Hevy D's Teams up with the Province to give away FREE Music!

The following is reprinted from THE PROVINCE, December 17th, 2009

Province readers can download songs by rising stars in the local and national music scenes via the Province Playlist.

This weekly feature was intially conceived by Barry Stecyk, a huge music fan and the man behind Hevy D’s Old-Fashioned Kettle Korn. He worked with the crack online team at The Province to pull it together.

The roots of this project go back to a fundraising concert for Canadian troops in Afghanistan which Stecyk helped promote. Stecyk, an entrepreneur and trained nurse whose family has operated a rest home for the mentally challenged near Vernon for the past 40 years, joined forces with Music B.C.’s Bob D’Eith, Ron Irving and a group of web designers to launch a new promotional campaign for his kettle corn that would help emerging acts get exposure.

“We had about 15 acts involved and it was a big success,” says Stecyk. “After the show, artists approached me about promoting themselves. I had the idea that they could give me a song and I could put [the link] on our popcorn bag, like it was our prize in the Crackerjack box.

“One artist referred to me as the Pied Piper of Popcorn and wanted me to take it further.”

Stecyk approached Province deputy editor Fabian Dawson about bringing these music downloads to a major media outlet, and the Province Playlist was born. This weekly lineup of songs, which includes three top picks by Province music critics, was designed to put the artists first and help them reach the next level.

Online editor Erik Rolfsen explains it further:

“Like us, Barry is a big fan of the local music scene and he approached us about setting this up,” says Rolfsen. “You go to theprovince.com/musicdownloads and get new songs from different artists for free to download every week, and it’s all yours.

“The focus is on Canadian independent artists with a strong local component. Most of these are people you can catch performing locally or at festivals around the region. There are links through to the artists' websites where you can learn more about them, hear more of their music and buy their CDs, too.”

By the way, there really is a Hevy D. It’s Stecyk’s brother-in-law, Darren Hickson, a 360-pound guy who got that nickname some years back.

So there you have it. Keep your ears peeled for great new music coming to you every week from the Province Playlist brought to you by The Province and Hevy D’s Old-Fashioned Kettle Korn.