Listeners

OIMA is a free digital archive for the preservation and promotion of independent music from Ontario, both contemporary and historical.  

This is your chance to dip into the musical history of the place you call home.  Liven up your musical library with music from our collection. Listen local.  

Whether you want to explore a particular genre (or year or artist) or if you just need to mix up your workday playlist, we've got you covered.

When you apply for a Listener account you can create a profile that includes:

  • a personal bio  
  • links to a personal website 
  • playlists of the music you think other OIMA users should check out or want to play for yourself 
  • your favourite songs, albums and artists  

For copyright reasons, all songs on OIMA must be original compositions or traditional songs in the public domain. This means no covers. The site also has a SOCAN licence. We reserve the right to take down any music that doesn't meet our submission criteria. Read our terms of use. 

Click here to apply for a Listener account.

What counts as music from Ontario? 

A song is considered Ontarian, and suitable for OIMA, if it meets any one of the follow criteria:

  • the artist or majority of artists comprising the group that created the song were born in Ontario
  • the artist or group are currently based in Ontario (and have been for at least six months) and the song was recorded during their time in Ontario
  • the artist or group previously lived in Ontario for at least five years and the song to be archived was recorded during that time  

What counts as independent music? 

This is like asking people what it means for something to be "cool" or how to define good taste:  there is no universally accepted definition. The most basic definition of an independent musician is based on whether or not the musician is signed to one of the major, corporate record labels: Universal, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music Group. If you're not, then you’re independent! 
 
To others, being an independent musician has nothing to do with record label affiliation but is more of an ethos about the way music is created and shared.
 
The 2006 Canadian film What is Indie? A look into the world of independent musicians explores what it means to be an independent
musician through artist and industry representative interviews. It concludes that being an independent musician “refers to a philosophy based on a proactive approach to one’s career; retaining complete artistic control to maintain the integrity of one’s art, regardless of record label affiliation.” Sounds good to us. 

You will need to make an account if you haven't done so already.