Check out the updated Toonage Flickr page for some new photos from Thursday: Econoline Crush, The Ending & Daniel Wesley at Tattoo Rock Parlour.

I caught a couple of the panels offered Thursday at the CMW Digital Media and Music Summit. The first was titled “Recommendation Engines: The Ubersolution To Managing Music Ultra Surplus“. The discussion centered on how people discover new music and how recommendation engines such as Pandora and Last FM filter music to people based on their tastes. The debate is if this is a great new innovation or simply overwhelming to the consumer who now has a million choices at their fingertips.

Tom Conrad of Pandora explained that their site uncovered new music for people by first getting them to choose an artist as opposed to a genre. Through their research done via the Music Genome Project, they were able to analyze basic elements of songs to categorize them by rhythm, melody, instrumentation and determine the sound that appeals to an individual. It was discussed whether this type of recommendation would ever be able to provide the same type of personalization that you would get from your own social circle or the guy at the record store who knew you and your tastes.

Sandy Pearlman pointed out that back in the 60s and 70s, radio and concerts commonly had a variety of styles playing back to back offering the audience a completely diverse listening experience. He suggested that any recommendation search engines should offer a start and an end point to choose from. For example, start with the Doors and end with 13th Century classical music and cover everything in between. With the long tail effect taking place now, the days of huge million selling albums are gone being replaced by a greater number of artists achieving more modest sales. It was questioned where and how new artists could find a place in these recommendation engines when there are already millions of choices available.

When its so common to hear that the music industry is resistant to embrace technology, it was refreshing to hear from a group of people that had not only embraced it but were excited about where it was headed. Unfortunately, the irony was not lost to me that Pandora is currently shut down for Canadian audiences.

The second panel I caught was entitled The Paradise Of Infinite Storage: How This Ultimate Game Changer Will Upset All The Apple Carts. This centered around the idea that as digital storage space becomes larger and cheaper, it will become very easy to carry around massive music collections in your pocket. Not only massive collections but the idea of carrying around literally everything ever produced. The panel initially debated whether it was indeed a paradise at all or whether it would simply become overwhelming having so much choice at hand. It was interesting how different cultures view the distribution of music. In Brazil, it is viewed as a community experience where both downloading and uploading are encouraged. Paul Hoffert discussed how studies in China showed that people commonly viewed music and movies as free for the taking while they were willing to pay for courses and education. Sandy Pearlman hoped these innovations and trends could wake the labels up to what was happening and help them reform their own business models.

Friday was a jam-packed day for this gal, and started at 7:45 am at The Royal York Hotel with the 6th Annual Women in Broadcast “Trailblazers” Breakfast, produced by a trailblazer in her own right, Liz Janik. This year’s breakfast included guest speaker Karen Salmansohn, and Evanov Radio’s Ky Joseph, recipient of this year’s “Rosalie Award”. In case you’re wondering who “Rosalie” would be, she’s none other than Rosalie Trombley, the woman with the Golden Ears, the former receptionist and music librarian who became the Music Director at CKLW-AM in Windsor, famed for her ability to recognize a hit song. Look her up - and you’ll see just how important she was to the classic hits we all know and love.

Next, I was off to “The Bedroom Project: How Young Adults Use, Consume and Interact with Technology & Media”. Fred Jacobs, of Jacobs Media, presented his findings on how youth and young adults use technology and media in their homes through “ethnographic” research. Everything from TV, video, radio, games, music, and the internet were covered. Truly fascinating stuff!

Following that, I sat in on “Guitar Hero and Rock Band: Transcendental Air Guitar and the Object Lesson of the Gaming Phenomenon”. This pitted guitarist Gary Lucas against one of the producers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Helen McWilliams in a “Don’t Fear The Reaper” duel. As a recent convert to the Guitar Hero phenomenon, I found it very cool that a woman is one of the developers, and kicks ass at the game, too.

Later that afternoon, I attended the Alanis Morissette press conference, following the Canadian Music Industry Awards, in which she was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award. I was thrilled that I had the chance to ask her a question during the press conference, and enjoyed hearing what my peers had to ask her. Hands down, since the beginning of Toonage, this tops my list of favourite moments!

Continuing with the Alanis Morissette theme, I ended my day at The Royal York Hotel at her Celebrity Interview. Maie Pauts of 104.5 CHUM FM conducted a great interview, and fans even had the chance to ask a few questions at the end of the session.

It was a fantastic day, and be sure to check Toonage.ca for full reviews on all of these events in the coming days.

The first full night of shows at CMW 2008 led me to The Hard Rock Live (formerly Club 279) at Yonge Dundas Square, where I caught Chris Koster’s set. For a CMW show, the crowd was fairly sparse, but Koster still gave it his all, delivering his blend of glammy-emo tunes. From there, I was off to the Supermarket in Kensington Market to catch my first Sloan show in years. It was my highlight of the evening, especially because they played my favourite tune of theirs - “Everything You’ve Done Wrong”. More than a decade after these boys led the Can-Rock renaissance, they can still pack in the crowds and deliver a solid show!

Be sure to check Toonage.ca for full reviews & photos in the coming days from all of the shows, panels, and events that Team Toonage has checked out!

Welcome to the Toonage blog. Check back regularly for updates as we cover CMW. Also check out our CMW page to find more in depth features, reviews and interviews.