Meet The Judges of The 4th Annual Canadian Independent Music Video Awards
The Canadian Independent Music Video Awards were founded in 2018, as a way of celebrating the incredible pieces of art that are created each year by Canadian independent artists and the film makers behind them. The awards started with a small number of bands, a handful of judges from Dropout Entertainment’s team and some very dedicated fans from across the country. As the year’s went on, the contest has grown significantly, bringing in tens of thousands of votes each year from every corner of Canada. For the 4th rendition of the awards and the first time since the awards inception, we reached out to some of the incredible personalities that make Canada’s music scene the beautiful tapestry that it is to join the judges panel. This year’s panel see’s the original 3 judges, Jesse Read, Benjamin Gibson and Shannen Frost returning alongside some of the most inspiring and hardest working individuals in this countrys music scene. This year’s panel includes Louis Calebro (The Canadian Academy/The Prism Prize), Rick Campanelli (Z103.5FM), Richelle Umali (Penelope PR), Christine Stevens & Christine Wiley (C To C Canadian Country Music Insider), Carol B (CIUT895FM) Ben Chapman-Smith & Gregg Sweetapple (Heavy NFLD), Alex Huard (Release Day Series), Nik Varlamov (Toronto Creatives) Baz Foye & Kieran Croy (Dropout Entertainment). To learn more about all these incredible individuals and to take a deep dive into their sites keep scrolling!
Jesse Read & Ben Gibson – Dropout Entertainment
Dropout Entertainment is your source for Canada’s best independent music, from coast to coast! Dropout’s goal is to share the songs and stories of Canadian artists
and bringing you artists from across this beautiful country, so no matter where you live you can discover live videos, interviews and photos with artists from B.C to the Maritimes and everything in between! If you’re content with listening to the same top 40 playlist that the radio stations select for you maybe this isn’t your cup of tea, but if you’re looking to discover some of the amazing musical talent that this country has to offer Dropouts got you!
The Canadian Independent Music Video Awards were created by Dropout Entertainment, to shine a spotlight on the incredible talent and work that is created by independent artists and filmmakers from across Canada. Artists signed to major labels with huge production budgets are often celebrated, but this is the first awards show of its type, not only in Canada but the world, that exclusively celebrates the music videos of independent artists.
To learn more visit www.dropoutentertainment.ca
Shannen Frost – Shannen Frost Photography / Dropout Entertainment
Shannen Frost is a Toronto-based female photographer specializing in concert and event photography. Shannen has been on the Dropout Entertainment team since 2016 and has photographed bands of all genres as well as festivals such as CMW, NXNE, Indie Week & Boots & Hearts. Frost has also travelled across Canada numerous times, capturing some of it’s most beautiful spots. To find her photos and for more info visit www.shannenfrostphotography.com
Louis Calabro – The Canadian Academy & The Prism Prize
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is the largest non-profit professional media arts organization in Canada. With a membership of more than 4,000 emerging and established industry professions, we are dedicated to developing, recognizing, celebrating, and advocating for Canadian talent in the film, television, and digital media sectors. Learn more at www.academy.ca
The Prism Prize is a national juried award recognizing the artistry of the modern music video in Canada. A jury of over 120 Canadian music and film industry professionals, including members of the print and web media, broadcasting, film, radio, and video art communities, nominate the 10 best videos of the year to comprise the Prism Prize shortlist. The winning video receives a cash prize of $15,000, the richest cash prize for music videos in North America. To learn more visit www.prismprize.com
Rick Campanelli – Z103.5FM CIDC-FM
Rick Campanelli is a Canadian television and radio personality known for his work as a VJ and host for MuchMusic and for co-hosting ET Canada. He joined Z103.5FM CIDC-FM in November 2021, and is currently co-host of the morning show.
