Music award changes reflect evolving industry

FEEL THE BEAT, MAN: Drummer Trevor Shaskey of Gisborne rockers Lazy Fifty negotiates a novel rhythm arrangement with lead singer Adrian Athy while Ryan Raggett provides the bass line during an outdoor rehearsal. Picture supplied

ErnieJ’s breakout album is copping great reviews, Lazy Fifty’s debut album, Fifty Shades of Lazy resurrects good old-school rock while young punk act Sit Down in Front topped this year’s Smokefreerockquest East Coast regionals.

The annual live gig and music video festival ExNE, masterminded by Smashie’s Darryl Monteith, showcases wicked local acts — so this could be an opportune time to make a submission to the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.

Musicians, producers, engineers and visual artists who have made an impact on the local music industry are invited to have a crack.

“Unless otherwise specified, awards are open to New Zealand artists who have had recordings commercially released between 1 August 2018 and 31 July 2019,” says the media release, a little ambiguously.

To reflect the changing music industry key differences factor in the 2019 Artisan Awards.

From this year, the Best Producer and Best Engineer categories will move to include works that are “album equivalent”, defined as at least five single releases with a play time of 25 minutes or more.

The Best Album Cover award has been renamed to Best Album Artwork and will include all artwork included as part of an album’s packaging.

“The Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards and Artisan Awards are about acknowledging the artists developing music today and the creative people they work with,” says Recorded Music NZ CE Damian Vaughan.

“The digital era has changed how music is produced, presented and consumed, and our awards need to reflect our local music industry,” he said.

Nominations are open until 5pm on Friday August 2. Terms and conditions can be found at https://tinyurl.com/y4o6se76

Register and nominate at https://tinyurl.com/y2oe6xhq