What exactly is ANIM?

Since 2001, ANIM has been representing and accompanying people involved in the business side of the Canadian music industry in a minority context.

Its members are managers, producers, presenter networks, all kinds of businesses and Canadian music associations spread across the country: in the 9 provinces outside of Quebec and in the 3 territories.

ANIM isn't short for ANIMAL, although it does cultivate the same desire to network as dogs, the strategic fibre of an octopus, the determination of a beaver, and it is as pan-Canadian as... well, mosquitoes. 

  • Through its leadership, ANIM actively participates in and oversees the consolidation, growth and development of the music industry in Francophone communities while supporting its members' efforts to achieve their individual and collective goals. Like a mother with her children, ANIM wants to give its members all the tools to succeed.

  • A prosperous, sustainable, mobilized, and vibrant francophone music industry that is representative of the francophone and Acadian communities... Is that too much to ask?

  • The values promoted by ANIM are: equity, inclusion, respect, prosperity, mobilisation, transparency... And FUN, of course.

  • ANIM fulfils its mission by promoting and fostering the following principles: dialogue, proactivity, accessibility, governance, innovation, entrepreneurship and diversity.

What we learned

Song and music have remained essential to Canada's Francophone and Acadian communities (FACs). Accessible, popular and above all UNIFYING, these forms of cultural expression have been the primary means through which Francophone and Acadian communities have expressed themselves, gained recognition and told their stories for more than 400 years. Despite this popularity and this deep roots in the communities' history, it is only belatedly, compared to Quebec and English Canada, that CFAs have made a firm commitment to the development of their own music industry.

ANIM Timeline

  • Governments introduced programs to support creation, production and broadcasting that CFA stakeholders previously had little or no access to.

  • Broadcasters and professionals from ADISQ and SPACQ created tools to support the development of Canadian francophone vocal music... Thus, Musication was founded in the midst of Canada's first real Francophone song crisis.

  • Emergence of specialised organisations (e.g. the Association des professionnels de la chanson et de la musique (APCM) in Ontario, the Association acadienne des artistes professionnel.les du Nouveau-Brunswick (AAAPNB), and the Regroupement des artistes de l'Ouest (RADO).

  • Birth of the Regroupement national des professionnels de la chanson.

  • The birth of a production, promotion and marketing infrastructure in the CFAs... Recording studios, production companies, artist managers, two distributors, Distribution APCM in Ontario and Distribution Plages in the Atlantic region, began to emerge. In order to gain access to the Quebec market, the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (FCCF) set up a promotion office in Montreal, Zof Montreal, which was subsequently taken over by ANIM, but has since ceased operations.

  • This infrastructure quickly showed its fragility. Only one of the five production companies set up in the 1990s continues to operate today. The others have either closed or gone bankrupt. Of course, the music industry as a whole was experiencing upheavals caused by the digital revolution. But above all, it was profitability problems and their difficulty in gaining access to public funding that had an impact on these companies.

  • Restructuring and birth of ANIM.

  • Incorporation of ANIM and hiring of a first Executive Director: Benoît Henry

  • Hiring of its second Executive Director: Clotilde Heibing

  • The industry that ANIM represents today is made up of both associations and private companies (labels, booking agencies, studios, public relations, etc.). In a nutshell, the ecosystem continues to evolve as a fertile ground where artists and companies can not only be founded but also thrive, with more than sixty members to its credit, ANIM continues to support and grow this French-Canadian industry.