Lights Up

Comment #’s 763 and & 764,  by Anonymous
Reproduced from the Truth Farm thread “Do you think Jian tweets because he is lonely?”

On the CBC Q website in the “About The Host” section one of the many things written is this :

“Jian continues to write and produce music through his company, Wonderboy Entertainment, and manages the career of rising international star, LIGHTS, whom he has managed since 2001.”

Besides the absurdity of LIGHTS being referred to as a “rising international star”, there’s mention of Jian’s music company “Wonderboy Entertainment”. Googling that led me to FACTOR, The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings. It turns out that rich guy Jian gets assistance from them.

Now on to “rising international star” LIGHTS. Since October of 2008 she has received more than $80,000 from FACTOR.

158 Comments

  • Allan says:

    if Yoko Ono can get a 4 star review from Rolling Stone – http://imaginepeace.com/archives/7209 – imagine what raves the simple noises you regularly emit would garner.

  • Anonymous says:

    Lights isn’t a singer either. Don’t let that stop you, Poongirl! Give that beautiful Canadian Jian a call!

  • PoonGirl says:

    I’m not a singer, but if I was going to be, Jian would be my manager.

  • Pooniemania says:

    “Poonie Lane is in my ears and in my eyes….Four of fish and finger pies”

  • MammaryMama says:

    Can I be Poongirl’s backup singer?

  • Allan says:

    I’m thinking “Tea Makers Recordings Presents PoonGirl Live at Abbey Road”.
    The Canadian economy always needs stimulating, and surely that’s the purpose of the Arts grants.

  • Anonymous says:

    Her website is owned and run by Warner Bros. Records. Her videos are paid by VideoFact. Booking Agent gets a percentage when he books her a gig/tour. Manager get percentage of her earnings. Tour manager, radio promotions, sound technicians, Lights & band members paid by Concert Promoter. Label Manager paid by Record Label. Recording costs & marketing paid by Record label (paid back by sales of product). Merchandise costs depends on what deal they have with merchandiser. I don’t know how often she needs a Lawyer. Don’t know if she has a Publicist. Does she make enough to need an Accountant? If she does, then why does she need all of these grants?

  • Anonymous says:

    The complaint is not about artists receiving grants. Yay grants & loans! It’s about only certain artists who belong to a cultural clique & who “do the schmooze” receiving grants & loans. It’s about elitism.

  • cbc ottawa says:

    To Anon May 20 12:16 Holy cow, finally the voice of reason!
    People have to understand that musicans are like small businesses. They have to pay a lot of other people before they see a cent in their own pockets!

  • Anonymous says:

    It’s funny reading all these comments.

    Half of you people think the manager & artist profit from FACTOR grants.

    Do you forget about the other band members/publicist/radio promotions/tour manager/booker/marketing/account/legal/label managers/sound technicians, and so on. Add in the costs to manufacture merchandise, music videos, website design & maintenance, travel … it’s a lot of money that’s involved and Jian or anyone else can’t just pony up $500,000 in cash.

  • cbc ottawa says:

    Is there an echo in here… in here… in…

  • Bruce says:

    She also made all her money in before the net crushed the record companies. She also made the majority of it in the US.
    Good for her! Just remember she’s an anomally not the rule.

    She also benefited from FACTOR / VideoFACT / CanCon and the CBC!

  • cbc ottawa says:

    Good for Sarah!

  • Anonymous says:

    Sarah McLachlan is also an anomally not the rule because she’s one of the few that hasn’t taken her fortune elsewhere to avoid paying Canadian taxes. Most do. They benefit from CanCon and all of our “star making” grant programs and then take the money and run. The music industry, in reality, doesn’t benefit most Canadians, only a select few.

  • Anonymous says:

    she discredits him & he doesn’t see it. it’s embarrassing & sad.

  • Anonymous says:

    Her baby talk singing style is annoying and her music is amateurish. If Jian thinks that this is good music, then his taste in music is highly questionable and he should not be deciding who gets music grants.

  • cbc ottawa says:

    Sorry. The comments above were entered in the wrong comment field and will make very litle sense out of context.

  • cbc ottawa says:

    She also made all her money in before the net crushed the record companies. She also made the majority of it in the US.
    Good for her! Just remember she’s an anomally not the rule.

    She also benefited from FACTOR / VideoFACT / CanCon and the CBC!

