TORONTO, February 25, 2014 – The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) is proud to announce new partnerships to help stage a rich and raucous promotional campaign of great Canadian music at this year’s SXSW Music Festival.
For the past nine years, CIMA has led a business mission to the prestigious SXSW Music Festival under its flagship exporting brand, Canadian Blast. The aim of the mission is to create business opportunities for the independent Canadian music industry through a collaborative promotional and marketing campaign and series of networking and business development activities. The initiative has been consistently supported by CIMA’s members and public sector partners, but this year CIMA will also be bringing marketing expertise and reach from some of Canada’s best known marketers.
Blue Ant Media’s AUX.TV is the official media partner of the Canadian Blast BBQ and Showcase at SXSW 2014, the high-profile kick-off to the Canadian Blast program. The BBQ will attract thousands of delegates who will come to hear some of the hottest music Canada is currently producing. AUX’s involvement in the BBQ and Showcase will generate broadcast opportunities for the artists (A Tribe Called Red, The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer, Andy Shauf, Grand Analog, Saidah Baba Talibah and The Darcys), will connect Canadians to the rare air of one of the world’s great music festivals and will give CIMA’s promotional efforts a valuable push from the media outlet’s mainstream programming and social networking activity.
Molson Canadian joins the Canadian Blast efforts as well, becoming the official beer of Canada House, a three-day residency that converts one of Austin, Texas’ famed live music venues (Friends Bar) into a high octane buzz of live music and music business networking. In addition to bringing some Canadian street-cred to the party in the form of the iconic brew, Molson’s live music-themed marketing and lifestyle campaign, Molson Canadian Live, will also generate seven-figure social media impressions before, during and after the festival.
Canada House is a truly collaborative effort, presented with six showcasing partners, each of whom shares their own vision of Canadian independent music to the international community at SXSW. The partners in Canada House are Halifax Pop Explosion, Manitoba Music, music industry associations Alberta Music and SaskMusic, Musicians’ Rights Organization Canada with the Canadian Federation of Musicians, Ontario Media Development Corporation and MusicOntario, and the City of Toronto which recently announced the first ever Music City Alliance with Austin in the quest to brand Toronto as a Live Music City.
Hundreds of Canadian music industry movers and shakers, more than a hundred performing acts from across the country and scores of culture and lifestyle media will make the annual trek to SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas. The Canadian Blast at SXSW kicks off March 12 and runs the length of the SXSW Music Festival, ending on March 16. The results, however, should extend far beyond and be felt in tour dates, publishing deals and music sales in the year ahead.
About CIMA
The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) is the national trade association representing the English-language, Canadian-owned sector of the independent music industry. CIMA works proactively to assist the independent sector to expand business opportunities and partnerships in the international marketplace by providing strategic support for Canadian companies at trade missions, key international trade shows and conferences around the world.
About the Canadian Blast
CIMA brings the compelling story of Canada’s best music to festivals and markets around the world with a multi-faceted collective marketing and promotion initiative, the Canadian Blast. The Canadian Blast at SXSW includes a kick-off BBQ, three days and four nights of Canadian showcases and performances at Canada House (208 E 6th St, Austin) and a business development program including the Canada Stand at the SXSW Trade Show.
CIMA gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our Canadian partners and sponsors: Canadian Music Week (CMW), the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR), the Government of Canada (through GOA/DFATD and MEC/Canadian Heritage), Harvard Broadcasting, the Music Managers Forum (Canada), Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC), the Radio Starmaker Fund, and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). CIMA also acknowledges the support of our Canadian Blast BBQ media partner, AUX, and the support of Molson Canadian to the Canadian Blast at Canada House.
For additional information on the artists performing or Canadian Blast check out http://www.canadianblast.com
For more information about Canadian Blast at SXSW, please contact:
Cara Wodnicki: BMF Media Group
cara@bmfmedia.com