Atlantic music community raises concerns over changes at East Coast Music Awards

Natalie MacMaster performs during the East Coast Music Awards in Halifax on Thursday, May 4, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese)

The head of the East Coast Music Association says she's working to address concerns some in the local music community are raising over a slate of recent changes.

ECMA chief executive Blanche Israel says she intends to rebuild trust with members after an online petition emerged last week calling for an explanation of an array of changes that involve the annual East Coast Music Awards and its associated festival.

As of Monday afternoon, more than 580 names had signed a petition on Change.org that said members felt "uneasy and confused" by a lack of clarity and consultation on several matters, including "significant modifications" to the awards application process.

New awards submission guidelines put less weight on streaming data and ask musicians for a written explanation of why their music should be considered for nomination.

Other changes saw two categories -- video director and visual artist of the year -- folded into a newly minted content creator of the year category, while the audio engineer of the year award was eliminated.

The petition also notes that "long-standing contractors with deep institutional knowledge" have been left out of future plans despite years of involvement.

The petition's creator Sheri Jones, an artist manager and an ECMA founding director, says crucial decisions have been made without adequately consulting members or other leaders in the organization.

The petition calls for the ECMA's board and CEO to share a comprehensive strategic plan that outlines goals and priorities.

"This is a 35-year-old industry association (and) you don't make these kinds of changes without a consultation and communication with membership," Jones said in an interview on Monday.

"When it takes a petition to achieve transparency, you tend to be skeptical about the result," she added.

Israel stepped into the CEO role earlier this year with experience as a cultural strategist and nearly two decades of work as a cellist in Montreal.

Her mandate included improving diversity, equity and inclusion within the EMCA. She said those goals were part of the motivation to change the rules for the genre categories so that musicians only need to submit a single track, rather than a full album, to be considered.

Those single-track submissions require two accompanying "contextual releases to demonstrate sufficient artistic activity."

"We're dealing with so many different genres, and all those genres have their own measures of success, and some of them are really budding and emerging," she said.

"And so, the production of a full-length album may not be consistent with the mores of that genre."

As for the decision to lessen the priority of streaming data in a nomination, she said it's a conscious effort to support independent artists.

"I want to see artists able to choose whether or not they engage with streaming giants," Israel said, noting the biggest streaming platforms pay fractions of a cent per stream.

"The hope with the change in the way that those questions are asked is to allow artists to define success in the way that feels most true to their success."

After the petition launched last week, Israel published a statement that addressed some concerns and linked to an ECMA questionnaire. She noted that members could pose questions directly to her through email or other avenues.

"We absolutely want the community to feel like our doors are very much open and that things are transparent," she said in an interview.

"We have a responsibility to build that trust where some of the components of our team are new, myself included."

But Jones said those open-door policies miss the point of members' concerns.

"This is not about one person talking to one person," she said.

"I still believe that there needs to be structured consultation, a strategic plan with a timeline and a budget that is approved by the board of directors and presented to the membership. 'My email is open' is not satisfactory."

Jones added that despite recent setbacks she remains hopeful.

"I have a lot of faith in our industry down here," she said.

"I can only hope that the community will come together to do what is right for the artists in our region."

The next ECMA Awards will be held in St. John's, N.L. from May 7 to 11, 2025.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024