ECMA History
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 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 Assiciation 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.
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