Photo by Sarah Kirby, Imagine Photography ©2017
Looking Back and Moving Forward
Sometimes before you can consider moving forward, you have to spend some time looking back.
JAMS Canada is Jeanette Arsenault Music Services and was set to launch April 1, 2020 when COVID-19 made everything come to a screeching halt. 4 months of pre-launch prep had to be put on hold.
Like most people, we landed at the end of 2020 wondering “what was THAT?”. Subsequently leading us to spend some time looking back on the year that was, how it came to a standstill and how moving forward into 2021 will look like.
Back in January 2020, JAMS Canada had started connecting with over 40 musicians plus music & business industry professionals to start to define/refine the services it could offer. “Helping Musicians Help Themselves’ encapsulates the goal – provide resources and support for musicians to help them with the business side of their career.
When the pandemic hit in mid-March 2020, JAMS Canada pivoted to providing links to government assistance, financial resources, rental assistance and laying the groundwork for creating a community of musicians supporting musicians.
Looking Back on the Founder
Jeanette Arsenault has been active in the Ontario area music scene for over 30 years as a singer-songwriter, recording & performing artist, producer & organizer. She has independently released 8 albums and has a new double children’s album still to be released.
She has performed nationally & internationally including performing her original music for the Canadian Olympic Team athletes in Salt Lake City (2002), in Athens, Greece (2004), being the VIA Rail Artist on Board. Her patriotic “This Is My Canada/Mon cher Canada” has surpassed 400,000 views on YouTube.
In addition, she also wrote/performed her anthemic “Women of The World” for Business & Professional Women International’ Worlds Congress in Helsinki Finland for over 600 women from 60 countries around the world.
Jeanette toured the maritimes with her one-woman show, “I’m An Acadian-Canadian, Eh!” which featured traditional & original music as well as harmonica, step dancing and a segment explaining the history & culture of her Acadian ancestors.
She continues to make her songs available for soundtracks & publishing contracts.
www.jeanettearsenault.ca. You can follow her music on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and Instagram
Since May 2020, JAMS Canada has been presenting a #MondayMusicMatters series called the JAMS Canada Pro Series “Here’s What I Know” featuring music & business professionals sharing their knowledge & expertise in various disciplines including music, graphic arts, project management, recording & engineering, networking, to name just a few. You can read all the segments on our website blog.
Post-pandemic, JAMS Canada’s services will help musicians find gigs, higher paying gigs, connect with venue owners, get hired for special events, plus provide brainstorming/consulting sessions and help musicians optimize their website, YouTube channel, and social media skills.
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Looking Forward to the Future
My vision is to help other musicians live their dream – perform, record their music, have a self-sustaining career, learn about the new music business model and apply it to their career. Part of my mission is to help musicians treat their career as a business and learn some helpful business strategies to help them succeed at whatever level they aspire to: part time or full time musician; local, regional, national, international concerts.
With 30 years experience as a recording & performing artists, I can share the things I learned – what to do and what not to do. In this ever-changing music business, the old model of aspiring to a record deal to gain fame is even harder to do. But the good news is that musicians can learn how to do it on their own when they are armed with knowledge, tools & resources. JAMS Canada can help them with the tools they need.
How has COVID 19 impacted you?
The primary impact was not being able to launch on April 1st as was planned after 4 months of preparation. Fortunately I had good advice from smart people and learned quickly to pivot and spent the rest of the year laying down groundwork for a post-pandemic launch.
I think that 2021 will explode with opportunities for musicians to earn good income. People will be starved for social experiences including music, food and theatre, etc. My prediction is that they will be willing to spend more money on these much needed activities for their well-being after the restrictions of isolation (though much needed) and lack of social interactions.
Ideally musicians should be laying down a good foundation of shoring up their email lists, preparing social media campaigns, optimizing their websites & YouTube channels. Then when they are ready to be discovered, having a great online presence will help them maximize their income-earning potential.
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BIO
JAMS Canada (Jeanette Arsenault Music Services) has set out her mission: “Helping Musicians Help Themselves” by offering consulting, resources & administrative support services.
Jeanette has over 30 years of experience as a singer/songwriter/performing/recording artist. She has independently released 8 albums, performed for the Canadian Olympic Team in Salt Lake City (2002) & again in Athens Greece (2004) and also opened the 37th World Congress of the Business & Professional Women International (BPW, 2011) and has produced/organized/performed in numerous benefit concerts/fundraisers/variety shows,
JAMS Canada can help you focus on what you want most – more gigs, more fans, more money.
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Some contributors also responded with videos – please subscribe to our JAMS Canada YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-CmaB7MV0r1ehhveBPmBEg
Jeanette and Jams Canada is a vital service and platform that has set the stage for performing musicians at a time when they are harnessed and unable to perform live. With proper preparation, each performer will blast out of the Covid Gate ready to make great live music once again.
Thanks Joe! Appreciate your kind words and wish you a Dreams Come True New Year 2021!