XM Canada to host first-ever Verge Music Awards to celebrate Canadian music talent

Continuing its commitment to advancing Canadian music talent, XM Canada announced it will host the Inaugural Verge Music Awards on September 24, 2008. An industry first, the Awards show will present $50,000 in prizing to talented Canadian artists for Album of the Year and Artist of the Year.

“This is an exceptional way to honour and promote Canada’s bands and artists,” said Stewart Lyons, executive vice president of XM Canada. “XM Canada is committed to developing emerging Canadian talent and acknowledging those that make significant contributions to the Canadian music scene, at home and abroad. We believe that awarding the musicians with $50,000 will go a long way to help our home-grown talent reach the forefront of the international music scene.”

To determine the award winners, XM Canada launched an online voting system at www.xmradio.ca to enable listeners to vote for their favourite artists. An advisory panel, comprised of members of the XM Satellite Radio music programming department, will review the top nominations and select the winner based on artist integrity.

The Inaugural Verge Music Awards will take place September 24, 2008 at Tattoo Rock Parlour in downtown Toronto at 9 p.m. In addition to the awards presentation, three Canadian artists will perform live onstage and the show will be broadcast live to music fans across North America on The Verge (XM channel 52).

The Verge, which primarily broadcasts Canadian independent talent, 85 per cent of whom are new and emerging artists, is a mainstay of Canada’s “indie” music scene and is dedicated to providing Canadian musicians with a platform to expose their music to a wider, international audience.

A free three-day trial of XM Radio Online is available at listen.xmradio.ca. Visit www.xmradio.ca for programming and subscription information

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