Aideen O’Brien has formed Mighty Craic Music
After nearly 30 years in the music industry, working with major organizations, Aideen O’Brien has formed Mighty Craic Music Inc., with offices in downtown Toronto.
The new company is working with individual songwriters and composers, other publishing organizations, as well as television and film production houses.
Mighty Craic Music offers services in a wide variety of areas, including publishing agreements and administration, music supervision and licensing, copyright matters, revenue collection for artists and publishers, contract negotiation and international artist development.
These multi-faceted areas are all ones in which she’s had extensive experience. After coming to Canada from Ireland in 1991 Ms. O’Brien worked in traditional music publishing with Carlin America and BMG Publishing.
Over a decade with Entertainment One, she saw the company grow from a small independent outfit in 2010 to a giant global success today.
As director of music publishing and supervision with a rapidly changing organization she handled all music publishing functions for film, TV, and song catalogues. She also uncovered extensive hidden and unclaimed royalty revenue streams.
Ms. O’Brien has worked, over the years, with numerous independent artists. She helped break The Wilkinsons, a Canadian family country group, into Nashville; tour managed artists in the UK market, and steered other Canadian artists into film and TV roles as well as Las Vegas casino appearances.
Importance of industry connections:
As she launches her own company, her contributions to the music business infrastructure are equally important to her.
Ms. O’Brien is a founding board member of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and maintains working relationships with SOCAN, the SOCAN Foundation, Music Publishers Canada and CARAS (the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences).
She holds an Honours Diploma in Recording Arts Management, and frequently participates in industry convention panels; she has also taught at the Toronto Film School.
An Irish musical heritage:
Ms. O’Brien’s Irish heritage is reflected in the name of her company: “Craic”(pronounced “krak”) is a quintessential Irish term for a party, a great deal of fun or a special occasion.
Her family background is steeped in music — her dad was the lead singer in the successful show band, The Dixies. Her mother starred in musical theatre and her uncle was a successful cabaret artist in Ireland and the United States.
And, yes. she also recorded a double CD of original arrangements of traditional Irish song "Celtic Legends". She also retains real estate interests in the Emerald Isle.
Website: mightycraicmusic.com