Ever Hear of the Road Gold Award for Indie Bands?

The Canadian Independent Music Association–CIMA to their friends–has something called Road Gold certification, an award they give out to their members who show all exceptional resilience and dedication when it comes to doing what’s necessary to make it in the Canadian music biz as an indie performer. Previous winners have included USS, Big Wreck and Matt Anderson.

This year’s honoree is Made Them Lions. In the last twelve months, they completed two cross-Canada tours, cracked the Top 5 of the Anglo chart in Quebec, scored a #1 video on MusiquePlus and more.  Here’s one of their big songs.

So what do you have to do with your indie band to qualify? This is right from CIMA’s website:

CIMA’s Road Gold certification is an acknowledgment of the dedication and drive artists must have to achieve success, broaden their fan base and express their artistry through strong public performances.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

• Certification is awarded by application to CIMA. An administration fee of $50.00 is applicable.
• Artists must be Canadian.
• Sales must reflect paid gigs played in Canada.
• Certification is based on at least 25,000 tickets sold within a 12 month period. Artists who hit that milestone in less than 12 months are still eligible for certification. Eligible dates can go as far back as January 1st, 2014.
• Artists must perform their own show or as headliner (or co-headliner) in Canada.
• Where the act is NOT performing as the headliner/co-headliner, only 10% of total ticketsales units will be eligible for that performance.
• Where the act is NOT performing as the headliner/co-headliner at a festival, then the higher figure of the following will be eligible for the performance: 2% of total festival tickets sold or total festival tickets sold divided by total number of performing acts per festival.
• Paid performances only.
• Performances must include at least 50% original music to be eligible.
• Total ticket count per performance cannot exceed capacity of the venue.

INELIGIBLE CRITERIA:

• Venues with less than 100 people capacity
• Showcases/free shows

Get all the details here.