BreakOut West Showcase Festival
Submission Guidelines
CONTENTS
- Showcase submission fees
- Showcase submission deadlines
- Residency requirements
- Music Industry Association membership
- Musical genre
- Festival showcase artist compensation
- Considerations
If you experience issues with Awardstage, please contact johnny@breakoutwest.ca. If you have any questions about the festival itself, or eligibility, please reach out to liam@breakoutwest.ca.
SHOWCASE SUBMISSION FEES
| MIA Member | Non-Member | |
| Early Bird | 15% Off | 15% Off |
| Regular | $40.50 | $45 |
SHOWCASE SUBMISSION TIMELINE
Registration opens: December 11, 2024
Early bird pricing ends: January 15, 2025
Submission deadline: Feburary 5, 2025 at midnight PT
RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS
All performing festival artists must be residents of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and/or Nunavut, for at least six months between March 30, 2024 and January 28, 2025. The mandate of the Western Canadian Music Alliance is to support artists and companies who reside in Western Canada a majority of the time and as such contribute to healthy and thriving music communities in the region. In the case of groups, 50% of the members must meet the residency requirement.
MUSIC INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP
WCMA reccomends that artists and artists representatives submitting to BreakOut West maintain active membership of their provincial music industry association. Industry association members receive a 10% discount on submission to the BreakOut West festival and Western Canadian Music Awards.
Eligible Canadian music industry associations include:
- Music BC
- Manitoba Music
- SaskMusic
- Alberta Music
- Music Yukon
- Music NWT
- Alianait Music (Nunavut Based Artist)
MUSICAL GENRE
The Western Canadian Music Alliance is an inclusive organization and BreakOut West is open to submissions from all artists irrespective of genre. Festival selections are made by jury on the basis of qualification and fit for the festival, and thus not every genre will be represented at the festival at any given year.
FESTIVAL ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
BreakOut West is a music industry showcase, designed to match export-ready artists based in Western Canada with industry professionals at their level. Artists are juried primarily on the following criteria:
- Submission materials: quality of music, performance video, bio, and other artist materials.
- Conference goals: specificity, detail, attainability, and relevance to BreakOut West conference.
- Artist's history: detail, breadth of experience, growth trajectory and market development.
WCMA recommends that submitting artists meet at least two, but ideally all four of FACTOR’s criteria for export readiness.
BreakOut West is a juried showcase festival that takes many details into consideration. These may include; diversity of genre, language, gender and cultural identity. The festival also strives to represent all Wesern Canadian Music Alliance geographic regions. Gender-non-conforming artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of colour are strongly encouraged to apply.
FESTIVAL SHOWCASE ARTIST COMPENSATION
Each selected artist at BreakOut West receives the following benefits as part of their performance:
- Two performance opportunities at the BreakOut West festival. Performance times and venues are may vary and are at the discretion of WCMA.
- One delegate package (valued at over $250) per performing member of your ensemble. This package includes a festival wristband which grants access to all showcases, and a delegate pass to take part in the BreakOut West industry conference including all workshops, panels, networking receptions, one-on-one meetings and more.
- All showcasing artists will be able to access early and exclusive sign up for one-on-one meetings with industry mentors, ahead of general access.
- Each selected artist will be given honorarium for participation. One honorarium is provided per artist, not per performing member.
- As a showcase at a recognized music industry conference, selected showcasing artists may be eligible to apply for support through FACTOR, and their provincial showcase funding program for support of showcase expenses. This may include travel, accommodations, payment to artists, per diems, marketing expenses, etc. Please contact your provincial music industry association for more detail.
- Access to hotel room discounts at participating hotels
- Marketing tools to promote showcases including electronic show posters, social media promotions and use of logos and branding upon request.
CONSIDERATIONS
- submission to the festival does not guarantee acceptance.
- all submissions are accepted online only. If internet access is a barrier to submission, submitters may request a .doc or .pdf version of the submission form by emailing liam@breakoutwest.ca
- payment of the entry fee may only be made by credit card online only.
- read all guidelines and category requirements to ensure qualification.
- Please submit well before the deadline to ensure there are no unforeseen issues at the time of submission.