Whitecap Entertainment Festivals Deliver Significant Economic Impact to PEI In 2025

Fri Jan 09 2026
Whitecap Entertainment Festivals

Prince Edward Island's award-winning event company, Whitecap Entertainment is marking a strong year for live music and tourism in Cavendish with the announcement of the substantial impact of their annual festivals, Bell Presents Cavendish Beach Music Festival (CBMF) and Sommo Festival. Together, the multi-day events generated a combined economic impact of over $30M, welcoming over 80,000 music and culinary fans to Prince Edward Island in 2025, reinforcing the role both events continue to play in attracting visitors, supporting local businesses and strengthening the Island's tourism economy.

“Our festivals are built with Prince Edward Island Tourism in mind,” said Ben Murphy, CEO of Whitecap Entertainment. “When people travel here for CBMF and Sommo, they're supporting far more than the festivals themselves; they're supporting local businesses, tourism operators and communities across the Island. Seeing that impact continue to grow year after year, especially in the shoulder season, is something we're incredibly proud of.”

8BANGER Releases New Single “I Don’t Want To Go” - Pure Pedal To The Floor Rock N Roll!

Fri Jan 09, 2026

8BANGER Is a “festival style” rock act with half a century of combined rock and roll experience between members; having played the smallest of venues to the largest of stages.

Based in Dundas, Ontario, Canada. The band has been active since 2023. The new single “I Don’t Want To Go” was released in January of 2026. Recorded at Grant Avenue Studios, distributed by Current Records and Management, is capturing media and radio attention world-wide.

A music video has also been released to support the single:

Picture This! With Tracey Savein

Tue Dec 23 2025
Picture This! With Tracey Savein

Tracey Savein brings an incredible eye (of the lens) capturing special moments in time. Because as the saying goes – A picture is worth a thousand words.
“Any kind of photography, as I see it, is all about capturing motion and emotion. Whether the subject is raucous and rockin’ or the location is silent and still, if you can transport the viewer into a moment in time with an image and relay the energy of that moment, well, there’s your photograph.” – Tracey Savein

A Charlie Brown Christmas - December 20th @ Hugh’s Room Live, Toronto

A Charlie Brown Christmas - December 20th @ Hugh’s Room Live, Toronto
Local jazzers, Sullivan-Parker-Kettlewell make merry with the classic sounds of The Vince Guaraldi Trio during their annual animated “A Charlie Brown Christmas” holiday show at Hugh’s Room Live in Toronto

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all from Team Cashbox

Tue Dec 23, 2025

Sandy Graham: 2025 has been a year of political chaos and so much uncertainty but the one thing that always stays the same is the music. We can take ourselves back in time with the legendary hits that shaped our lives and also find new favourites that end up on repeat. I am also so impressed by all the new music that indie artists are releasing now. It gives me so much hope that the future of music is in safe hands with the younger new artists that are making huge leaps in creating great songs and great lyrics.

I get so many thank yous for the work Cashbox Canada does, but the truth is it is Team Cashbox that is responsible for keeping us out there every week.

Folk Singer Carla Muller Celebrates the Season with the Re-Release of Her Holiday Album 'Snow Came Falling'

Thu Dec 18 2025
Carla Muller

Woolwich, Ontario. Folk singer Carla Muller proudly announces the re-release of her cherished holiday album 'Snow Came Falling', a collection inspired by family, tradition and the spirit of the season. The album returns with renewed focus on its themes of connection, memory and the warmth of shared music, inviting listeners into the comforting world Muller has created through song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8YdwWcPtQk

2025 CFMA winners Maggie's Wake Release More Magic and Music with Holiday EP, "Close To Home"

Sun Dec 14 2025
Maggie's Wake Close to Home

This winter, Maggie’s Wake invites listeners to nestle into the season with Close to Home, their new Holiday EP that leans into warmth, light, and connection over glitter and gloss. Blending Celtic tradition with contemporary folk, the band takes listeners through a winter landscape filled with stories, harmonies, and a few musical surprises along the way.

The title track sets the tone with its unbridled anticipation of returning to the people and places that mean the most. The band’s heartfelt take on The First Noel draws on gentle instrumentation and close vocal harmonies that highlight the grace in simplicity. O Holy Night (w/ Jig & Trad Reels) begins with quiet reverence before bursting into a lively session tune—an unexpected shift that nods to both the church pew and the kitchen party.

Toronto’s Wavelength Music welcomes a prominent roster of artists, venues and community partners with Wavelength Music Festival + Conference 2026

Fri Dec 12 2025
Wavelength Music Festival + Conference 2026

Indie music non-profit Wavelength Music announces its inaugural Music Festival and Conference, expanding its annual winter season festivities to include conversation programs and interactive activities along Toronto’s west end while shifting timing to the first weekend of spring. Following its massive 25th anniversary celebrations, in 2026 Wavelength goes global in scope, with emerging Canadian artists spotlighted alongside international guests from Australia, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Portugal and the United States. In addition to the 30+ live acts, a festival highlight will be the book launch event for the memoir by Melissa Auf der Maur, Canadian-born alternative rock icon (Hole, Smashing Pumpkins), in partnership with the AGO.

