How the legal weed industry will affect the music industry
[This was my weekly column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]
Back in January, UP Cannabis, one of the country’s budding (sorry) legal marijuana producers, nailed down an agreement with The Feldman Agency, a major talent booking organization whose roster includes everyone from Alessia Cara and the Barenaked Ladies to Our Lady Peace and Michael Bublé.
In addition to getting gigs for its clients, Feldman also specializes in brand integration projects. So, could Feldman help UP get deeper into the music space? Absolutely.
As with alcohol, music and marijuana have always gone together. If Molson can sponsor a tour and Budweiser can have a venue named after it, why couldn’t another legal, government-regulated recreational ingestible product do the same?
Jean Richer, senior vice president of sales and marketing, wants UP to head in this direction. After all, this was part of his job when he worked as a market manager for AB InBev, the massive Belgian-Brazilian beer consortium.
While regulations for marketing pot are still being worked out — some shows, tours, and festivals have already struck deals with licensed pot producers, occupying a legal grey area of Bill C-45 — Richer and other cannabis companies are most anxious to get into the music endorsement/sponsorship space.
Here’s me talking about the subject with Matt Gurney on AM 640 Global Radio.