CIDC-FM is a radio station licensed to Orangeville, Ontario. Owned by Evanov Communications, the station broadcasts a rhythmic contemporary format targeting the Greater Toronto Area. CIDC has historically been known for having a dance and electronic-leaning playlist. To learn more visit https://z1035.com/
Richelle Umali – Penelope PR
Born of a love of all things entertainment, lifestyle and, let’s be honest, adventure, penelopePR is home to a handful of denim-wearing media strategists who stop at nothing to get the results they know their clients deserve. Starting her career as PPR’s OG employee in 2011, Umali went out to spend nearly a decade leading campaigns for global brands at both the agency and in-house level (High Road Communications, INK Entertainment, Citizen Relations, Narrative). Her time away allowed her to gain years of experience including an extensive understanding of marketing, creative development/production, project management and the execution of large-scale client events. Umali has worked across multiple consumer accounts, including Converse Canada, Loblaws, Spotify Canada, Facebook, Boots & Hearts (inaugural year) and Veld Music Festival. To learn more visit www.penelopepr.com
Christine Stevens & Christine Wiley – C To C Canadian Country Music Insider
Christine Stevens & Christine Wiley are best friends who have traveled all over Canada following Country Music for many years..over time this genre of music has become their passion. During this time they’ve had the opportunity to meet many of the artists, new emerging artists, Indie artists, band members, session musicians, and industry people. Through social media, they’ve always enjoyed helping promote new artists that they believe in and nothing has been more fulfilling than them watching those artists achieve their dreams.It came to a point where they both decided they would like to be more involved on a personal level in the Canadian Country Music industry so they decided to create their own promotional page to help share new music and spotlight features on artists. They especially have a soft spot for helping to promote Canadian Country Indie artists. There is a huge Canadian Country music fan base in Canada and they have been blessed to make some lifelong friends through this genre of music.
The ‘Two Christines’ are both members of the Canadian Music Association of Ontario (CMAO) and the Canadian Country Music Association of Canada (CCMA). In their 3 years, they have done media accreditation for the Canadian Country Music Awards (CCMAs) the Country Music Awards of Ontario (CMAOS) (3x) Boots & Hearts Music Festival, Crooks Rapids CountryFest (2x), and also been approved for media for Live Nation shows. They’ve also been invited to cover several Drive-In concerts during the summer of 2020/2021. They’ve enjoyed covering Tin Pan South in Nashville, several ‘Single’ & ‘CD’ release parties, and numerous songwriter’s shows in their first 3 years.
CarolB – CIUT895FM / CFRU933FM
CarolB programs an open format show (Ruby Slippers) on CIUT895FM in Toronto, Ontario as well as on www.radiocrown.com in Baltimore, Maryland. Her alter ego is Alice on ThroughTheLookingGlass, CFRU933FM in Guelph.
Community radio is her passion and along with her trusty retriever Cally welcomes independent artists to share their music with audiences around the world. To learn more visit https://ciut.fm/
Ben Chapman Smith & Gregg Sweetapple – Heavy NFLD
HeavyNFLD is a compilation or archive of all of the loud music that comes out of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. That includes but is not limited to heavy metal, hardcore punk and progressive rock.
Heavy NFLD was ounded in August 2015 by Greg Sweetapple; “one guy with a dedicated passion for heavy and experimental music. There’s so many great bands from this province that I felt the need to feature them all on a singular platform, as a service to both the metal community of Newfoundland and the artists themselves. Thus I began HeavyNFLD. But I want the brand to go beyond just featuring the music of the bands from here. As such I have begun filming live shows in downtown St. John’s and elsewhere, shooting interviews with local metal musicians and I hope to eventually feature documentaries based on the scene. My ultimate goal is for HeavyNFLD to get big enough that I can sponsor an annual weekend-long metal festival here in Newfoundland though that will likely be years down the road.” To learn more visit heavynfld.wordpress.com
Alex Huard – Release Day
Founded by Alex Huard, The Release Day Series was created during the COVID-19 pandemic to share the stories of the artists still releasing their art while weathering the global crisis and beyond. Featuring conversations with award winning artists, independent musicians, and industry professionals, The Release Day Series Podcast dives into the stories, strategies, creativity and effort that goes into making release day a reality. To learn more visit www.releasedayseries.com
Nik Varlamov – Toronto Creatives
Toronto Creatives specializes in brand identity development, digital/social content creation/marketing as well as web design+dev, eCommerce and app design. Toronto Creatives is a lean team of interdisciplinary designers; specializing in identity development, digital marketing and original lead generation. If you’re a small – medium business and you’re awesome at your craft, consider teaming up! To learn more visit www.torontocreatives.com
Baz Foye & Kieran Croy – Dropout Entertainment
Dropout Entertainment is your source for Canada’s best independent music, from coast to coast! Dropout’s goal is to share the songs and stories of Canadian artists
and bringing you artists from across this beautiful country, so no matter where you live you can discover live videos, interviews and photos with artists from B.C to the Maritimes and everything in between! If you’re content with listening to the same top 40 playlist that the radio stations select for you maybe this isn’t your cup of tea, but if you’re looking to discover some of the amazing musical talent that this country has to offer Dropouts got you!
The Canadian Independent Music Video Awards were created by Dropout Entertainment, to shine a spotlight on the incredible talent and work that is created by independent artists and filmmakers from across Canada. Artists signed to major labels with huge production budgets are often celebrated, but this is the first awards show of its type, not only in Canada but the world, that exclusively celebrates the music videos of independent artists.
To learn more visit www.dropoutentertainment.ca
