ECMAs reinvent awards gala strategy 'by necessity'

The East Coast Music Association is flipping the traditional strategy of awards shows on its head this week as it prepares for the gala event on Thursday night.

There's a formula for music events. They start out mid-week with a conference, some shows and you let the hype build. 

You hand out a few non-televised awards at some earlier shows, not the biggest categories yet though.

Then on the last night, usually Sunday, comes the big show, complete with a gala event, star performers and the big trophies on the TV show. See: Grammys, Junos, etc.

The East Coast Music Association didn't set out to break the rules. 

It wasn't the organization's intention to come up with a whole new way to structure an awards week, but that's what they had to do. 

East Coast Music Week is starting with the main awards show, gala and broadcast on Thursday night and wraps up Sunday.

"It was a little bit of invention by necessity," said Andy MacLean, the executive director of the association.

"When we were looking for a venue in St. John's, there were limited choices, mostly due to hockey and such. So the more we thought about it, the more we started to look at it."

With hockey king this time of year, and April 9 to 12 locked in as the East Coast Music Week dates, any St. John's venue big enough to hold the show and a few thousand fans was unavailable for Saturday or Sunday nights. 

The novel concept to turn around the week was the best solution, with the Jack Byrne Arena in nearby Torbay open on the Thursday.

'Looking for ways to change things'

This is the first East Coast Music Week that MacLean has led, hired into the job last year. Part of his mandate is to invigorate the event.

"I was looking for ways to change things around and bring new life as a new executive director. So ask me Monday if it worked out," he said.

We thought the energy level would be higher to kick it off and then we'd be able to promote the events for the rest of the weekend.- Andy MacLean

It's more than just putting the awards on Thursday. It affects the tone of the entire conference.  

Friday to Sunday will feature all the showcases, open to the general public as well as the conference delegates from the music industry, and there has to be good crowds for the hotels, restaurants and bar owners to be happy with the drastic change. 

MacLean said he thinks the earlier awards night will bring a new kind of buzz.  

"We thought the energy level would be higher to kick it off and then we'd be able to promote the events for the rest of the weekend," he said.

"And for the media, we hopefully will get a better hit out of it, with more publicity because it's earlier in the week."

More awards to come

Also, not all the awards will be handed out on the Thursday night gala. 

Like the ECMW has done the past few years, many will be presented at individual showcases, such as Saturday night's Warner Music Canada Roots Room, which will see both the Traditional Instrumental Recording of the Year, and the Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year handed out.

With performances by stars, such as Catherine MacLellan, The Trews, Ennis and Meaghan Smith, hopefully the gala will serve as an appetizer for crowds to come out to more shows.

"The gala have 11 performances, but there's so much more going on," says MacLean.  

"I think people will come out for those shows. And we have way too many awards than we can give out in two hours, so there's lots of excitement to keep things going."

The Thursday gala isn't the only change.  

"One of the things I'm also proud of introducing is a fan pit at the gala," MacLean said.

"So we'll be able to bring fans right down front for it, it's more accessible for them. You get right up close to bands and the cameras capture that," he said.

"It's very much how I like to do televised events, with bands in their natural element, that's when you get the best stuff, in my experience."