Canadian indie body launches new certification, Road Gold
Canada’s trade organisation for independent labels CIMA has launched a new music industry certification program to award its touring artists.
The Road Gold certification will be awarded to artists that have sold in excess of 25,000 tickets on their national headlining or co-headlining tours within a 12-month period.
The 40-year-old trade bodylaunched Red Gold by awarding three acts: alt-rock duo USS (signed to Coalition Music, pictured), rock band Big Wreck (SRO-Anthem) and blues singer-guitarist Matt Andersen (True North).
Jay Parsons of USS said: "In a world dominated by chart positions, likes, and followers – people often forget that the true measure of a performing artist is 'How many people will go see them live?'We are honoured to be one of the first recipients of such an important award.”
Artists can apply retroactively for the award here (for a fee of $50), beginning with shows from January 1, 2014, onwards.
CIMA has detailed a raft of eligibility requirements on the application page:
– The acts’ live sets must include at least 50% original music
– The actmust provide verification of ticket sales
– In cases where the act isn’t headlining or co-headlining, only 10% of total ticket sales units will be eligible for that performance
– In cases of festivals where the act is not performing as the headliner/co-headliner, then CIMA will either count “2% of total festival tickets sold or total festival tickets sold divided by total number of performing acts per festival.”
– Showcases or free shows are ineligible
– Neither are venues with less than 100 capacity.
– The total ticket count per performance also cannot exceed the capacity of the venue.
CIMA has said it will conduct random spot audits of all applications in order to verify the figures provided by the applicant.
Six Shooter Records President and CIMA Chair Shauna de Cartier said: “Sales of recorded music do not tell the whole picture of an artist’s achievements and stature in the marketplace. Establishing a standard measurement of an artist’s touring business provides another relevant and important metric for quantifying success.”
CIMA President Stuart Johnston added: "These road warriors who are being awarded the inaugural Road Gold certification are a testament to our industry's ability to hit the road and achieve high levels of success."
Ralph James, CEO of The Agency Group said: "Touring cross-Canada is no small undertaking, and beyond building a fan base, for an independent act to sell 25,000+ tickets over the course of one year speaks to the economic impact live music can have across the board."
The Agency Group, which has offices in Los Angeles, London, Miami, Nashville, New York, Toronto and Malmo, toured its acts in 61 countries last year, seeing then cumulatively play 47,472 shows.