  • cbc ottawa says:

    I guess I should post as anonymous so I can say anything I want with no context whatsoever.

  • cbc ottawa says:

    All of these musicans (except Bieber) came to prominence before
    down-loading and piracy completely gutted the record industry.

    I work with Canadian musicans everyday and can tell you most are happy if they make 30 grand a year. Much less than a Federal civil servant. The big names I’ve worked with might make 100k a year not the millions paid to CEOs etc.

    My point isn’t how much or how little musicans make it was that none of us live purely on the sweat of our own labour. No matter how hard we work some of the money in our pocket comes to us from people working in industries who have received tax payer funded help. That’s it, that’s all.

    By the way: Cohen was forced into his last tour because bad managment had pushed him into bankrupcy. He was basically living off TV / film rights for “Hallelujah”.

  • Anonymous says:

    Man she talks, or rather mumbles, fast. Did she know she was on camera? Yeah….Buble “stole” your award, you humble cartoon character, you!

  • Anonymous says:

    Lights checks in from Atlanta!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hchqJ3buOsU

  • Anonymous says:

    To Allan : You can get all the information on CBC employee salaries and all of the various expenses that they bill the Corp for with the Access to Information Act :

    http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/tbsf-fsct/350-57-eng.asp

  • Anonymous says:

    “Influence peddling is the illegal practice of using one’s influence in government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment.”

  • Anonymous says:

    More Jian Ghomeshi incestuousness & conflicts of interests. This time involving everyone’s favourite CBC radio, flannel shirt wearer, Grant Lawrence.

    CBC Radio’s Grant Lawrence is getting married today to Jill Barber. From Jian’s Twitter :

    3 yrs ago I had pleasure of introducing @GrantLCBCR3 and @JillBarber to each other. Today they get married here in Vancouver. Thrilled!
    about 2 hours ago via web

    From the Radio Starmaker Fund :

    Round 23 – JILL BARBER $29,355.00

    Round 30 – JILL BARBER $55,616.60

    Round 32 – JILL BARBER Approved ($????? Jian’s wedding gift?)

    • Hmmmmmmm...... says:

      Considering how many CBCers and/or their partners get grants from the Radio Starmaker Fund – shouldn’t monies received from it be considered as another source of revenue for the CBC and included in the CBC’s annual budget?

    • Dazed & Confused says:

      and she’s been on Q, of course.

      • Anonymous says:

        And….from her Wikipedia :

        “From February to March 2007 she toured eastern Canada with Dan Hill as part of Stuart McLean’s CBC Radio show The Vinyl Cafe.”

  • Greedy Ghomeshi says:

    It’s a testament to Jian’s massive sense of entitlement that he – a person that makes more money in a month than most Canadians make in a year – took time from his busy schedule this year to apply for a grant from Factor for the measly (to him) sum of $1,495.

    • Nothing's Shocking says:

      And during a recession, no less. Make sure there’s nothing left for anyone else, Jian!

    • Anonymous says:

      And FACTOR only approves 45% of applicant grants. So the $1,495 that went to Jian could have gone to someone who :

      doesn’t have a radio show broadcast across North America
      doesn’t have a TV show on Bold
      doesn’t manage a ’œrising international star’
      doesn’t make $100,000 or more a year from speaking and hosting engagements
      doesn’t own two homes
      doesn’t lead a jet set lifestyle
      doesn’t have more money than he needs

      but it went to Jian.

  • Share the wealth, Jian! says:

    A closer look at who’s receiving these music grants tells you that it’s not the most needy of Canadians musicians out there. It’s more like a who’s who of contemporary CanCon. Money from these funds are being used to sustain the careers of people like Matthew Good and Serena Ryder, but they do nothing for artists out there that haven’t had the opportunity to present their music to the public. They just keep recycling the same names back out there into the spotlight for yet another album and tour.

  • Blah says:

    If you can’t make a living as a musician, then you shouldn’t be a musician. Music assistance/fund/grant programs are opposing the Darwinism of the music industry. They’re just delaying the inevitable demise of all these wannabe rock stars that don’t have the talent to forge a career in music. Like Jian Ghomeshi, for instance. Didn’t he end up going into radio broadcasting? Maybe that’s why he empathizes with untalented musicians.

    • Anonymous says:

      We can all make music…but some of us who don’t have the right connections to get a grant must take a day job to pay the bills. Talent has nothing to do with it.

