East Coast Music Awards: 5 things you need to know

The East Coast Music Awards are happening this week in Sydney, N.S., with the awards gala on Thursday.

This year, the co-hosts are Cape Breton's own Heather Rankin and Ashley MacIsaac, and performers include Ben Caplan, Christina Martin, City Natives, Fortunate Ones, Hey Rosetta!, Jenn Grant, Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy, Neon Dreams and Raphal Butler.

Here's what you need to know about the show and what's happening this week in Sydney.

1. Why is the awards show on Thursday?

The gala was always on Sunday night, like most awards shows, but last year in St. John's organizers weren't able to get a big venue on that night because of hockey playoffs.

They moved it to Thursday as an experiment and liked the unique format enough to stick with it this year.

2. What happens the rest of the week?

Not all the awards are presented at the Thursday gala.

There are various showcases throughout the rest of the weekend, such as the Roots Room, Folk Stage, rock, jazz, classical, etc., where the awards in those genres get handed out.

It's wall-to-wall music most of the day and night, plus all the conference seminars and special shows for booking agents from all over North America, Europe and Australia.

3. How can I watch it?

The broadcast media partner for the ECMAs is Eastlink, the Halifax-based cable system.

That system will be showing the event to their subscribers on Thursday, so if you're a customer, you're in luck.

If not, keep up-to-date with CBC reporters at the event, with live coverage on @CBCMusic and @ECMusicHour, or via the hashtag #ECMW2016.

Also check out the live coverage of lots of different showcases on ECMA TV.

4. Who's going to win?

There are good odds for Newfoundland rock group Hey Rosetta!, which leads the pack with seven nominations, including Album of the Year for Second Sight.

Singer Jenn Grant has six nods, including Album of the Year as well, for Compostela.

Other favourites include Amelia Curran and Fortunate Ones with five nominations, and Mo Kenney and Ryan Hemsworth with four.

5. Where's Joel Plaskett?

Good question. His album, Joel Plaskett & the Park Avenue Sobriety Test not only qualified for nominations, it received lots of national praise, and you'd think it would be a shoe-in, from one of the country's biggest stars.

But the only nominations he received were for Fans' Choice Entertainer of the Year, a fan vote from among 10 big names, and Producer of the Year.

Was it a snub? No, instead it was a choice from the Plaskett camp, which didn't enter his album or songs into the nomination process.

Plaskett has backed off hunting for ECMA trophies ever since his resounding six-for-six sweep back in 2010 for the Three album, preferring to give others a chance to claim some fame.

There's a precedent for that; Great Big Sea did the same thing in their heyday, after years of trophy-hogging.