Kelly and Rach visit Urban Rush, and love them..... as well as Fiona's bracelet...

Recently, Kelly and Rach's All Access Pass got an exclusive tour behind the scenes on the set of the award winning entertainment talk show Urban Rush which is  hosted by the delightfully funny Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford. I wanted to share the video with you all for a couple of reasons; firstly, we just had such a great time. Not only are the dynamic duo quick witted and hilarious but they were warm and welcoming and both Kelly and I really had a wonderful day. Secondly, I noticed while we were on set that Fiona Forbes also wears a F*ck Cancer bracelet,  a stunning piece of artwork designed by Susan Fiedler for Inspire Health. Some of you already know from a previous blog post  this  is a cause that is near and dear to my heart, and seeing as  Fiona is one of Vancouver's hippest 'it' girls, always with  her finger firmly on the pulse of whats hot and happening in this city, I thought this was a great opportunity to tell you all once again about these stunning pieces of wearable art. 

The best way to do this is to re-direct you right to the F*ck Cancer website so you can read all about them and find out how to purchase one for yourself or for someone you love. I also find this to be a perfect time to mention  the F*ck Cancer ambassador program which welcomes other cancer fundraising organizations and individuals who want to use the F*ck Cancer bracelet or artwork for their own fundraising programs or events.

And in the meantime, do enjoy the video Kelly and I made of our visit to the set of Urban Rush, it was a breathless ride of fun good vibes, and do please make sure to tune in to the show on Shaw TV,  if you everwant to know what's really going on in this city, you can be sure Urban Rush is there to tell you about it!

Rach  xo

Songwriters should be leading the charge......

This is a bonus post in follow up to my Road Trip post/video's at the VIMBC.

Kelly and I were chatting with Bill Henderson and it occured to me that  part of our conversation contained an important message for songwriters so I don't want this footage to just sit on the cutting room floor. It relates back to one of the many seminars I went to at the VIMBC  which was about monetizing digital downloads, Bill Henderson and Ralph Murphy were the panelists. Basically, file sharing is here to stay, and so it should be, it is a fantastic tool. At the same time, artists who should be compensated for their work, are not being compensated. 

This is serious for all songwriters and music professionals, the current stats are staggering.

An estimated 1.6 billion music files are shared online in Canada  each year.
* The total number of purchased downloads in Canada was 38 million in 2005.2
* The proportion between these two is 98/2 – 98% sharing, 2% purchasing.

There are people who will argue  that you can't monetize file sharing because grandmother Betsy would never download a file in her life  and she just plays Bingo on Facebook so she shouldn't be charged and so on and so on.........of course...... this is why there is disucssion going on. I'm not sure that everyone knows this, but there is an unobtrusive way to monetize file sharing and music downloading which is fair to both the artist as well as the consumer, or non-consumer if such is the case.  There is a proposal being discussed right now online at SAC and as a songwriter you should be a part of this discussion. The more songwriters who join in and lead the charge towards the inevitable, the more likely the change will be positive and productive and beneficial to all.

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Canada has given the world some of the greatest music ever produced. We believe that implementing a fair way of compensating Canada’s music creators for the online sharing of their music will usher in a new Golden Age of creativity. (from the SAC website)


For more info, and to lend your voice to the conversation, please go HERE~


And speaking of songwriting, here are a few clips from my showcase at the VIMBC.....




Keep writing and rocking friends.
Rach xo