FAQ

The !earshot Digital Distribution System or !earshot-Distro for short is an online database designed to get Canadian content to campus and community radio stations. Once the music has been uploaded and paid for the music becomes available for campus and community radio stations to search, review, and download music to be broadcast within their local communities across Canada.

The National Campus and Community Radio Association/l’Association nationale des radios étudiantes et communautaires (NCRA/ANREC) is a not-for-profit national association working to recognize, support, and encourage volunteer-based, non-profit, public-access campus and community-based broadcasters in Canada. Currently, the NCRA/ANREC represents over 115 not-for-profit campus and community radio stations from across Canada. More information about the NCRA/ANREC can be found at ncra.ca.

To create an account for !earshot-Distro you will need to go to https://secure.earshot-distro.ca/sign_in. From there you will need to click on “Sign Up” in the top right-hand corner of the site. Depending on if you’re a label/distributor/publiscist (multiple artists) or an independent artist select the appropriate option, then fill out the information to create an account.

The fees associated with making uploaded music available for broadcasters are $7 per song for a single/EP (1 to 7 songs), and a flat $50 for an album/compilation (8 to 20 songs). Once a song has been paid for it will become available for broadcasters to find within the system. This fee is only required when you want to make your music available for broadcasters. Songs can be uploaded, and their metadata edited before needing to pay.

The fees associated with uploaded music available for broadcasters are one-time only and remain in our system for any user to discover, years later.  There are no annual fees.  Songs remain uploaded until the uploader removed them.

Yes! We highly recommend artists and labels are registered with SOCAN, as you can earn royalties from your music being disturbed through this system. You do not need to be a member, but it’s encouraged.

!earshot-Distro is currently focused on Canadian content. We are currently looking to expand !earshot-Distro to include artists from other countries. However, any artist that is self-identified as “Canadian”  (even if it does not meet the  MAPL standard) can upload.  Simply select the location in Canada you would call “home”.

The MAPL standard is a definition created by the CRTC that defines what music is considered to be Canadian for use by Canadian radio stations. More information about the MAPL system and its standards can be found at https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/info_sht/r1.htm.

The ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the international identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings. They are not required, but helpful!  learn more here: https://connectmusic.ca/isrc/

To find out how to use the !eDDS you can use any of the links below
Music industry user guide

Broadcaster user guide

Broadcast: Assumed permission for any active song, allows stations on AM/FM or an online stream to broadcast your music. This includes archived shows (not in a podcast format). Available for use in Podcast: Gives stations the copyright permission to use your song in a podcast. No contract is required for this option. Can be played in the background for station advertisements: Stations may use your song in the background of an advertisement or public service announcement that they have created. No contract is required for this option. Can be licensed to a compilation: Your song is available for stations to use it in a compilation. To do so stations must reach out to you to seek permission to use your song. A contract must be signed between the station and yourself.

A list of radio stations can be found at https://earshot-distro.ca/?page_id=220. This list is updated when a new campus and community radio stations setups an account within !earshot-Distro

This is from the NCRA/ANREC’S copyright handbook “All of Bandcamp, Soundcloud, iTunes Store, and Google Play Music prohibit any use that is not personal and non-commercial. These prohibitions remain subject to what the rights owners to the songs have allowed. So, just like the question above regarding sound recordings, a legally downloaded and/or purchased digital sound file doesn’t give the downloader/buyer the right communicate or distribute the file elsewhere. Bandcamp, Soundcloud, iTunes, Google Play Music and others are only given limited rights to make available, sell and distribute, and communicate those sound files on behalf of the copyright owners. Still, sometimes there will be a description of the licence—either displaying a Creative Commons licence or an “all rights reserved”—at the bottom of a track or album description. If that licence allows for the broadcasting of the song, then radio stations can air the song with no problem. Otherwise, if the track or album has “all rights reserved” or lacks any explicit permissions, radio stations should seek written permission from its rights owners, or should ensure they are licensees to the appropriate copyright collectives.

Getting into charts comes from getting played at stations – You need to get played on at least 2-3 stations that chart (earshot-online.com) and then you might chart – https://earshot-online.com/charts/dspRecentDiscs.cfm