New Opportunities Will Now Place
Independent Music Award Winners in Front of
20 Million Music Fans
The Independent Music Awards (IMAs) – an international program that gets major results for indie releases – has just added new judges and promotional programs that will now place IMA Winners in front of 20 Million music fans and industry decision makers.
For the past 7 years, the Independent Music Awards has helped indie artists & releases worldwide overcome mainstream obstacles & reach larger audiences & opportunities.
Supporting a wide spectrum of music genres from Punk to New Age and design categories including Music Video & Swag, IMA Winners benefit from yearlong promotion, marketing & distribution programs via print, broadcast & online initiatives.
The IMAs are produced by Music Resource Group, publisher of The Musician's Atlas & co-sponsored by mega retailer, Borders Books & Music; online retail giant eMusic; radio promotion gurus, The Planetary Group; digital networks, ManiaTV & HavocTV; Burnside Distribution; social networking community, Trig.com and radio tracking service, MediaGuide.
IMA Winners are promoted to more than 20 Million music fans & key industry players including Radio Programmers, Talent Buyers, Film, TV & Gaming Music Supervisors and Music Press.
Judges Confirmed For the 7th IMA Program Include:
- Suzanne Vega
- Les Claypool (Primus)
- Snoop Dogg
- Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- Mavis Staples
- Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance)
- Angelique Kidjo
- Tim Pagnotta
- Duncan Sheik
- Judy Collins
- Ice-T
- Chuck Comeau (Simple Plan)
- Charlie Musselwhite
- Mobb Deep
- Susan Tedeschi
- MickDeth (18 Visions)
- Martin Atkins (Public Image Ltd./Nine Inch Nails)
- Carrie Hughes (MTV Music Supervisor)
- Anthony DeCurtis (Rolling Stone)
- Kevin Lyman (Creator/Producer, Vans Warped Tour)
- Stefan Goldby (Music Programming, Mania TV)
- Chris Douridas (Tastemaker/KCRW DJ)
- Mike Errico (Blender.com)
Entries received from Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Guam, Argentina, England, Mexico, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Greece, Nigeria, Estonia, Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Israel, Spain, Canada and the United States reflect the program's stature and reach throughout the international indie music community.
Winners & Finalists credit the program with boosting their visibility among festival bookers, club talent buyers, radio programmers, distributors, industry insiders and fans. Past Winners & Finalists include: Speech, Lacuna Coil, Sugarcult, Chris Whitley, Richard Julian, Eleni Mandel, The Mooney Suzuki , Girlyman, Sweet Honey in The Rock, God Forbid, Bitter:Sweet and Dan Bern.
Program Benefits Include:
- Winners and their music are promoted to over 10 million Borders Books & Music customers in 12 consecutive weekly “Shortlist” opt-in eNewsletters. The artist’s own releases will be available for purchase at the BordersStores.com site.
- IMA jukeboxes allow music fans to vote for their favorite songs and feature the music & contact info for Winners & Finalists.
- 10,000 copies of the IMA Winners CD compilation is distributed to music fans & industry at international music conferences, festivals, Spring Break & other events throughout the year.
- The sampler is promoted at 650+ US & Canadian college & public stations by leading radio promotions company The Planetary Group and routinely places in the Top 1-25 CMJ charts.
- The IMA Winners CDs is promoted to more than 1 Million eMusic subscribers.
- All music & music video category Winners & Finalists to be promoted to more than 9 Million at digital broadcast sites including ManiaTV.com & HavocTV.com.
- Winners & Finalists promoted to Trig.com social networking community.
- Winners & Finalists featured in a special pull-out spread in The Musician’s Atlas, read by more than 250,000 industry pros.
And, because the IMAs focuses on delivering global opportunites for Indie artists and releases, judges recently confirmed for the upcoming program include Internet TV Head of Programming, UK Media & Indie Label A&R and, of course top notch Artists.
Artist Judges Include:
Angelique Kidjo
Angelique Kidjo launched her career at the age of six, in the Beninese African port village of Cotonou, and has become a much-celebrated singer, composer and performer. The four-time Grammy-nominated artist has traveled far and mesmerized audiences on countless stages. Her striking voice, stage presence and fluency in multiple cultures and languages won respect from her peers and expanded her following across national borders. It also earned her access to humanitarians who sensed the passion in the words of her songs, resulting in her long-term dedication to global charity work. Kidjo’s latest album, DJIN DJIN, (Razor & Tie/Starbucks Entertainment) includes collaborations with Peter Gabriel, Alicia Keys, Joss Stone, Josh Groban, Ziggy Marley and Carlos Santana. Visit www.Kidjo.com for more.