      • cbc ottawa says:

        The music “industry” or rather what little’s left of it, is only a small part of “music”. Music would exist without the industry but only a viable industry allows the existence of full time professional musicians.

    • Mendelson Joke says:

      Plenty musicians better than you with day jobs. Being an artist is a 24-7 job regardless of how you pay your bills.

      I do agree that the Canadian ‘indie’ scene has become a messed up disappointment.

      However, let’s not forget that we live in a cheapskate country, lousy with people who think everything needs to turn a profit in order tobe viable. There should be something like FACTOR, but as it stands right now, it’s as if they say they are representing the art of writing, but all they ever do is help to publish magazines.

      What does this have to do with CBC? Well, it’s got similar problems to all these radio starfucker funds. Instead of a guerilla approach to coveringb a wide span of cultural production, you get a distilled, un-streetwise, safe monetized version of the cutting edge.

    • cbc ottawa says:

      If you live and work in Canada you are in someway benefiting directly or by trickle-down from some subsidy somewhere. If you live in Ontario you benefit from auto maker bailouts, if you live in B.C. logging on Crown land, if you live on the East Coast it’s fishing quota buy-outs. If you want to live in a Darwinian state you had better move.

      The great majority of musicans in this contry, even “successful” ones live on a income so low as to make the lowliest civil servant blush. Even “Super Stars” make less than you average Bay Street toady.

      • WTF? says:

        That’s ridiculous.

        Michael Buble, Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Nickelback, Rush, Celine Dion, Alanis Morrisette, Shania Twain, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, et cetera. make a hell of a lot more than your average Bay Street toady or your lowliest civil servant.

        And who are the “successful” ones that “live on a income so low as to make the lowliest civil servant blush”? Gordon Lightfoot?

        • Anonymous says:

          Ottawa lives in a subsidized bubble (having lived there, I know). Pay them no mind. They don’t understand business, ethics or Bay Street at all. They only understand subsidies.

        • Anonymous says:

          Those ‘poor’ millionaires…I think I saw Sarah McLachlan at the Food Bank the other day. So sad.

        • Nash the Clash says:

          The truth is, if you’re even moderately successful in music for a few years you can be set for life — provided you don’t blow it all on drugs and stupid shite. There are many Canadian musicians from the past that haven’t done squat for 10-20-30 years now and they haven’t had to go out and get real jobs like the rest of us.

          • Anonymous says:

            Isn’t the main issue not so much that musicians get grants, but that only a select few get grants, not based on merit or need, but who they know?

          • Nash the Clash says:

            Exactly. My response was more in regard to the ludicrous assertion that successful Canadian musicians are somehow impoverished.

            Personally, I’d be in favour of even more grants to musicians — even funded with my tax dollars — if it didn’t end up going to those that are already well funded — which is the way it always seems to go because the connected people in the industry end up monopolizing the Boards and distributing the Fund money in their own direction.

            Lights gets Fund money for a UK tour immediately after getting Fund money for a US tour. Meanwhile the ‘average Joe’ musician can’t even get funding for a 3 song demo.

  • Musicians Who Receive Grants are Not Welfare Bums! says:

    This does look very bad on Jian and it underlines the incestuous natre of the Canadian entertainment industry BUT musicians who receive public assitance are no more “living off welfare” than Canada’s GM workers!

    The music industry has collpased in the wake of on-line piracy. It is harder than it has ever been to make a decent living. If you want to get angry about our govenrmtent giving money away look no further than Bay Street!

    • Anonymous says:

      Valid points. But GM workers and people on Bay street aren’t nearly as useless as most of the musicians receiving grants, imho.

    • Anonymous says:

      At least GM workers make something you can use.

      • Musicians Who Receive Grants are Not Welfare Bums! says:

        The point isn’t about use value. It could be argued that GM should have been allowed to go belly up because it made a crappy product; it could be argued some muscians should be allowed to go belly up because they make crappy music. My point was that one is nor more or less a “welfare bum” than the other. If we are willing to support a mediocre car manufacturer than why shouldn’t we support mediocre artists? What’s the difference excpet we’re talking thousands of dollars to the musicans and billions to GM? If you want a free market in the arts why not one in industry?

        All this aside Jian is looking more and more slimey and Lights i looking like she could use a good meal!

