2012 in Canadian music

This is a summary of the year 2012 in the Canadian music industry.

Events

 * February 13 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation launches CBC Music, a digital music service which offers streaming audio broadcasts of 40 different music genre channels, in addition to the existing CBC Radio 2 and CBC Radio 3 services, on both the Internet and iOS devices.
 * April 1 – Juno Awards of 2012
 * June 14 – Prelimimary longlist for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize is announced.
 * July 17 – Shortlist for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize is announced.
 * September 24 – Feist's album Metals is announced as the winner of the Polaris Music Prize.

Bands on hiatus

 * Karkwa

A

 * Amos the Transparent, Goodnight My Dear, I'm Falling Apart (February 14)
 * Amylie, Le Royaume
 * Androgynous Mind, Nightstalker
 * Apollo Ghosts, Landmark
 * Marie-Pierre Arthur, Aux alentours
 * Azari & III, Azari & III

B

 * Baby Eagle and the Proud Mothers, Bone Soldier (March 6)
 * Bahamas, Barchords (February 7)
 * Del Barber, Headwaters
 * Bidiniband, In the Rock Hall (January 24)
 * Justin Bieber, Believe
 * Big Brave, An Understanding Between People
 * Billy Talent,  Dead Silence, September 9, 2012
 * The Birthday Massacre, Hide and Seek (October 9)
 * Blue Moon Marquee, Stainless Steel Heart
 * Boxer the Horse, French Residency
 * Brasstronaut, Mean Sun (May 15)

C

 * Cadence Weapon, Hope in Dirt City (May 29)
 * Cancer Bats, Dead Set on Living
 * Caracol, Shiver
 * Paul Cargnello, Papa Paul
 * Change of Heart, There You Go '82 – '97 (September 18, 2012)
 * Tim Chaisson, The Other Side (September 25)
 * The City Streets, White Lightning (spring)
 * The City Streets, Sawdust & Rum (spring)
 * Leonard Cohen, Old Ideas (January 31)
 * Cold Specks, I Predict a Graceful Expulsion (May 21)
 * Cookie Duster, When Flying Was Easy (June)
 * Ève Cournoyer, Le labeur d'une fleur
 * Rose Cousins, We Have Made a Spark
 * Cuff the Duke, In Our Time (April 12)
 * Cuff the Duke, Union (October 2)
 * Amelia Curran, Spectators (October 2)

D

 * Daphni, Jiaolong
 * Diamond Rings, Free Dimensional
 * Digawolf, Naka De
 * Céline Dion, Sans attendre
 * Julie Doiron, So Many Days (October 23)
 * Dumas, L'Heure et l'endroit
 * Durham County Poets, Where the River Flows
 * Dusted, Dusted

E

 * Kathleen Edwards, Voyageur (January 17)
 * Coral Egan, The Year He Drove Me Crazy
 * The Elwins, And I Thank You (February 21)
 * Quique Escamilla, Quique Escamilla
 * Esthero, Everything Is Expensive (October 30)
 * Evening Hymns, Spectral Dusk

F

 * Jeremy Fisher, Mint Juleps
 * Front Line Assembly, AirMech (November 13)
 * Nelly Furtado, The Spirit Indestructible (September 18)

G

 * Gentleman Reg, Leisure Life
 * Hannah Georgas, Hannah Georgas
 * Ghostkeeper, Horse Chief! War Thief!
 * Jenn Grant, The Beautiful Wild (September 25)
 * Great Lake Swimmers, New Wild Everywhere (April 3)
 * Grey Kingdom, The Weeping Suns; Light, I'll Call Your Name Out "Darkness"
 * Grimes, Visions (February 21)
 * Godspeed You! Black Emperor, 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! (October 1)

H

 * Hot Panda, Go Outside
 * Joshua Hyslop, Where the Mountain Meets the Valley

I

 * Islands, A Sleep & a Forgetting (February 14)

J

 * JBM, Stray Ashes
 * Japandroids, Celebration Rock
 * Carly Rae Jepsen, Curiosity
 * Carly Rae Jepsen, Kiss
 * July Talk, July Talk