Birdsong Foundation To Deliver Joyful Holiday Concert Supporting Mental Health Through Music

Fri Dec 12 2025
Birdsong New Music Foundation
Birdsong Artist Dustin Harder (Prairie Soul)
Birdsong Artist Dustin Harder (Prairie Soul)

Date: Sunday, December 14, 2025
Venue: Lula Lounge, Toronto
Time: Doors 6:30 PM / Show 8:00 PM
Tickets: $59.64 (incl. tax) / $50 (all-inclusive for musicians)

For tickets: eventbrite.ca/e/bringing-you-a-little-happy-tickets-1739773833369 
Or Donate via website and bring a receipt to the door.
Website: birdsongnewmusicfoundation.ca/

Canada's Legendary Juno-Winning Disco Queen Claudja Barry Still Boogying In Her Dancin' Shoes

Thu Dec 11, 2025

Canada’s original disco queen has maintained a career that includes recording, acting on Broadway, London’s West End and on film, performing on some of the worlds biggest stages, has started creating her own documentary films and even contributed to a best-selling book featuring all the great disco era divas. From the late 70s through today, Claudja has enjoyed hits in every decade, thanks to loyal fans and supportive radio programmers. Her initial success was in Canada where she earned Juno awards and was the first inductee to the Black Music Hall of Fame, together with Oscar Peterson. She became a star throughout Europe, and in the States and was nominated for an American Music Award for Best Female Artist and appeared on NBC’s Seventh Annual Rhythm & Blues Awards.

Ezra Ben-Shalom’s Known and Unknown: The Overlooked Avant-Folk Masterpiece of 2025 Bridging Ancestral Grief and Hope

Fri Dec 05 2025
Ezra Ben-Shalom’s Known and Unknown: The Overlooked Avant-Folk Masterpiece of 2025 Bridging Ancestral Grief and Hope

 Released on August 5, 2025, Ezra Ben-Shalom’s Known and Unknown has emerged as a profound candidate for year-end "Best Of" lists, offering a courageous musical response to a world in conflict. A bold avant-folk record drenched in Jewish tradition, the album is ripe for this specific moment in a world longing to feel connected. Ben-Shalom, whose name translates to "helper son of peace," views this music as an act of engaging with the oral tradition of his ancestors to address universal questions of suffering and transcendence.

Picture This! With Tracey Savein

Fri Dec 05 2025
Picture This! With Tracey Savein

Tracey Savein brings an incredible eye (of the lens) capturing special moments in time. Because as the saying goes – A picture is worth a thousand words.
“Any kind of photography, as I see it, is all about capturing motion and emotion. Whether the subject is raucous and rockin’ or the location is silent and still, if you can transport the viewer into a moment in time with an image and relay the energy of that moment, well, there’s your photograph.” – Tracey Savein

Gowan - November 29th @ TD Massey Hall, Toronto

Gowan - November 29th @ Massey Hall, Toronto

Scarborough Scotsman and musical maestro, Gowan performs his 1985 hit album, “Strange Animal” in its entirety for a jam-packed hometown crowd during the record’s fortieth anniversary tour at Massey Hall in Toronto

MAE MARTIN, LIBERTY SILVER, AND BIRDSONG ARTISTS TO DELIVER JOYFUL HOLIDAY CONCERT SUPPORTING MENTAL HEALTH THROUGH MUSIC

Fri Dec 05 2025
Birdsong New Music Foundation

Date: Sunday, December 14, 2025
Venue: Lula Lounge, Toronto
Time: Doors 6:30 PM / Show 8:00 PM

Tickets: $59.64 (incl. tax) / $50 (all-inclusive for musicians)
eventbrite.ca/e/bringing-you-a-little-happy-tickets-1739773833369
Website: birdsongnewmusicfoundation.ca

TORONTO, ON - Renowned comedian and actor Mae Martin, Juno Award-winning vocalist Liberty Silver, and the artists of the Birdsong New Music Foundation are set to unite for an evening of original music and holiday cheer on Sunday, December 14, 2025. This annual fundraiser, taking place at Lula Lounge, supports the production of new music created by individuals living with mental illness.

18-Year-Old Fiddler Irish Millie Earns Single of the Year Nomination and Folk Music Ontario Performing Artist of the Year Recognition

Fri Dec 05 2025
Irish Millie Photo Credit Mary Payne

 Irish Millie, the 18-year-old Canadian fiddler, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who is taking the roots scene by storm, has released "You Were There," the standout single from her acclaimed EP Between Then and Now. The track has earned the young artist her seventh Canadian Folk Music Award nomination, this time for Single of the Year. Simultaneously, she earned her fifth consecutive nomination for Young Performer of the Year, having been recognized in that category every year since the release of her debut album Thirteen in 2021.

youtube.com/@IrishMillieFiddleTunes

Submissions Now Open for 2026 SING! A Cappella Championships

Fri Dec 05 2025
SING!

