That’s right! As we enter the final month of 2011, we take a look back at the high points of the year recognizing Artist & Album of the Year, Live Artist of the Year, Breakout Artist of the Year, as well as Music Video of the Year…Lets read on as The Pier Awards are coming…
Here is a breakdown of each category…
Artist of the Year…
In most cases, a nominee for Artist of the Year can just as easily be nominated for any of the other categories, but that’s not fair, plus we did our best to limit 1 artist per category. So the 5 nominees for this category hold a certain weight of influence over the scene with their art and contribution, especially in 2011. This is the most difficult category to nominate groups for and we feel we selected 5 groups that had an outstanding 2011 with an impact felt throughout the entire community.
Album of the Year…
While there were no 5 Star Album Reviews in 2011, there were a ton of great albums released and of the 5 nominated, we look forward to your selection of 2011’s best album! Sure some albums have really good songs that stay with you for awhile & may even wind up on some long term play-lists. But we nominated albums that we feel will stay with you in its entirety, from start to finish. From production to creativity, originality to its likability, we focused on 5 albums, all of which received the highest star rating in our reviews earning 4/5 stars. (EPs have been excluded from this category). Read ALL of our Album Reviews!
Live Artist of the Year…
Any artist can stay at home and record music to throw up on iTunes with crazy internet promotion, while playing sparingly at local venues. But to get in a van and do it 150-200+ dates a year at a new venue in a new city each night, isn’t easy. On top of that, you have to be prepared to play at a high energy even if certain shows have a disappointing turn out. Let’s not forget all the work and sacrifice that goes into developing a big enough following to suffice a national tour. It takes time; networking and you have to leave an impact when you take the stage with your live presence, crowd control & sound. We picked 5 bands that did just that in 2011!
Break-Out Artist of the Year…
There have been quite a few emerging artists in 2011. It seems just 3 years ago this Reggae-Rock community was limited to a few select groups. Now, groups are doing more than just forming, they’re emerging with national tours, new albums, videos and networking with other successful groups in the scene to gain notoriety. It takes more than just being a new band with a good song and it really isn’t easy to just go on tour and find yourself opening up for a nationally touring group. But these 5 selected groups figured it out and have worked their tail off earning them a spot as a Breakout Artist in 2011 and it’s up to YOU to recognize who was this year’s Break-Out Artist.
Music Video of the Year…
While this isn’t Total Request Line on MTV, we do feel that if you’re a group and you decide to do a full production music video, that it should be recognized. Plus music videos are rad when quality production is used to complete it. We’re not talking about the music videos put together on iMovie with a Flip Video via your home computer; we’re talking about the videos where directors and producers get involved to have a story come to life using high quality production and there are 5 solid music videos nominated for Music Video of the Year.
COME BACK DEC. 8TH TO VIEW NOMINEES & PLACE YOUR VOTE!
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