This is our 4th year with The Pier Awards & YOU the fans will vote for both the nominees & the official winners from each of the 5 categories. Once 5 nominees have been selected, The Pier Awards will begin & a winner will be voted by YOU, the Fans! Lets read on…
NOMINATE NOW BY CLICKING HERE!
Nominating:
Voting:
Fans will choose who their top 5, of 10 artists per category, should be nominated for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Live Artist of the Year, Break-Out Artist of the Year & Music Video of the Year. Once the Top 5 are selected per category, they will move on to the official Pier Awards where you the fans will place your vote for the winners!
We know this is not a competition & we’re not treating it like one. These are bands that deserve recognition for their hard work & great music in the studio & on the road. Some bands you’ll likely be biased towards, because they’re your favorite band or they’re your homies! Other artists may be new to you and worth checking out for the first time. We’re here to celebrate good music and this year proves that it continues to evolve, with so many great bands & artists.
Here is a breakdown of each category – Nominees will be revealed on Saturday, November 29th
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. So, the ten nominees for this category hold a certain weight of influence over the scene with their art and contribution, especially in 2014. This is the most difficult category to nominate groups for, but we feel the selected ten groups had an outstanding 2014 with an impact & influence felt throughout the entire community.
Album of the Year…
There were a ton of great albums released in 2014 and we could easily nominate 20 in this category, but we kept it to the top 10 based on reviews & general feedback from the year. Sure, some albums have really good songs that stay with you for awhile, 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 ten albums, all of which received the highest star rating in our reviews, earning at least 3.5 out of five 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 most of the year at a new venue in a new city, each night, isn’t easy. There are challenges that go into sufficing a tour with the members not only surviving one another, but the harsh realities (and liabilities) of being on the road. It takes time, patience, networking & a lot of sacrifice to suffice a tour. You have to leave an impact when you take the stage with your live presence, crowd control and sound. Even still, when the stage is clear for them to play, regardless of the capacity or who showed up, they slay the venue with their high energy, stage presence & face-melting musical art. The ten nominees in this category brought some of the best live energy to more than just their hometown and are worthy of their live presence to be nominated for Live Artist of the Year for 2014.
Break-Out Artist of the Year…
Each year, there are bands that seem to be carrying a weight of momentum that can’t be ignored. Maybe it’s due to a new album or they’re showing up on constant festivals and being added to various seasonal tours. Sometimes these are artists that are either emerging as a ‘new unknown from out of nowhere’ or a re-emerging artist making new waves from networking, to releasing new music and revitalized touring. Maybe these groups weren’t nominated for Album of the Year, or they didn’t have enough of an impact to be Artist of the Year, but the following groups certainly had a Break-Out year, setting the tone for years to come with their presence. These ten selected groups figured it out and have worked their tail off earning them a spot as a Break-Out Artist in 2014.
Music Video of the Year…
For those of you who don’t know, music videos have not gone away. They may appear to be less relevant without the vintage outlet of MTV or VH1, but they’re still being done and they’re being done well! Some bands have put in crazy production into their videos, some using actors/actresses and it’s a cherry on top to a professional sound, to include a professional music video. We feel that if you’re a group and you decide to do a full production music video, then it should be recognized. Plus, music videos are rad when quality production is used to compliment a new song. There are ten solid music videos nominated for Music Video of the Year and we hope you watch each one, before just voting for the band you’re most familiar with.
