Canadian Music Week is calling all independent recording artists to apply for The Indies – the 2007 Independent Music Awards. The event will kick off the CMW 07 festivities held in Toronto on Wednesday, March 7, 2007. Applications are due on November 15, 2006.

This year’s submissions will be taken exclusively through Sonicbids at www.sonicbids.com/indies2007. Submission rules and regulations can be obtained from the CMW Web site at www.cmw.net.

Presented by inDiscover.net, The Indies celebrate outstanding achievement in sound recording. The awards are limited to independent artists and cover some 14 different genres of music. Winners in 27 of the 30 categories are decided by both a public vote and an industry vote. Four new categories have been added for 2007, including Live Artist/Group/Duo Of The Year, International Single Of The Year, International Breakthrough Artist/Group/Duo Of The Year, and International Video Of The Year.

The Indies celebrate the best in Canadian and International independent music. Last year’s sold-out event was hosted by Jian Ghomeshi and featured performances by Stars, Elliott Brood, Figurines, The Road Hammers, Rosette, Cursed, The Parachute Club, and The Pursuit Of Happiness. Past years’ winners include The Arcade Fire, Bedouin Soundclash, City and Colour, The Trews, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Alexisonfire, Kataklysm, Death From Above 1979, Hot Hot Heat, Default, The Weakerthans, Fidgital and Dashboard Confessional.

The Indies will also present the 2007 Galaxie Rising Stars Award of the CBC. As opposed to the fan-voted Indie Awards, this honour is the choice of the nation’s music critics. Music journalists from print, TV, radio and online media will be submitting their top 10 lists of Canadian independent releases of 2006. Sales and airplay are irrelevant for this reward, while artistic merit is the true deciding factor on who will be the winner. All submissions will then be pared down to a shortlist from which these same critics will choose the most deserving recording and determine the 2007 recipient of the Galaxie Rising Stars Award of the CBC.

The Award – a $3,000 cash prize – is part of the Galaxie Rising Stars Program of the CBC, an original program that sets out to discover, encourage and promote new artists.

“The program’s main goal is to enable upcoming stars from all over the country to shine. Since 2001, the valuable partnership between Galaxie and Canadian Music Week has allowed us to highlight the talents of gifted artists year after year,” said Jean-Richard Lefebvre, Development, Partnerships and French Programming.

To date, more than 500 artists and groups have benefited from the Rising Stars Program across the country, including The Arcade Fire, Matt Mays, Lisa Brokop and the 2006 Indies winner, Elliott Brood.