In September 2003, Canada's music industry updated its popular contribution to how kids learn about the artists' experience, careers in the music business and the value of music to the social and economic landscape. Some 10,000 Listen Up 2 video packages have been shipped to schools across the country.

"Music plays such an important part of young people's lives. So, when it became apparent that the original educational video called Listen Up! needed to be updated to reflect the tremendous change in the industry, we were more than pleased to do it," says Brian Robertson, President of the Canadian Recording Industry Association.

"The students tell us Listen Up! is cool!," comments Paul Llew-Williams, a teacher/educator at TL Kennedy Secondary School in Mississauga, ON. "It draws students into the process of what is involved in recording music from the viewpoint of the artists they relate to."

First produced in cooperation with music teachers and educators in 1995, the sequel is called Listen Up 2. Performing artists Jann Arden, Barenaked Ladies, K-OS, Sam Roberts and Remy Shand join music industry professionals who walk the viewer through Canada's music industry and talk about living, loving, working and making music. The video addresses a variety of issues and discussion is encouraged on a wide range of topics, including:

• recording music in the digital world
• the role of the producer and engineer
• the life of an artist
• life on the road
• the importance of education
• careers in music and how to "break into" the business
• economics of music: how sales translate into new music
• the importance of supporting the music one loves
• the value of music to a well-rounded life

Shot with the intimacy of an interview and the energy of a music video, the project supports learning in music and media classes and in guidance departments in middle and high schools across Canada.

Some 10,000 units have been shipped to English-language schools across Canada. A 16-page, colour, teacher's guide is included to assist teachers with lesson plans.

"Listen Up 2 gives students an opportunity to realize that recorded music is much more than a piece of plastic or a digital file. It's a creative and professional work whose first value belongs to the creator," observes Mr. Robertson. "In the context of the downloading and uploading phenomena, getting young people to think and talk about that process is in itself a good thing."

For more information on "Listen Up 2", please contact:

Jennifer Hardy, Manager of Administration and Communications
Tel: 416-967-7272 ext. 105
Tel: 1-800-668-8820
Fax: 416-967-9415
Email: jhardy@cria.ca