K

 * Kalle Mattson, Lives in Between
 * Karkwa, Karkwa Live
 * Peter Katz, Still Mind Still
 * Mo Kenney, Mo Kenney
 * Kid Koala, 12 Bit Blues, (September 18)
 * Keith Kouna, Du plaisir et des bombes
 * K'naan, Country, God or the Girl, (October 16)
 * K'naan, More Beautiful Than Silence (January 31)
 * Kristina Maria, Tell the World

L

 * Zachary Lucky, Saskatchewan

M

 * Madison Violet, The Good in Goodbye
 * Maestro Fresh Wes, Black Tuxedo EP (September 18)
 * Mares of Thrace, The Pilgrimage
 * Carolyn Mark, The Queen of Vancouver Island
 * Masia One, Bootleg Culture (June 19)
 * Matt Mays, Coyote
 * Eamon McGrath, Young Canadians
 * Loreena McKennitt, Troubadours on the Rhine
 * Holly McNarland, Run Body Run
 * Memoryhouse, The Slideshow Effect (February 28)
 * Metric, Synthetica (June 12)
 * METZ, METZ
 * Millimetrik, Read Between the Rhymes
 * Ariane Moffatt, MA
 * Mother Mother, The Sticks

N

 * Northern Haze, Sinaaktuq

O

 * Mike O'Neill, Wild Lines
 * Octoberman, Waiting in the Well
 * Ohbijou, Metal Meets
 * Karim Ouellet, Fox
 * Our Lady Peace, Curve (April 3)

P

 * Dorothea Paas, Same Sun
 * Doug Paisley, Golden Embers
 * Parlovr, Kook Soul
 * Pascale Picard Band, Trauma: Chansons de la série télé Saison 3
 * Dany Placard, Démon vert
 * Plants and Animals, The End of That (February 28)
 * Joel Plaskett, Scrappy Happiness (March 27)
 * Chad Price, In This Dream
 * PS I Love You, Death Dreams
 * Purity Ring, Shrines

R

 * Radio Radio, Havre de Grace (April 17)
 * Rah Rah, The Poet's Dead
 * Johnny Reid, Fire It Up
 * Rush, Clockwork Angels

S

 * Julien Sagot, Piano mal
 * Said the Whale, Little Mountain (March 6)
 * John K. Samson, Provincial (January 24)
 * Saukrates, Season One (April 24)
 * Crystal Shawanda, Just Like You
 * Shout Out Out Out Out, Spanish Moss and Total Loss (June 19)
 * Zal Sissokho, Le Partage
 * Skydiggers, Northern Shore (April 17)
 * The Slakadeliqs, The Other Side of Tomorrow
 * Smash Brovas, Think It's a Game?
 * Dallas Smith, Jumped Right In - May 22
 * Rae Spoon, I Can't Keep All of Our Secrets (January 10)
 * Stars, The North
 * Jeffery Straker, Vagabond – October 2
 * Serena Ryder, Harmony

T

 * The Tragically Hip, Now for Plan A
 * A Tribe Called Red, A Tribe Called Red

V

 * Chad VanGaalen, The Green Corridor
 * Various Artists, Have Not Been the Same – November 13

W

 * Martha Wainwright, Come Home to Mama
 * Rufus Wainwright, Out of the Game
 * Patrick Watson, Adventures in Your Own Backyard (April 17)
 * Wax Mannequin, No Safe Home
 * Whitehorse, The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss
 * Wintersleep, Hello Hum
 * Royal Wood, We Were Born to Glory
 * The Wooden Sky, Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun (February 28)
 * Woodpigeon, For Paolo
 * Wool on Wolves, Measures of Progress

Y

 * Neil Young, Americana
 * Yukon Blonde, Tiger Talk – March 20

Z

 * Zeus, Busting Visions

Top hits on record
The lists are updated weekly through Jam! and Nielsen Soundscan.

Deaths

 * January 2 – Ian Bargh, jazz pianist
 * January 25 – Andrew MacNaughtan, photographer and music video director
 * February 21 – Christopher Reimer, rock guitarist (Women)
 * April 23 – Billy Bryans, percussionist and record producer (Parachute Club)
 * September 23 – Sam Sniderman, founder of the Sam the Record Man chain