Canada
Melissa Vincent
ESNS:
2024
Journalist and Researcher, Independent / Polaris Music Prize
Melissa Vincent is a music journalist, researcher, and strategist based in Toronto. Her work broadly investigates questions of equity, intimacy, and community formation as it relates to music, technology, and culture. She’s been featured in Pitchfork, Elle Canada, The Globe and Mail, Canadian Business, Billboard, NPR Music, and The Fader among others. In 2022, she was nominated for a Digital Publishing Award in the category for Best Science and Technology Storytelling for her essay, "Ethical AI has Not Solved Tech’s Problem with Racism."
She’s led content platforms operated by Universal Music Canada and Banger Films. She’s a Prism Prize juror, a SOCAN Songwriting Prize Panelist, a member of Mayor's ArtworxTO External Advisory Committee, and the Polaris Prize jury foreperson and board member. She’s a frequent on-air music correspondent for The National, CBC’s flagship nightly news program. Vincent is currently a graduate fellow at University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information.