Canada’s largest a cappella competition to award more than $10,000 in prizes

A cappella groups from across Canada are invited to showcase their voices on the championship stage at the 2026 SING! Canadian A Cappella Championships, taking place May 23, 2026 at Toronto’s renowned Koerner Hall.

Part of SING! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival (May 20 to June 1, 2026), the competition will offer more than $10,000 in cash and prizes, from future performance opportunities at SING! Toronto (including the opening slot for the Soundcrowd concert on May 30, 2026), to cash prizes and professional recording sessions.

The competition is open to any style of unaccompanied vocal group, with four categories: high school, university/collegiate, barbershop, and open (post-collegiate, semi-pro, pro, or other). A minimum of 12 groups, chosen from video submissions, will be invited to perform live at Koerner Hall on May 23, 2026.

54-40 Announce New Album 'PORTO' And Drop Latest Single "Virgil" Ahead Of January Release

Fri Dec 05, 2025

Legendary Canadian rock band 54-40 return with their highly anticipated new album 'PORTO', set for release on January 23, 2026. The announcement follows the debut of four powerful new singles, "Running for the Fence," "Die To Heaven," "Time Will Tell," and "Virgil," released today, marking the beginning of a bold new chapter for one of Canada's most celebrated bands.

youtube.com/5440official

Frontman Neil Osborne describes the project as “an album about renewal and resilience — it’s about the work it takes to keep creating, to stay connected, and to keep loving what you do.” Bassist Brad Merritt adds, “We’ve always tried to write songs that feel honest and grounded in real life. These new tracks capture that — they sound like where we’ve been, but also where we’re going.”

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/album/07xfLJOcEumRZZ7mADSOnY

Cashbox Canada Announces North2North Competition – The Artist Gateway to Canada and Sweden

Fri Nov 28, 2025

Cashbox Canada and Sandy Graham have been Crossing Borders and Building Bridges In Europe for over 8 years, after having met Malin Osth and Jonas Tancred in Newfoundland at a Showcase Festival on Burin Peninsula. Appearing as the duo Bara Jonson and Free, Newfoundland fell in love with their music and this is  where a business and personal relationship was formed with Sandy and Canada.

When Malin and Jonas renamed a barn at the Lilla By Festivalen in Rinkaby, Sweden, Kanaladan (the Canada Barn), the magic happened and we now want to expand on the appearances and experiences of Canadian artists in 2026.

So we are launching North2North, a Canadian indie artist competition, that is open now, and artists will have top notch adjudicators hear, listen and provide feedback on each and every submission, a value that creates winning no matter what the final decision is for the chosen participants who will travelling in a Canadian contingency to appear at Lilla By Festivalen, in Rinkaby, Sweden, June 12 and 13, 2026. In addition, the winners will receive great prizes right here in Canada. 

Picture This! With Tracey Savein

Fri Nov 21 2025
Tracey Savein

Tracey Savein brings an incredible eye (of the lens) capturing special moments in time. Because as the saying goes – A picture is worth a thousand words.

“Any kind of photography, as I see it, is all about capturing motion and emotion. Whether the subject is raucous and rockin’ or the location is silent and still, if you can transport the viewer into a moment in time with an image and relay the energy of that moment, well, there’s your photograph.” – Tracey Savein

Earth, Wind & Fire - November 18th @ TD Coliseum, Hamilton

Earth, Wind & Fire - November 18th @ TD Coliseum, Hamilton

Multi-award-winning American super-soul funksters, Earth, Wind & Fire break out all their beloved R & B hits for a special event, blowing the brand new roof off a newly christened TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario

The Art of the Artist: Brandon Boyd of Incubus

Fri Nov 21 2025
Brandon Boyd (Incubus) and Michael Williams

It’s where the magic happens as an artist opens to the physical world they grew up with and the spiritual realm where all the magic happens.

Like Jimi Hendrix, Brandon Boyd of Incubus, looks at his career in the same way, as if he is antenna or lightening rod for whatever he creates that comes from that special we can never quite explain … once called the ether.

Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell are painters. So many artists express their creativity in other mediums. Brandon Boyd exhibited his art publicly for the first time in Toronto at Tagialatella Gallery in Yorkville.

 Brandon and I wanted to talk not about the new record he is working on, nope I wanted to talk to Brandon the artist and decode that person.

MW: Brandon, was this the first time your art has appeared in Toronto?
BB: Yes. It was a great time….at times overwhelming—the number of people dropping in, the energy of it all. I’ve been a little wrecked ever since, but for all the best reasons. It was amazing to see how many people come out to look at and talk about art. Those are the things I love.