October’s Very Own has a new home.
Authentic Brands Group has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the intellectual property of October’s Very Own, also known as OVO, the lifestyle brand and apparel company co-founded by Drake. The Toronto rapper will retain a significant ownership stake and remain involved with the brand as its driving force, continuing to shape its creative vision.
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Vince Holding Corp. (VNCE), a longtime partner of Authentic, will be taking over OVO’s operating business, handling clothing design, product development, merchandising and retail stores.
“We’re just a couple kids from Toronto who started something we believed in. Here we are 20 years later, same kids with bigger dreams. Authentic and VNCE are the perfect partners to help us continue to grow,” says Drake.
The chart-topping rapper co-founded OVO in 2008 with his close friends and collaborators, entrepreneur Oliver El-Khatib and producer Noah “40” Shebib, originally as a blog and lifestyle movement. The brand went on to become a Canadian staple worldwide, notably through its signature black-and-gold owl logo. It made major expansions into high-end clothing and streetwear. The OVO Sound label also spun off from that brand.
In addition to its online store, OVO runs twelve flagship stores across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., with locations in Toronto, New York and London. The brand has fostered collaborative relationships with some of the world’s biggest brands and institutions, curating several high-profile collections in tandem with the likes of MLB, New Era, UFC and the NBA, including an instant-classic merchandise capsule celebrating the Toronto Raptors’ 2019 NBA championship title.
“OVO has earned a place among the world’s most influential lifestyle brands because it has always stood for something authentic and unmistakable,” says Jamie Salter, Authentic’s founder and executive chairman. “Drake and his team have built something with incredible cultural influence. We see a significant opportunity to take that even further, opening new markets, building new businesses and reaching more people around the world without losing what makes OVO, OVO.”
Authentic Brands Group is a major licensing company in the U.S. whose portfolio includes the ownership of major brands like Sports Illustrated magazine, Champion and Nautica, as well as the licensing for the estates of celebrity legends Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Muhammad Ali. Now, it’s taking on one of Canada’s biggest brands, whose global success has long been grounded in its hometown of Toronto and the city’s essence and culture.
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Canada Stands Firm on CanCon Streaming Regulations Despite Opposition from the U.S.Canada is standing firm when it comes to CanCon.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) confirmed that it is sticking with its plans to regulate how Canadian content is presented and made available to users on major streaming services, following recent resistance from the United States.
A spokesperson from the CRTC tells the Canadian Press it will move forward to determine exactly how streamers must ensure Canadian content is available and visible to audiences and is still finalizing the dates for the regulatory proceedings.
The ongoing controversy surrounding the Online Streaming Act, which became law in 2023, reached a fever pitch over the weekend after trade talks between Canada and the U.S. fell through, partly due to the Trump administration’s last-minute demand for American streaming platforms to be exempt from Canadian content regulations.
“There were some things we wouldn’t do. We were not prepared to compromise Canada’s sovereignty or undermine our key industries,” Mark Carney said in an extensive speech following the collapse of the discussions. “We were not prepared to compromise on our sovereignty, the protection of the French language, and our culture. To our American colleagues, let us be clear: for my government and for Canada, these issues were never on the table, even though the United States tried until the very last minute.”
It’s the latest development in a continuous back-and-forth between the Canadian government, Canadian companies and U.S. streaming companies, which stems from the controversial Online Streaming Act introduced by the Trudeau government in 2023.
In its implementation, the CRTC mandated a 5% tax contribution on all broadcasters making over $25 million, intended to fund the production of Canadian, French language and Indigenous content, which caused major pushback from affected streaming giants like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. Back in May, the CRTC announced plans to triple that contribution to 15% for audiovisual streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV in an attempt to stabilize the $200 million funding rate for Canadian companies.
The Canadian government then stepped in and announced a landmark, $600 million yearly investment, which includes covering the $200 million base contribution that would have otherwise been taxed on foreign streaming services.
Beyond financial contributions, discoverability has also been a point of contention during discussions between Canada and the U.S. Back in December, Quebec passed Bill 109, the Act to affirm the cultural sovereignty of Québec, which sought to impose quotas on the amount of French-language content presented and promoted on the homepages of foreign streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime Video. Like with the CRTC, these platforms voiced their displeasure, asking the National Assembly to forego the quotas.
Carney stood up for the language’s preservation over the weekend, after Trump and his representatives directly denied that the French language was a factor within their talks. “I would never interfere with Canadians speaking French! In fact, I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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Juno Awards Restructure Several Categories Ahead of 2027 CeremonyThe Juno Awards have announced that they are reshaping certain categories ahead of their 2027 ceremony to more accurately represent current trends in music consumption across Canada, primarily changing certain category names and eligibility criteria.
“CARAS is introducing a series of category and eligibility updates designed to better reflect Canada’s music community today and provide clear, meaningful pathways for artists to have their work recognized,” says the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) on the official Junos website. “The changes are informed by CARAS’ annual review of The Juno Awards, working closely with Music Advisory Committees and the broader music community to examine how categories and criteria can continue to serve Canadian artists.”
The main changes are mergers or name changes in the rap, reggae/dancehall, electronic/dance and contemporary Christian/gospel music categories. Rap album and EP of the year have now been replaced by melodic rap recording of the year and rap recording of the year, while dance recording of the year and electronic album of the year have been merged under one umbrella (dance/electronic), with respective awards for single/EP of the year and album of the year within the genre.
The reggae category has been renamed to reggae/dancehall, reflecting an increasing prevalence of dancehall within the mainstream, given recent hits like MOLIY’s 2025 chart hit, “Shake it to the Max (FLY) – Remix.” The contemporary Christian/gospel album of the year category has also swapped “album” for “recording,” enabling singles and EPs to be included in the running.
This year’s awards for “recordings” now accept albums, EPs and singles as submissions, although singles must be standalone releases that do not appear on any short or full-length project. The vocal-instrumental threshold for jazz music has also shifted from 80% to 51%, which speaks to the rise of artists like Laufey and Olivia Dean, whose jazzy style incorporates pop-centric tendencies. The classical music album categories have also shifted to allow compilation albums to be eligible.
These changes mark the latest step in the Junos’ ongoing category evolution. Last year, Alex Cuba won the first-ever Latin music recording of the year award, which was introduced amid a blockbuster year for Bad Bunny and his chart-topping album Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which amplified Latin music’s global success on a bigger scale than ever. Before that, the awards introduced the South Asian recording of the year category, which was won this year by Punjabi stars Karan Aujla & Ikky.
The Junos have also run into controversy for their category decisions. In 2024, public backlash caused CARAS to backtrack on its decision to axe reggae recording and Christian/gospel album categories — both categories that honour genres led by Black musicians.
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