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Royal Mountain Records Makes Mental Health A Music Industry Priority

Menno Verstegg
Chelsea Ivan
/
Courtesy of the artist
Menno Verstegg

As a musician who has spent two decades on the road, Menno Versteeg of Hollerado understands the particular challenges of caring for your mental health when you make your living as an artist. There are the high-highs and low-lows of performing, being surrounded by all sorts of substances, having to deal with lots of pressure and little sleep. In fact, a number of European studies have shown that musicians are about three times more likely than the general population to struggle with mental health issues. And on top of that, being a musician is not a traditional job where insurance plans or health care resources are readily available. Versteeg is out to change that, at least on his own indie record label, Royal Mountain Records, based in Toronto.

Versteeg recently announced that all bands on his label will have access to a $1500 mental health fund, no questions asked. He dropped by World Cafe to explain where the idea came from and why he feels that caring for artists' mental health is, at least in part, a record label's responsibility. Plus, Versteeg introduces us to a couple of Royal Mountain acts he's excited about. Hear it in the player.

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Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.
World Cafe senior producer Kimberly Junod has been a part of the World Cafe team since 2001, when she started as the show's first line producer. In 2011 Kimberly launched (and continues to helm) World Cafe's Sense of Place series that includes social media, broadcast and video elements to take listeners across the U.S. and abroad with an intimate look at local music scenes. She was thrilled to be part of the team that received the 2006 ASCAP Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award for excellence in music programming. In the time she has spent at World Cafe, Kimberly has produced and edited thousands of interviews and recorded several hundred bands for the program, as well as supervised the show's production staff. She has also taught sound to young women (at Girl's Rock Philly) and adults (as an "Ask an Engineer" at WYNC's Werk It! Women's Podcast Festival).
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