        • Anonymous says:

          Agreed. I think most of the beef that people have is with Jian getting any money from any music fund, particularly one which he serves on as a Board member. Also, I think the way that these music fund grant programs tend to slant more in favour of the somewhat established mediocre artist and against the lesser known less mainstream indie artist, raises the ire of many.

          • Anonymous says:

            The beef is that Jian doesn’t see the conflict of interest. At all. But he’s always read to stand in moral judgement of everyone else.

  • Anonymous says:

    This must be why Jian wants Jack Layton to be PM so bad. Jack says that one of the first things that he’d do is increase Arts funding. Imagine how much more money Jian would be making if Jack were PM! Good thing that’ll never happen.

    • Anonymous says:

      Shouldn’t that be : “Imagine how much more money Jian would be EMBEZZLING if Jack were PM!”

  • Anonymous says:

    On the list of Starmakers’ directors, Jian’s title is: President, Wonderboy Entertainment. Why isn’t: Radio Host, CBC? What is he trying to hide?

  • Anonymous says:

    Did the Starmaker Fund give us Grant Lawrence too? That’s one “Grant” that should be given back.

  • Anonymous says:

    Starmaker Fund also gave grants to fellow CBC employees Molly Johnson & Buck 65. More conflict of interest?

    • Anonymous says:

      I think the next step for Jian is to get the Starmaker Fund to give grants to Ghomeshi relatives, then members of his immediate family, then of course, himself.

    • Allan says:

      Factor Fund

      2009 – Buck 65 – $2,414
      2008 – Molly Johnston – $25,000

      • Allan says:

        Holy f**k!
        METRIC
        – from September 2007 to December 2009 –
        $213,283

        • Anonymous says:

          Guess Metric needed SOME money to make those awful T-Shirts for the Haiti Earthquake relief. Help I’m alive! I don’t think they have ever been on “Q”. Wonder why.

        • Anonymous says:

          The Radio Starmaker Fund makes Factor look like cheapskates :

          METRIC
          Round 14 – $62,500.00
          Round 16 – $124,107.32
          Round 17 – $58,717.72
          Round 18 – $101,800.00
          Round 21 – $4,000.00
          Round 30 – $108,797.90
          Round 31 – $89,050.00
          Round 32 – approved $ figures will be in next annual report
          Round 33 – approved $ figures will be in next annual report

          That’s over $500,000 + (?)

          • No accounting for taste says:

            I can see why most of these music acts get assistance. The ones that get it, for the most part, make garbage music and would be starving without the money. It’s kind of like giving money to the mentally challenged.

          • Anonymous says:

            What makes me laugh is Metric’s edgy, super-cool, rebel, hip image when in fact they live off welfare.

          • Anonymous says:

            They’re “too cool for school” but they still receive an allowance.

          • Anonymous says:

            I bet Metric thinks they’re cooler than Michael Buble. At least he pays his own bills.

          • Jello Biafra says:

            Jian spends a lot of time questioning Justin Bieber’s popularity, but you don’t see the “Biebs” name on FACTOR or the Starmaker Fund. Doesn’t that make The Starmaker Fund and FACTOR look rather pointless? A teenager from Stratford was able to make it big internationally without any help from our assistance programs?!?!

          • cbc ottawa says:

            Can’t count on YouTube to build an industry.

          • $ says:

            METRIC lead singer Emily Haines also received money in rounds 20 ($31,802.00), 21 ($43,861.980) and
            23 ($16,000.00)

    • Anonymous says:

      Radio Starmaker Fund Annual Reports:
      https://www.starmaker.ca/about/rsfannual

      Buck 65
      round 14 – $27,000
      round 15 – $22,000
      round 16 – $72,953
      round 19 – $10,000
      round 25 – $30,500
      round 26 – $24,000
      round 27 – $30,000

      Molly Johnson
      round 12 – $6,000
      round 13 – $44,916
      round 21 – $14,500
      round 24 – $20,000
      round 29 – $18,360

  • Dazed & Confused says:

    Is there a conflict of interest for jian to host potential Starmaker grant recipients on his show “Q” ? Just asking…

    • Anonymous says:

      I think that they might feel indebted to him. That they have to acquiesce to him or else. That they have no choice but to do his show when asked or they won’t get another grant.

