Discounts offered for musicians to send tunes to campus stations

Winnipeg Free Press

28-05-2025

Local musicians can save some serious dough when sending their work to community radio stations across the country via a new grant program from online distribution platform Earshot.
Until Jan. 31, 2026, artist-members of Manitoba Music will have access to a 50 per cent discount code when uploading their music to the Earshot platform, allowing the work to reach the distributor's network of 120 member stations from the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA).
Digital distribution costs through Earshot are typically $7 per song or $50 per album, plus applicable taxes, says Eloisa Veliz, Earshot's marketing and outreach co-ordinator. The MAPL!e Grant discount code can be used as many times as artists want within the allotted period, allowing artists to upload their back catalogs or newly released projects at the discounted price.
Sheinina Raj and Raissa Bado photo
Kelly Bado is part of the lineup for the inaugural Village Music Fest.
Since 2018, through its digital distribution system, Earshot has aimed to streamline the process for Canadian musicians to get their work searched, reviewed and downloaded by campus and community stations for broadcast across Canada.
Michael Elves, the program director for 101.5 UMFM, says the end of the era of receiving physical copies of new releases was hastened by the pandemic; of every 100 projects the station receives, about 10 are physical media, as opposed to about 40 prior to the pandemic. However, the output of artists hasn't slowed: by Tuesday, Elves says, he had already received 56 records to review for station use, not including singles.
The digital distribution hub, though still not free, is comparatively more affordable than commercial options, which can cost over $500, says Veliz. Physical mailers, which artists used to rely on to reach stations across the country, have both a prohibitive per-unit cost and an environmental impact, the distributor says.
By allowing artists to self-identify according to specific genres, the program also allows for targeted discovery by programmers, Veliz adds.
Earshot last offered its grant
program from August 2023 to February 2024. During that period, the discount codes were used 322 times nationally, with just over $2,800 granted to artists to partially cover distribution costs. Manitoban artists only used the discount code 15 times, for a total savings of $117, according to Earshot statistics.
UMFM's Elves says the Earshot program centralizes distribution across campus and community stations, levelling the playing field for artists who can't afford publicists or who are releasing their work without the support of a label.
Earshot's charts, which aggregate airplay statistics from NCRA stations, including UMFM, provide a national snapshot of listening habits on earshot-online.com.
'It's a good, diverse reflection of what's happening in Canada,' says Elves.
Last week, Canadian artists in the top 10 included Destroyer (1), Marie Davidson (2), Art D'Ecco (3), Men I Trust (4) Cootie Catcher (5), Sister Ray (6), Saya Gray (7), Ribbon Skirt (8), Bells Larsen (9) and Bria Salmena (10). Top Manitoban artists included Jimmie Kilpatrick (16), Propagandhi (18) and the P.E.I.-based the Burning Hell (29), featuring former Winnipegger Mathias Kom.
On the specialty Jazz chart, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra's East Meets West: Connections is holding down the 10th spot. With At Peace, Propagandhi tops the Loud charts.
Weekly
A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene.
[e-mail] June 27 and 28 with more than 30 musical performances across six venues, as well as interactive public art installations.
Kicking off on Canadian Multiculturalism Day and ahead of Canada Day, the event is billed as a celebration of national diversity and is co-organized by the Osborne Village BIZ, Real Love and the Village Idiots.
The lineup includes local and Canadian acts including Kelly Bado, Jérémie and the Delicious Hounds, Fontine, Dirty Catfish Brass Band, Cartel Madras and Kimmortal.
Entertainment runs Friday from 8:30 p.m. to midnight and Saturday from 1 p.m. to midnight. Venues include the Osborne Taphouse, the Toad in the Hole Pub, Must Be the Place, ANAF Club 60, Small Mercies and the outdoor Bell Tower park.
Visit osbornevillagebiz.com for more information.
Ben WaldmanReporter
Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University's (now Toronto Metropolitan University's) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben.
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