Artisti is proud to announce that on September 10, 2016, Florence K was appointed Chair of its Board of Directors.

Florence K’s career officially began in 2005 with the launch of Live au Lion d’Or and continued with great success, earning her two Félix awards for Best World Music Album in 2007 and 2009. But Florence started making a living from music quite a few years ago: at 19 years old she played the piano at Chez Stash, the Polish restaurant, four days a week. She then founded her own record company where she was both artist and producer, and now has six albums to her credit. In 2015, her first book, Buena Vida, published by Groupe Librex, quickly became a bestseller that year. This year, Florence will begin the sixth season of her show, Ici Florence, broadcast by Ici musique. It is with many years of experience in the field of music and creation that she takes the helm of Artisti.

Florence K is not at a newcomer to the role of spokesperson. Indeed, this former UNICEF Canada ambassador also, alongside the Canadian Private Copying Collective, defended copying royalties with verve from 2009 to 2011. She then met with politicians to stress the importance of legislating to protect this valuable source of income for music creators. Concerned to see that importers and manufacturers of new devices used to copy music were exempt from payment of fees, it is now out of much concern about the decline of revenue from music rights that she decided to join the Board of Directors of Artisti in the spring of 2015.

In these turbulent times, Florence K is convinced that the royalties upheld and paid by collective management organizations are more important than ever. That is why she decided to get even more involved in her work community by accepting the presidency of the Board of Artisti, of which she will also be the spokesperson.

People in the music field know that the “model” that once assured that the various industry stakeholders managed to survive no longer exists and that everyone’s role is now changing. In a context where more and more artists are becoming entrepreneurs and where we are faced with a variety of artists and producers living under different realities, it is possible to see the emergence of more than one model. Florence K, herself a producer, believes she can get things done and participate in the development of models for artists, entrepreneurs or not, so that they can receive income from the exploitation of their works, while respecting the contribution of each stakeholder.

From the outset, it seems obvious that Florence K will convey the Artisti message with her usual elegance and conviction.