Music researcher shares his experience as a Polaris Music Prize juror and the program's significance for musicians

A rapper who originated in Edmonton, a tenor from Toronto and an electronic music producer from Montreal. These are just a few examples of artists whose albums have won the Polaris Music Prize – a Canadian awards program that annually honours and rewards musicians based on artistic merit without regard to genre, sales history or label affiliation – over the years. 

“By including music from all genres and regions across Canada with no regard for commercial metrics, a wider variety of artists can be recognized and included in the program,” says associate professor of popular music and media studies Brian Fauteux. 

The winner of the 2022 Polaris Music Prize is singer-songwriter Pierre Kwenders, a Congolese-Canadian musician whose album José Louis And The Paradox Of Love touches on the subject of self-identity and creative expression – and Fauteux had the honour of being on the jury for this year’s competition. 

As part of the panel of professionals from all over the country who possess a wide breadth of knowledge when it comes to Canadian music – including journalists, academics, producers and broadcasters – Fauteux reviewed and suggested albums to be shortlisted for a grand jury to determine this year’s winner.

“With a wide variety of jury members from different areas and of different backgrounds, there’s a lot of representation of what’s happening in all parts of Canada musically,” he says. “Every juror has a unique perspective of what makes for a great album and each has a distinct way of advocating for an album. Some might highlight the cultural or political aspect the music comes from, and for others, it’s the style of music or the production work.” 

“The varying perspectives and variety of music styles nominated facilitated a lot of deep discussion surrounding the music among jury members, which was inspiring.” 

Fauteux was an ideal candidate for the jury, as he has long-standing relationships with many Canadian musicians through his research, which focuses on how trends from the business side of the industry impact working musicians in Canada (examples of this research can be found here and here). Through conversations with musicians, he and his collaborators have completed studies and made recommendations at the policy level to give musicians more of a say rather than allowing record labels and representatives to have the overarching voice in the career paths of these individuals.

He also sees correlations between some of his conversations with musicians and the importance of awards such as the Polaris Music Prize.

“One of the biggest findings from my interview work is how central funding that allows artists to further their careers is, and the Polaris Prize is one of few monetary awards Canadian artists can get,” he says. “Some past awards recipients have talked not only about the profile-raising component the award grants them, but also the financial boost it gives them to invest in the next phases of their careers, which is crucial."

Want to broaden your Canadian musical horizons? Check out some of the artists who were shortlisted for this year’s competition.