Elton John is currently on his long-running Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour that thus far has grossed more than US$44-million this year alone. At Toronto’s Rogers Centre in September, the 75-year-old pop icon sang, “You can’t plant me in your penthouse, I’m going back to my plow.”
Slaight, 71, is president and chief executive officer of the Slaight Family Foundation, a prominent private philanthropic foundation founded in 2008 by his late father,. The foundation just pledged $10-million to the Canadian music industry charity the Unison Fund, to be dispersed over the next five years.
“I don’t think young musicians back then thought about their future,” Derrick Ross says. “You were trying to make enough money to get by, and if you had any extra cash, great, you bought a car.” “We had some success, so we could afford Blue Cross,” Ross says. “Not every musician has that success, though.”Neither do the many industry workers who are not employed by a major record label or corporate concert promoter, such as Live Nation Canada. They operate as freelancers and independent contractors without a safety net.
“If I’m in trouble, they help,” says Cody, who wrote songs for Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt and sang on recordings, including Tom Cochrane’sSuffering from chronic health issues, John Cody is no longer able to work as a professional musician.Cody wonders why the Canadian music industry isn’t doing more to take care of its own.
The Unison Fund relies on donations, including support from the three major record labels in Canada: Warner Music Canada, Universal Music Canada and Sony Music Entertainment Canada. And major donor the Slaight Family Foundation is nothing if not part of the Canadian music industry.