Juno Awards Preview Social Media Style

This is an extended version of a post I originally wrote for E!Online

Last September it was officially announced that Vancouver will host the 2009 Juno Awards this spring and with our city’s diverse blend of acts and media forms it’s sure to be a one-of-a-kind event for Canada’s music scene.

“Vancouver is super excited about the Junos coming here,” noted Kris Krug, who was a part of a delegation that went to Calgary’s awards ceremony last year as a member of the original organizing committee for the Vancouver Junos.

“We’ve got a ton of awesome bands here in Vancouver, big names and small, and they all deserve recognition; Sarah Mclachlan and Michael Buble to Black Mountain and Fake Shark – Real Zombie.” With credits among the likes of Rolling Stone magazine, Kris will also photographing the televised event as well as the other supporting events around the city.

Duane Storey on Flickr

However with the Junos, not only is the music community featured, it’s also a time for other talents to experience the industry locally, but on a national scale.

Duane Storey, a blogger, entrepreneur and photographer who credits last year’s stint at the Junos in Calgary as the highlight of his photographic career to date, is looking forward to seeing how the Vancouver social media community will help change the way the event unfolds.

“[In Calgary] my grass-roots coverage allowed me to have blog entries and photos up on my site almost instantly, giving the awards an immediate global audience.”

While the Junos encourage emerging artists and also celebrate hall of fame music legends, they also embraced many new media forms as these are becoming common practices for many artists in this day and age.

Storey added, “Given that Vancouver is a hub of social media, I fully expect this year’s coverage of the Junos and the various events, concerts, and parties to be amazingly unique and will hopefully help put the Junos on the world stage, something that local media broadcasts have failed to do over the years.”

“We see [social media] more as a different way to communicate with our fan base. Most people, especially music fans in Vancouver, are really connected,” noted Paul Jarvis of Vancouver’s Mojave who were invited to play a showcase concert during the time of the Juno festivities.

“For Mojave, we mostly use Twitter, MySpace and our mailing list for communication, but that’s only half the battle: unless we consistently play kick-ass shows, no one on those social media sites is going to pay attention to what we’ve got to say on them.”

What we can be expected from Vancouver’s Juno celebration will be a distinctive approach to share music and media on all levels, allowing solos and acceptance speeches to be captured and shared in real-time and while moving the city’s musical talents into the national and global limelight both on and offline.

You can catch Russell Peters hosting the Junos March 29th although coverage from Vancouver will start days earlier as plenty parties, workshops, concerts, and satellite events will be planned around the city.