TORONTO — Canadian Music Week (CMW) announced today the Jim Beam National Talent Search will now take place virtually from October 13 to 20, with 30-minute episodes spotlighting five bands from eight Canadian cities.
Hosted by Josie Dye of Toronto’s Indie88 Radio, each episode will focus on one city and feature interviews and performances from five local bands. Each of the resulting regional webisodes will be streamed via indies.ca and partnering radio stations across the country. (For the episode schedule, please visit the website.)
The 40 bands have already began recording the Jim Beam Virtual Talent Search episodes during socially distanced studio sessions this past summer, which will be edited so each indie artist or group will sound their best and shine online, says a CMW blog post here.
“What, in previous years, would have been a chance for one band to play live at the Jim Beam INDIES in Toronto for a crowd of about 1000, will now be a career calling-card for 40 bands representing priceless international exposure that will serve these artists for years to come,” said Canadian Music Week president Neill Dixon, in the blog post. “CMW’s national talent search webcast presents a way to preserve an invaluable talent initiative that was already underway when the pandemic shut us all down.”
Music fans are invited to vote for their favourite band to play live at the 2021 Jim Beam INDIES in Toronto at www.indies.ca.
