A day after the Recording Academy president, Neil Portnow declared that women in the music industry needed to “step up”, it was announced that women lead the pack at the 2018 East Coast Music Awards.

Rose Cousins (with 8 nominations), Jenn Grant (6 nominations), Ria Mae (4 nominations) and Kinley (4 nominations) are all set up to walk away with multiple awards at this years festival.  Local fan favorite, Joel Plaskett has also been nominated for 4 categories.

“The 30th Anniversary of the East Coast Music Awards will be an incredible event, taking over the city of Halifax with five days of our region’s best music. This year’s nominees include well-established East Coast acts and exciting newcomers, which reflects not only our rich history of the past 30 years but also the direction our music is taking in the future,” says Andy McLean, ECMA Executive Director.  “we’re also thrilled to announce our showcasing lineup that highlights the variety of music coming out of the East Coast today.  Plus, there will be many more exciting announcements in the weeks to come!”

This year The Chronicle Herald will be the official sponsor for the Fans’ Choice Award and voting is now open.  You can vote once a day up until March 16th, 2018 over here.

The 2018 East Coast Music Awards Show, hosted by Jonathan Torrens, takes place on Thursday, May 3rd at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, NS.  Tickets and passes are on sale now and can be found over here while tickets for the awards show can be found here.

For the entire list of nominations head on over to the official website of the East Coast Music Association here.