CIMA's New Membership Discount !earshot Distro
November 2020—Ottawa The Canadian Independent Music Association and MusicOntario announced their support for the MAPL!e Grant. The grant will primarily feature FREE access to the !earshot Digital Music Distribution System, (“!earshot Distro”) by the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC) and other areas that support under-represented artists and musicians in Canada, related to radio.
The deal:
The NCRA/ANREC (Non-profit radio in Canada) has set up a system that allows artists and labels to upload their music and submit it directly to 75+ radio stations (Campus/Community/Indigenous and Podcasters) and their programmers (and growing). This new system is a non-profit system and replaces the need to send CD’s or unsolicited emails. As a member of CIMA, you have access to at least $300 worth of credits to upload your content to the system between November 16th and March 31st, 2021. We are calling this our “MAPL!e” Grant (get it, CanCon?) There is no maintenance fee and we will help with training if you need assistance to upload. It’s 100% free to put your new (and back catalogue) on the system.
Why?
We know artists are struggling to share their music due to COVID-19 (stations are not accepting CDs), there is no cheap distribution system (commercial alternatives cost $500+) and we want to reduce the environmental impact of mailing content. As such, we have teamed up with almost all the national and provincial associations to offer this to all musicians in Canada. We need more artists to include their new and back catalogue in order to convert this to the standard distribution method for content in the country.
to access !earshot Distro's membership discount contact Sam Rayner at samr@cimamusic.ca