At face value, the honour of being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame is both prestigious and inspiring. That Loreena McKennitt’s career has an arc that long and that accomplished is something worth boasting about, even just a little.
The Hall ‘recognizes Canadian artists that have attained commercial success while having an artistic impact on the Canadian music scene and/or around the world, with careers that span at least 20 years from their first recording.
It’s been approximately 34 years since McKennitt’s The Visit debuted, and the native of Morden, Manitoba, has been to a lot of places and done a lot of things musically since then.
“I feel deeply honoured and privileged to be put in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, especially when I look at the rest of the company I’m keeping,” she said. “But you know, you can’t help but look back to the beginning and to Morden where I spent the first 16 years of my life in a very musical community. I was playing guitar if there was no harp, and Celtic music wasn’t in the picture yet.”
McKennitt didn’t aspire to this as a calling, saying she thought her future was going to be veterinary school. But after three months at the University of Manitoba, things changed. Performing opportunities presented themselves, and the desire to follow a musical path led her away from what she had planned. In the late 1970s, Celtic music would enter the picture, and that connection shed a light on the path she would follow throughout her musical career.
“I was just deeply fascinated by the history of the Celts and when I look back now, I realize that the fascination led me to travel to many places, read many things, speak with many experts,” she said. “It became like an act of musical travel writing, so I really staked out my own path creatively, but also administratively because I never had a manager.”
One of the things McKennitt credits for helping her learn the business was How to Make and Sell Your Own Record by Diane Rapaport, a book that gave McKennitt insights on not just how to record but also how to get her music out there. Her parents helped out financially, allowing her to record 30 cassettes. The rest was hustle, hard work and creative determination.
“I drove to Toronto on a Friday night, crashed on people’s couches and got up at 6 a.m. to go down to the St. Lawrence Market to set up my harps and cassettes,” she recalled. “These days, that kind of thing isn’t possible any more because once I paid off recording the cassettes, what I made in return per cassette was considerable. It might’ve cost me $2 to make but I was making $8 for every one I sold. Nowadays, I believe it’s more of a forced march by the tech companies.”
It doesn’t hurt that when McKennitt was cutting her teeth, the industry was partially set up to help new young artists to succeed. She talks about singing in folk clubs in Winnipeg, being offered the chance to go on the CBC and sing during the morning drive program and the touring office from the Canada Council. All of that combined to provide opportunities to those willing to work and hustle for them. But she also warns that instant fame online doesn’t guarantee anything over the long haul.
“Diane’s book was like a bible for musicians as it talked about the creative side and the legal side and all the other stuff, but I also had a book from the Canada Council by which I could teach myself how to budget and manage cash flow and agreements and all those technical things,” she said. “Now you have to understand what the business model is and how much money you can make or not against how many thousands if not millions of listens on streaming services because we’re certainly seeing downloading disappear. Young musicians can’t be misled just because you might be super well known on social media that you’re actually going to make a living – you need to have a plan B. There is not the ecosystem now that there was, so it’s a gamble.”
