East Coast Music Awards

The East Coast Music Association is a non-profit association that hosts an annual awards ceremony based in Atlantic Canada for music appreciation on the East Coast of Canada. Since its beginning in 1989 when it was launched as the Maritime Music Awards by Halifax music industry promoter Rob Cohn, it has grown from the original five categories (Album of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Video of the Year) to over 40 categories for artist, industry and honorary awards.

From humble beginnings many years ago in a Halifax bar, the East Coast Music Awards and Conference has grown to become the premier music event in Atlantic Canada, and one of the top events of its kind on the continent.

1991—Founder of the Maritime Music Awards, Rob Cohn, joins forces with Sheri Jones, Karen Byers, Lee Stanley, Mike Barkhouse, Peter Hendrickson, Bruce Morel and Tony Kelly to form the East Coast Music Association. The event becomes known as the East Coast Music Awards and now combined the Atlantic provinces. It moves from a Halifax bar to the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium and new awards are added. A showcase by The Rankins helps the band get a manager and, later, an EMI record deal. With the formation of provincial music industry associations it was decided that the event would move from year to year from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, P.E.I and Nfld and Labrador.

In recent years, the East Coast Music Awards and Conference has showcased the music of Atlantic Canada, bringing it to millions of record buyers in a two-hour national broadcast on CBC Television. The first televised broadcast of the event took place in St. John's NFLD, thanks to efforts by the Association and Glen Tilley, A producer at CBC St. John's and head of the nomination committee for NFLD & Labrador during the critical first years transition of the association to a non-profit status. And the ECMA's have marketed Atlantic Canadian music to the world, by inviting members of the international music industry to the annual conference.

Sydney, Nova Scotia, hosted a grassroots event that pushed its organizational and infrastructure capacities to the limit. An economically successful event paved the way for the ECMA to regain a sound financial footing, and it commemorates the influence of Cape Breton's Celtic Music family, including the late John Morris Rankin. Showcases abound, and events like Radio FreECMA and the Continuous Jam ignite industry attention. The awards show receives a Gemini Award for Best Music, Variety Program or Series.

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