      It’s a lot of power that he’s wielding (a CBC radio show & Starmaker Fund Board member). It’s not really fair to up and coming musicians that they’re at the mercy of Jian both in media AND in funding. What if their manager is someone that Jian doesn’t like? Does that mean they don’t get on Q AND they don’t get a grant?

      • Anonymous says:

        Probably. The man can hold a grudge! Check the list of recipients. How many of them are on his show? It may be coincidence. But Canada has a larger talent pool than is represented on the grant list.

        Can Jian continue to take the moral highground in his public monologues when his hands may be dirty too?

        • What does a CBC'er know about "Starmaking"? says:

          Did you notice when you looked at the list that it’s mostly male artists and bands and maybe a handful of women? I wonder if Jian is not too cool with the idea of giving grants to anyone that might upstage his protege?

      • What does a CBC'er know about "Starmaking"? says:

        If there’s an up and coming young singer that Jian sees as competition for LIGHTS, Jian could effectively shut her out of the CBC/Q and the Starmaker Fund and ruin her chances of ever having a career in music all because it would be in the best interest of himself and his client. It’s kind of weird that there hasn’t been any young female Avril Lavigne-types visible in Canadian music since Lights came on the scene…..

        • Anonymous says:

          If he ever claims Lights did all by herself again, someone should call him out on his fraudulent statements.

          • Anonymous says:

            It’s especially fraudulent now, in light(s) of the fact that she’s not even supporting herself as a musician. She’s on some sort of musicians welfare assistance program.

        • Dazed & Confused says:

          Wonder what Lights’ missionary parents feel about her being on Lilith Fair (all those lesbians!!) And about her “advertising” designer clothes in Naked Eye?

  • PeterInEdmonton says:

    Since this is an elctronic print medium, my previous post should have read “I draw the line at libel…” instead of “slander”. My mother would have wagged a finger at me over that one. My bad.

  • PeterInEdmonton says:

    Would one of you care to provide a source for the claim that he is on the board of FACTOR or any other fund? Or a Jury member? I don’t see him listed on the current board on their web site:

    http://www.factor.ca/Board.aspx

    I then did an advanced Google search for “Ghomeshi” within the http://www.factor.ca domain. No hits. I’m no fan of Jian’s and had never heard of LIGHTS before the orginal posting on this thread and have no problem with that posting, but I draw the line at slander.

  • Anonymous says:

    Isn’t one of Jian’s former employers, Conrad Black, in jail for criminal fraud ( diverting funds for personal benefit)?

    Maybe they can share a cell?

  • Anonymous says:

    If LIGHTS was even half as creative as Jian’s tax accountant….she’d be the biggest star in the world!

  • Jian's in the money! says:

    This is actually a really good scam that Jian has going.

    1) Get a cush, high paying/high profile job working for the government.
    2) Set up a shell corporation to write off all kinds of “business” expenses and losses to offset your already high income.
    3) Have only one client which keeps operating cost low.
    4) Get yourself on the Board of Directors of a Fund that hands money out to people like your client.
    5) Get fund to hand out money to your client.
    6) Ka-Ching! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

  • anonymous says:

    as a crown corp, doesn’t cbc have to disclose salaries?

  • Bratzzzzz says:

    Wonder if Lights has had it easy…has she had to work a crappy day job while she struggles to make it in the music industry or has she been protected, supported and walked through the front door without suffering half as much as other artists?

  • Anonymous says:

    Does Jian disclose his 6 figure income when he applies for his FACTOR grant?

    And what does Wonderboy Entertainment Inc. do that justifies any grant? I went to the wonderboy.ca website and the only thing on it is an e mail link : mailto:info@wonderboy.ca

    • Bratzzzzz says:

      Call them up & ask them:
      Wonderboy Entertainment
      61 West Ave, Toronto M4M 2L7, ON
      p: 4164693929

      • Hmmmmmmm....... says:

        The address for Wonderboy Entertainment Inc. is a house in Riverdale.

        I wonder if that’s the same house mentioned in the recent Toronto Star feature on Jian’s “Peanut Factory” home : http://bit.ly/9bSk8s

        “Ghomeshi has another house in Riverdale, which is now a rental.”

        • taxman cometh says:

          uh oh, jian! there may be an audit coming your way!
          mo’ money, mo’ problems…

        • cbc ottawa says:

          I think I’m going to puke.

        • Anonymous says:

          So would the income from the rental go to Wonderboy? And become a business expense?

