Page 48 - DreamScapes Magazine | Winter 2024/2025

TA L K
Randy
BEHIND THE SCENES
WITH ONE OF
Lennox
CANADA’S SECRET
SAUCE MAKERS
BY BILL KING
Bill King is a multifaceted artist: a musician, celebrity writer, radio host, photojournalist and author.
Rolling Through the ’70s by William M. King is his latest book available on Amazon.ca.
DS: WHEN YOU WERE CEO OF UNIVERSAL CANADA MUSIC,
HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE YOUR ROLE IN THE SUCCESS OF
SHAWN MENDES, JUSTIN BIEBER, DRAKE AND THE WEEKND?
RL: I communicate like a music lover because I am one. They
saw the music lover and didn’t see the corporation. I loved the
music, which won the day with the many artists.
At Universal, we understood that the development of Canadian
artists isn’t a solo journey and we developed them in partnership
with our U.S. company. In the music industry life is a team effort
and it’s having the resources to reach a world market.
DS: YOU JUST STARTED LOFT ENTERTAINMENT. WHAT’S THE
POTENTIAL IMPACT?
RL: Loft Entertainment aims to blend the disciplines of music
and film. We currently have creators in nine cities that help
leverage the gig economy. We have virtual offices in Nashville,
L.A., London and even lesser-known cities like Kitchener.
DS: ARE YOU ABLE TO UNPLUG? DO YOU HAVE A HAPPY PLACE?
RL: We paddleboard and kayak in Muskoka at my cottage on
Lake Joseph, which may surprise you. It’s also my happy place,
as it’s a genuine serenity getaway for the family.
DS: OUT OF THE COUNTRY, WHERE DO YOU ENJOY TRAVELS?
RL: We adore Italy (Amalfi coast, Tuscany), particularly Lugano.
London and Paris are our two favourite walking cities. You can
go on forever with a fascinating atmosphere. Also, their food
and aesthetic are next to none. London has come so far cuisine-
wise. Some of our top restaurant picks there are Mambow,
Brooklands (inside The Peninsula Hotel) for the view, Chiltern
Firehouse for its fun atmosphere, and Alex Dilling at the Hotel
Café Royal in Piccadilly.
DS
PHOTOS: MARC THUSUSKA PHOTOGRAPHY | LOFT ENTERTAINMENT | SUPPLIED
There’s a secret sauce in selling some of the biggest music
acts. You see it among Swifties selling out global concert
halls to see their icon, Taylor Swift. Closer to home in
Canada, music gigs in the land of the Maple Leaf have come out
as number one.
According to Billboard Canada, a whopping 85.1 per cent of
world concert tours have come through Toronto. In fact, gig
tourism in Canada represents a $3.8 billion industry for live
performances.
Enter Randy Lennox.
The former Universal Music Canada’s top gun (he was CEO
from 1998 to 2015) and founder of Loft Entertainment, a new
multimedia creative incubator he started last year, is busy
fielding calls from his perch in downtown Toronto, the country’s
capital of music tourism. Lennox has had a plethora of creative
success. In short, he has the secret sauce. He helped build Crave
into Canada’s premier subscriber streaming service and has long
spearheaded the Canadian music revolution. Randy is a force
behind a successful run of music documentaries involving
legends like Oscar Peterson, Robbie Robertson and the Band,
David Foster, Neil Young, The Tragically Hip, among others.
48
DREAMSCAPES WINTER 2024/2025