XM Satellite Radio station The Verge (XM 87) plays the biggest names in Canadian music, including favourite artists like Broken Social Scene, The Stills, The Arcade Fire, Stars, Metric and The New Pornographers. In addition to rotating chart toppers, The Verge has frequent in-studio events with some lesser known artists, giving exposure to some excellent independent artists. Programming includes news and updates from ‘the streets’ with The Verge team reporting on new and buzzy sounds.
Tonight The Verge holds it’s award gala in which it will give huge money ($25,000 each) to listener voted Best Artist and Best Album of the year, as well as presenting $5,000 to best emerging artist. IndieTo will be tweeting under #VergeMusicAwards from the event to report on the general vibe. And in the true spirit of DIY and much-raking, we have some fun questions for the winners. Check the blog in coming days for updates on how the night went.
Finalists for Album of the Year:
Michou – Cardona
Stars – The Five Ghosts
Tegan and Sara – Sainthood
Zeus – Say Us
The Zolas – Tic Toc Tic
Finalists for Artist of the Year:
Michou
Stars
Tegan and Sara
Zeus
Arcade Fire
Emerging Artist of the Year:
Elias
Hannah Georgas
Jay Malinowski
PS I Love You
The Royal Alberta Advantage
Performing this evening is a real Canadian music industry veteran (Gord Downie and The Country of Miracles), a set of young bucks who have seen a tonne of International success (Tokyo Police Club) and a relatively ‘under the radar’ trad-roots band (The Acorn).