          • Wondering about Wonderboy says:

            I wonder if the person/s living in that house realize that they’re living in the de facto headquarters of Wonderboy Entertainment Inc. (Jian Ghomeshi, President). They must. Wouldn’t they get Wonderboy’s mail?

            BTW, Who or what the f8ck is Wonderboy? Is that Jian’s nickname for his penis?

    • Anonymous says:

      He doesn’t apply for the grant, so he doesn’t have to disclose his income. The corporate entity “Wonderboy” applies, and it probably doesn’t make a dime. What gets me is that when jian was with Moxy Fruvous, he was such a hippie, holier-than-thou, enviro-anti-establishment guy. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

    • Anonymous says:

      Jian has to give a financial statement for his company Wonderboy Entertainment Inc. but not for his own personal income when applying for a FACTOR grant.

      http://www.factor.ca/docs/applications/CompanyDocumentationCheckList.pdf

      “Provide a copy of the financial statements of the Company for the period ending not more than twelve months
      prior to your first application following July 1, 2006.
      **Financial statements will be required to be updated on an annual basis. Please provide once with the first application
      submitted following July 1, 2006, and resubmit annually with the first application submitted at the commencement of
      FACTOR’™s fiscal year (April 1).”

      More info on applying for a grant from FACTOR here : http://www.factor.ca/Programs.aspx

      According to this article FACTOR approves 45 percent of grant applications (Jian was approved 2 years in a row).
      http://exclaim.ca/musicschool/needtoknow.aspx?csid1=72

      ’œLast fiscal year we received 100 applications for it and we approved 45 percent.”

  • Anonymous says:

    he has no family to support & he still can’t afford to invest in his own clients’ tour?

  • Anonymous says:

    He’d better protect his voice if he’s going to make that much money with it. Why doesn’t he stop bugging the canadian taxpayer for money & fund Lights’ tours with some of his own $$$…

  • Allan says:

    It is guesstimated that Jian signed a three-year contract for over $1,000,000 (and worth every penny) to host less than 200 episodes of “Q” a year, with a raise in pay coming soon from syndicating the show to a U.S. network.
    His “speaking” and host engagements bring in another $100,000 or more each year.
    And then there’s his lucrative share of the profits from the rising international star, Lights.

  • Anonymous says:

    How does Jian qualify for a grant? Didn’t he say at the Ryerson interview that he signed a big money contract with the CBC? Not Larry King type money, but not bad either.

  • Gordon Gekko says:

    I wonder if LIGHTS will ever stop asking FACTOR for money? Her manager is in his 40’s, has a high profile job at the CBC that pays well….and he’s still asking FACTOR for money!

    Stealing from ‘starving artists’….how greedy can a person be?

    • Anonymous says:

      She has a Juno, her manager hangs out with all the big names, and she STILL can’t get anyone to invest in her except the government? Eeep!

      • Anonymous says:

        The Juno is part of the mystery. Did you know that she won that Juno without even having an album out? She can’™t be making any money, otherwise I’™m sure she wouldn’™t be getting that kind of money from Factor, and she isn’™t getting any real critical acclaim. She’™s what you might call an industry creation, except that I don’™t think anyone outside of the industry is paying any attention to her.

        And who are these big names that Jian hangs out with? Does he hang out with anyone other than George? Jian’s almost as fake as she is.

  • Anonymous says:

    How on earth does Factor justify giving that kind of money to Lights? She hasn’™t done anything to justify getting grants like that. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

  • Sal Waxman says:

    Remember last year, when the CBC fired all those people whose only source of income came from working at the CBC? Maybe if they had been more disloyal (like Jian) and had a bunch of other things that they were doing on the side to make money (like Jian), they might still have their jobs. By the way, will Jian be hosting Q today or is he still recovering from losing his voice after hosting an award show on Friday night?

  • Jiany Carson says:

    This is such a breaking story, another breaking story for Teamakers ! Firs the leak now Jian’s Jian is such an unethical manager, on the board the gives grants to indie artists ! Hopefully the higher-ups will notice now.

