In the mid-eighties, CIMA (then CIRPA) and its Quebec counterpart ADISQ became involved with government initiatives designed to help ‘kick start’ the new and emerging computer technologies and to help find applications that would be able to effectively utilize these new technologies.

The outcome was a project, funded primarily by the Department of Communications, targeted at developing a complete listing of current Canadian recordings.

While the initial project was suspended in the late eighties, it became clear to CIMA that having information on Canadian recordings had great merit and for a variety of reasons could be of potential benefit to CIMA members in a number of areas. Out of this desire to have a comprehensive resource on Canadian music recordings, the Canadian Music Industry Database (CMID) emerged.

In 1989, the CMID was established as a separate non-profit entity to support and strengthen the interests of the Canadian music and sound recording industries through the use of databases, research and analysis.