by Tabassum Siddiqui
For the past two decades, David ‘Click’ Cox has been a mainstay in the Canadian music industry, starting as an artist himself and moving through retail, marketing, A&R, and management – all along ensuring better representation for Black artists and music professionals.
Cox says he caught the music bug early on, thanks in part to his music-loving mother and being “one of those band kids” at school. But his introduction to the music business came when he joined one of Canada’s pioneering and JUNO Award-nominated ’90s rap groups, The Maximum Definitive, which also featured artist Roger Mooking, who went on to join popular ’90s soul/R&B trio Bass is Base.
“I moved to Toronto because of the success of the group – being from Edmonton, you had to go to where the hub of everything was,” Cox recalls. “There came a point when I wanted to work at record labels, mainly because I was managing groups throughout the ’90s and put out some independent records myself. It was a lot of trial and error, and I felt like I needed a little bit more grounding where I could learn the ins and outs of the business.”
While trying to break into the industry, Cox attended Harris Institute to learn more about the business side of music while at the same time joining Ramos Entertainment Management Group (REMG), led by Toronto industry veteran Jonathan Ramos, who he credits as being an early mentor.
“During the time I was working for REMG, I built a bit of a reputation as a loudmouth,” Cox says with a laugh. “You know, somebody that could get the word out – I was going to shows and radio stations constantly promoting REMG shows. That was because I was really tapped into the community, especially in the hip-hop world.”
Recognizing the power of engagement – making connections within the industry through sharing his enthusiasm for the music and musicians he knew would make an impact – quickly became Cox’s secret weapon. Soon, the industry was coming to him – BMG Music Canada recruited him to do marketing after seeing the work he was doing with REMG. And after that, Cox landed in the role he’d long been interested in – working in A&R for Universal Music Canada.
“When I got to the position I wanted, it gave me another level of perspective, because then you’re dealing with managers and labels and artists on a regular basis,” he says.
Working in A&R was an ideal fit for Cox’s passion for discovering and developing new artists, including supporting Toronto R&B superstar Jully Black, early in her career.
“That was an amazing experience to be part of, because I remember going to see her perform around the city before she was even signed. I’ve always been kind of a go-to person to champion artists from the ground up,” he notes. “I’m good at seeing raw talent and recognizing the potential of what they could become. It’s a strength, but also somewhat of a challenge because I sometimes see something that not everybody else can see.”
After eight years at Universal, Cox started his own music management and consulting firm, CLK Creative Works. The company’s mandate, which aims to ensure creatives are protected and properly compensated, is in keeping with Cox’s longtime commitment to underrepresented artists, communities, and sounds.
“The music business doesn’t always operate under fair treatment and ethics,” Cox points out. “So it’s the job of the manager to make sure that artists have all the right things in place so that they’re not taken advantage of. For me, because I started off as an artist, I always put the artist’s intentions first.”
Part of that commitment includes Cox’s longtime engagement with industry organizations like CMRRA, which ensures songwriters are paid fairly for the use of their music.
“It was terrific to be a consultant for the CMRRA a few years ago (Cox moderated a CMRRA Show Me The Money workshop that provided guidance to songwriters and publishers navigating music rights and royalties.) – I’m an advocate for making sure that our industry is aware of all the different organizations that exist to further artists and songwriters along, and I especially care about making sure that marginalized artists and communities are aware of these resources,” Cox says.
“Outreach and engagement are so critical – there’s sometimes an assumption that because organizations have existed for a long time, people will find them or already know about them. But a lot of these communities don’t. As a manager and a mentor, I make sure they know about the different resources that exist that are there to benefit them.”
Cox points to the publishing success of one of his longtime management clients, Toronto blues-rocker SATE, “who writes her own songs and controls ownership of those songs,” he notes. “We are very active in pitching her music and have had a lot of success in syncing her music for TV and film. It’s all about relationship-building – that’s how things come about, when you’ve made sure you’ve engaged with people and made the right connections.”
Over his groundbreaking career, Cox has been a vital part of ensuring more Black representation in the industry at both the creative and business level – beyond collaborating with groups like ADVANCE, Canada’s Black Music Collective, he’s also co-founded Breaking Down Racial Barriers to push for more equitable practices within the Canadian music sector.
“Changes are happening step-by-step. Record companies have been employing and mentoring Black people and looking at different ways to diversify and bring about more equitable spaces,” Cox says. “But there are also many areas of the business where there is still a lack of diversity. More companies need to understand that you have to start somewhere to get somewhere – and they have to be conscious about engagement and outreach. There needs to be more programs to educate more people of colour about the different roles that do exist – including those in the industry beyond just being an artist, a manager, or a record-label person,” he adds.
“When I started working in the industry, it was really challenging. The only people I knew that were at any level of the business who looked like me or were from the community that I existed in, didn’t have any mentors themselves, and I remember asking them a lot of questions. We could be doing a much better job – there could be far more Black and other racialized people in higher positions that can lead as role models and inspire the next generation.”
Instead of becoming frustrated by the slow pace of progress, Cox is using his influence and perspective as an industry veteran to help create change.
“I’m looking a little bit more to the future – I want to find a way of moving past our industry always chasing the new thing. I think that is hurting more than helping us sometimes, and I think that it dismisses what has been done before,” Cox says. “When it comes to Black music history in this country, there are a lot of artists getting overlooked who have done a lot of impactful, successful things, but because you may not have heard of them for many years, their contributions aren’t really known to today’s generation. What I would like to see is those successes celebrated regularly, so we never forget what anybody else did,” he adds.
“And we do not have to rely on one month in February to do that – it should be a continuous thing that happens. I am an advocate for ensuring we are thinking about representation at every level, all the time.”
To learn more about Breaking Down Racial Barriers, visit bdrb.ca.
