views, appearances on award shows, EPKs (electronic press kits), music videos and live performances. The audio materials are a combination of released and unreleased studio and live performances on every format from original multitrack tapes to vinyl discs and CDs. The master tapes for every album are present including a legendary lost album. Included also are a large number of rehearsals, jams, soundchecks, out- takes, alternate takes and alternate mixes/re-mixes. The memorabilia is promo- tional in nature and includes posters, artwork and t-shirts specifically connected to concerts, album releases, or venues where the band played. Triumph This is undoubtedly one of the finer archives of a Canadian musical group. From their formation in 1975, Triumph were extremely business-savvy and well aware of their legacy. Not only is the archive comprehensive from the viewpoint of reconstructing their own rise and dissolution, but it shows clearly