Connor Price didn’t come up through the usual music industry system. The Markham-born artist spent years working as an actor before the pandemic brought that side of his career to a halt, pushing him to take music seriously and build something of his own. What followed was a fully independent run shaped by consistency, sharp instincts for digital storytelling and a close partnership with his wife and manager, Breanna.
Together, they’ve built a hands-on operation that controls everything from releases to visuals, allowing Price to move quickly and stay directly connected to his audience. His Spin the Globe series expanded that world further, turning global collaboration into a format while introducing listeners to artists across countries.
With a catalogue that has crossed billions of streams and a fanbase built without traditional backing, Price stands as a clear example of how modern artists can grow on their own terms.
You stepped away from acting at a point where most people would keep going. What made you want to build something of your own instead of staying in that system?
When Covid hit, acting momentum took a huge hit. Auditions stopped entirely, productions paused, and I’m not the type of person who can simply sit back and wait for something to happen. I was also married with a kid on the way, so I had a family to support. My wife and I took the free time during quarantine to finally pursue music, which had been a dream of mine for as long as I could remember. It’s funny, because looking back, if I hadn’t been forced to take a step back from acting, we probably wouldn’t have been motivated enough to really chase music independently. Now that I’ve found a music career, acting has taken a natural backseat, but it’s still a passion of mine that I regularly work on when an opportunity presents itself. I’m independent, so my music career is entirely in my control, which I love. I love both crafts and will continue to create in both industries as long as I am able.
You’ve kept your team small and close, even as things have scaled. What does that actually change in how you operate day to day?
My wife and I are hands-on in every aspect of our business. From booking travel, picking and booking locations, sourcing all freelancers, planning release calendars, negotiating sync licenses, giving artwork feedback, sourcing production, approving mixes and masters, uploading the music to our distributor, submitting splits to publishers, being involved in all aspects of live performance, coming up with all marketing material and coordinating those shoots, even down to editing a large majority of the videos, etc. We’ve started to outsource the larger stuff regarding business management and legal, but everything else will always remain in-house because we prefer it that way.
You release music pretty consistently without long gaps. Is that something you’ve built into your process, or does it just come naturally?
It’s a solid mix of both. Especially when you’re independent, consistency and momentum are crucial to keeping your fanbase engaged. That includes both music and marketing. Each time I release a new song and hit Release Radar on Spotify, it gives my entire catalog a little boost. I am also able to work at a fast speed because I don’t need approvals from anyone else. There’s no label to tell us how or when we can release a track. So if I’m making music frequently, why would I wait to put it out? There are over 100,000 songs being uploaded daily to streaming services. The industry has never been more saturated. You gotta stay in the forefront of the fan’s mind, or they forget. It’s a harsh reality, but it’s important to realize and accept.
That global collaboration series you started brought in artists from all over. What made you want to build something like that into your releases?
My wife, Breanna, who manages me, actually came up with the Spin the Globe series. We had organically been connecting with independent artists from around the world, making music together, so the idea to spin the globe and turn it into a series just made what we were already doing hit a whole new level. Collaborating with artists from Zambia, India, the Netherlands, Germany, etc. brought a whole new sound to the music that we weren’t able to achieve on our own, or with artists that were in our circle. As a natural positive side effect, a lot of young listeners were exposed to new styles of music from around the world. We were also able to help a lot of smaller and insanely talented artists gain some very well-deserved attention through the series and change more lives than just ours.
You’ve stayed independent while growing your audience. What have you had to be more careful about because of that?
We’ve had to be extra careful about who we trust. Being independent comes with being an underdog in a very powerful industry, and if you trust the wrong people, they can try to take advantage of you. We’ve had larger artists steal our content (word for word, shot for shot, even down to the sound effects) and block us when we contact them to stop. We’ve had a larger artist re-distribute our song without our consent, and not pay us for almost 9 months. We have to stay extra diligent about posting content regularly, because we don’t have label-sized budgets to put behind every release, and we don’t have the access they often have to editorial playlists, etc., so we rely on the content and the fans to stream the music. Editorial playlisting makes up less than 1% of my streams. Every month, there are on average between 40 to 60 million streams on Spotify, to put that percentage into perspective.
A lot of people follow you for both the music and the personality. Has that changed how you think about what you put out?
That used to get in my head a lot, because I’ve evolved a lot over the years. A lot of the followers ask me to make music that was a part of who I was 3 or 4 years ago, but I’ve changed. I’m very thankful when the fans let me make the music I feel most connected to during that stage of my life and allow me to evolve beyond the persona I’ve shown online the last few years.
Is there anything you can tell us about your upcoming projects in 2026?
I have another album dropping with my best friend, Nic D, in June, right before we go on a mini tour. Then, after we drop that, I’m excited to focus on some more solo music since dropping my debut album last September. I have a really cool collab happening in November that I’m unfortunately not allowed to talk about at the moment, but I can’t wait to talk about it soon. Who knows. Maybe another album will happen before the end of the year.
What are your thoughts on the Future of Music in Canada?
I’m stoked to see where it goes in the next couple of years. Artists are taking their careers into their own hands more and more, and that usually comes with more experimental/authentic sounds. Canada is full of some of the most talented people I’ve ever met, and I firmly believe we haven’t even scratched the surface yet of what we’re capable of as a country. Global collaborations have always been a core part of Canadian music and I think that’s only going to increase in the near future.