  • Anonymous says:

    (@martha and the maffins)
    i think this is the core of most of my beefs with all of the ‘improved’ cbc services.
    it’s all part of the same boring smarmy media industrial complex. that’s why stromb has a job, and jian and ben mul and the annoying chick who does the ‘arts scene’ reports on tv. or even fucking don cherry. it’s etalk syndrome too. it’s the new style. these people are all part of a culture of culturites that have the jobs, run the funds and man the outlets (like the CBC), that the rest of us wish could be a little bit better, and less shallow. because we actually know from experience that it can be better. my complaint goes out to the whole growing media scape that includes anyone who comes from VJ culture or who aspires to be constantly seen, or thinks lists of their favourite anythings could possibly be important. i’m also talking about you annoying media industrial complex bands – like sloan. and even you nardwuar. media on media reportage too. the national doing ‘stories’ on little mosque really is one too far for me.
    the national arts you end up getting, because somehow this is in charge, gets filtered through their boring, no attention span, pandering, shallow understanding of the world – the one not revolving around them. not to place too much emphasis on intelligence – and i’d give myself a B+, but it’s like the C students are running everything.
    so. what now then? can this be fixed? rather than just bitched at?

    • Anonymous says:

      Well said.

      The dumbing down of culture by the CBC’s self appointed arbiters of culture is such a mindfuck at this point and the disconnect from those “that have the jobs, run the funds and man the outlets (like the CBC)” to the audience (if there even is one left) is so polarized that the notion of fixing it seems like an impossibility. Because they’re not going to ask someone like you or me or anyone outside the narrow purview of contemporary programming to do it. It will more likely be someone who is part of the problem – not the solution.

      • Media Crity says:

        There are two Canadian cultures in Canada: the official one the media covers & hypes, and the REAL one. It has always been thus…didn’t Stompin’ Tom Conors have a song “They”ll play this on the CBC?”

        Just look at the Winter Olympics Opening & Closing and their version of “official” Canadian culture! Eeep!

      • Johnny Rotten says:

        They have turfed anyone who disagreed with them. Step out of line, and RS, KS and CW will have you beheaded.

  • Martha and the Maffins says:

    Here’s a great article on FACTOR / VIDEOFACT that says it all for me.

    http://bit.ly/10Zg6H

    FACTOR / VIDEOFACT is institutionalized mediocrity, perfect for the likes of Jian and Lights. Sycophants and boring shite rule the day once again in Canada’s boring established music industry, and its ‘farm system’.

    On a ‘meta’ note, this is a great fucking post Allan. Some clown was on here last week saying we should divide the site into a bunch of different content streams. This CBC Ethics / Jian and Lights dirt dishing / implied waste of taxpayers’ money related article covers all them bases and more.

    Bravo.

    • Anonymous says:

      “Face time”….Jian gets plenty of that, especially because he lives in the home of Canada’s media/culture clique. It seems that Toronto is Canada’s musical ghetto and the rest of the country’s musicians might as well resign themselves to playing for free because they’ll never get grants.

    • Curb Your Enthusiasm says:

      Great article: “…lining the pockets of those willing to play the game…”

    • Jian Ghomeshthief says:

      Thanks for posting that article. It gives a lot more insight into the plight of the true indie artists that are the have nots in this situation. The haves – faux indie artists like LIGHTS – get all the funding while the artists that don’t have managers or other well connected people in the industry sitting on the board on their behalf get nothing. The rich get richer and Canadian music fans continue to suffer.

  • Casey Kasem says:

    Why don’t they just pay people to be her fans? That would be easier.

  • Aha says:

    They probably used some of that money to pay Owl City to take her out on tour with them so she could get more exposure. That would explain why they have 2 opening acts and her set is only 30 minutes. What a joke! Who would want to pay 2 opening acts? Owl City must be getting paid to bring her along.

  • Anonymous says:

    If Jian had any integrity, he would either remove himself from the Board of the Starmaker Fund, or find another manager for Lights. Will either happen?

    • Aha says:

      I don’t they should give him a choice. They should just remove him. The conflict of interest is too obvious. The only way it could be any more obvious would be if LIGHTS herself were on the Board.

  • Anonymous says:

    One reason that she’s on an indie label is that the Radio Starmaker Fund gives 75% of their grants to artists on indie labels. But most artists on indie labels don’t have the full support of the CBC and a manager with a nationally broadcasted radio show who also is on the Board of Directors at the Radio Starmaker Fund. Jian has all the bases covered.

  • Anonymous says:

    In her “Naked Eye” Interview, LIGHTS says her hero is Celine Dion & tries to emulate her. Well, she sure has got the “meeting manager at young age & being in relationship with him” part right. Can’t wait to see her play in Vegas. Will she need Factor grants then?

  • Anonymous says:

    Jian’s “support for the Arts” is similar to how the Mafia used to run casinos. Skim money off the top and hope that nobody gets wise to what you’re doing.

  • Jethro Bodine says:

    1 down 1 to go. Now Jian just needs to get himself on FACTOR’s Board Of Directors – then him and LIGHTS will be millionaires!

    • Anonymous says:

      Better yet – if he becomes a member of the Canada Council of the Arts, he & Lights can retire! (or he will attract even more “Q” guests hoping for a grant…)

  • Anonymous says:

    Are “Q” guests trying to influence jian so that he’ll send some Starmaker Fund their way?

  • PoonGirl says:

    We should all manage an artist as use them as a tax shelter/way to get in to parties.

  • Anonymous says:

    Actually, given that he works for an arts program on the CBC, shouldn’t he be disqualified from being on any board of directors that gives money to artists, since there is a lack of neutrality in his decisions?

  • Anonymous says:

    Let me see if I got this right.

    Jian is on the Board Of Directors of a fund that gives money to musicians. He directs money from said fund to his client and in turn to himself.

    Isn’t that called “embezzlement”?

    • Dupe Plicity says:

      Why are Guergis/Jaffer held to more scrutiny than Jian? If he really is this corrupt, someone’s gotta do something….

  • Anonymous says:

    Lights also received money in December 2009 and March 2010 from the Radio Starmaker Fund. Jian is on the Board Of Directors there (again with the conflicts of interest). They haven’t released their annual report yet so it’s anybody’s guess how much she got. Some artists receive over $100,000 each time. They do it 4 times a year.

    • Anonymous says:

      Why is Lights getting any handouts when she is being paid to be on tour? And she’s making money posing in magazines? And making money off of merchandise? And from her “Captain Lights” cartoon? And appearing on “Go”? And monopolizing the AM Radio airwaves? How much money can she & Jian possibly need to subsidize her “art”?

  • Just say no says:

    July of 2009 was a pretty good begging month for her. She got over $31,000 from Factor that month! I wonder how much of that went up her nose?

  • Reality Check says:

    Does Kelly Cutrone want to date a civil servant?

    • Anonymous says:

      Shhhhhhhhsh! Don’t blow it for him! This may be Jian’s only chance to marry a rich woman! Kelly is Jian’s ticket out of the Regent Park area of Cabbagetown!

  • LOL says:

    Funny how Jian and Lights act like they’re rich and famous jet-set celebrities, meanwhile they’re both begging FACTOR for money because they need “assistance” to support their unsuccessful music careers.

  • Anonymous says:

    So much for being “indie”.

  • Anonymous says:

    LIGHTS & Jian = Bonnie & Clyde

  • David Bowie says:

    $80,000+ in 1 and a half years! And that’s just the handouts that we know about. She’s probably gotten lots more $ from other sources too.

    And doesn’t Jian, as manager, get 15-20% of that? Nice little scam you’ve got going there, Jian.

    Does Jian ever make any money that doesn’t come from some form of assistance program, be it the taxpayer funded CBC or handouts for wannabe rock stars?

  • anonymous says:

    Wondermiddleagedman Entertainment.

  • PoonGirl says:

    I don’t know why Light’s needs Jian to do this for her ! Anyone whose applied for a Univeristy loan or for a personal line of credit at a bank can figure out how to fill out the forms for this grant as well. WONDERING what Jian does for Light’s is a major part of WONDERboy entertainment inc.

    • game girl says:

      Because she’s too busy reaching the next level of World of Warcraft.

    • Anonymous says:

      Could we start a new thread that discusses what we should all make of the attacks by backroom Conservatives on the CBC?

      • Allan says:

        Anyone can start a new topic on anything simply by going to the Truth Farm at the right on the main page and look for the phrase “Write truth” … (at the moment under the “Maffin is …” topic).

      • Anonymous says:

        Craving fiscal responsibility, adhering to conflict of interest rules, and having integrity and ethics is not unique to the Conservatives.

    • allen r says:

      yeah, i’m no fan of Jian myself but, it’s pretty common for small and medium sized record labels in canada to apply for factor funding.
      that said, he’s still a weaselly spineless dweeb.

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