Rob Wasserman
Rob Wasserman's greatest musical joy and challenge is the art of collaboration. He's put that ability to the test in a variety of contexts over the years, most notably on a series of three Grammy Award-winning albums -- SOLO, DUETS AND TRIOS -- All of which have been recently released as a boxed set called “TRILOGY.”
They feature Rob and his various basses on originally written collaborations with Neil Young, Jerry Garcia, Les Claypool, Rickie Lee Jones, Elvis Costello, Willie Dixon, Stephane Grappelli, Brian Wilson among sixteen others others.
Additional musical partners in crime over the years have included Lou Reed, The Mark Morris Dance Group, and Bob Weir, first as a partner in the duo Weir/Wasserman, and then later in the band they founded together, RatDog.
Rob is currently collaborating with the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archive and producers Joe Henry and Hal Willner, on an album of unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics and poems -- all interpreted by Rob and his bass, along with Ani di Franco, Lou Reed, Studs Terkel, Nellie McKay, Michael Franti, Pete Seeger and others. This project will be released on Anti Records in 2008.
Industry Judges Include:
Stefan Goldby Co-Creator, ManiaTV
Born and raised in the Midlands of England, Stefan Goldby entered the US music industry as a college radio DJ in deepest Ohio at the tender age of 17. After stints as both a radio and club DJ back in the UK, Stefan returned to America in 1996, joining the Music Link Productions team in Denver, Colorado. Over the next seven years, Goldby served as both program director for the Music Link family of TV shows (Music Link, BPM, Punk TV and Eleven) and as senior producer for the company’s highly successful production wing. During that time, he conducted more than 750 artist interviews, created more than 500 hours of original programming, and won nine Billboard Awards for outstanding music television. On the production front, he helped create both shortform and longform music television content on film and video in both SD and HD for a wide variety of platinum artists including Norah Jones, Incubus, N*E*R*D, Nelly Furtado, David Gray, 311, System of a Down, Jewel, Alien Ant Farm, Johnny Marr, Allman Brothers, Gomez, Ben Harper, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Blur and Papa Roach.
Goldby has also served as a programmer for National Video Subscriptions, producer for the X Music Network and helped form the Los Angeles-based Red Eye Network of music TV shows which eventually was acquired by Launch.com.
Alongside his role as the co-creator of ManiaTV!’s programming, line-up, Goldby also co-owns Chemistry Productions, a boutique posthouse in Culver City, California together with his wife, Christine.
They spend their spare time playing with their children, Carter and Amber.
He also makes a lovely cup of tea. Visit ManiaTV.com for more.
Shari Black Velvet Editor-in-Chief, Black Velvet Magazine
Shari Black Velvet is the editor/publisher of one of the UK’s longest running independent music magazines, Black Velvet. Black Velvet has been bubbling in the underground for over 13 years and Shari has interviewed, reviewed and photographed everyone from Slash to My Chemical Romance to Good Charlotte. Always eager to discover new musical talent, Shari, a self-confessed perfectionist, is never without a gig to go to, never without a pile of CDs to listen to, and not far from MySpace either! Black Velvet’s slogan is ‘read it, breathe it, believe it’ and Shari makes sure you do. See www.BlackVelvetMagazine.com for more.
Roger LeBlanc
Talent Buyer
Originally from Canada, Roger LeBlanc moved to southern California in 1988 to work for prominent local concert promoter Gary Folgner and the Coach House. Today, he is talent buyer for five major West Coast concert venues: The Coach House (Orange County), Galaxy Theatre (Orange County), Key Club (Hollywood), Canyon Club (Agoura Hills), and Canyon Club (Las Vegas). He also books the "Orange County New Years Eve" festival, one of the largest New Year's events on the West Coast.
With over 20 years experience in an ever-changing music industry, LeBlanc is oftentimes a panelist for various music industry conferences where he speaks on behalf of the thriving independent concert industry. LeBlanc lives in Orange County, Ca with his wife and three children.
Roy Jackson Managing Director, A & G Records (UK)
Roy Jackson is Managing Director of A&G Records. The UK based label is home to acclaimed international headlining band, Sohodolls. Also on the A&G roster are Lou Rhodes (formerly of Lamb), Bowling for Soup, Gloria Cycles, Wasi and Cherry. Whether it be pure pop, rock, urban or sometimes a little more ‘left field’, A&G first and foremost brings creative energy to the process and provides an environment in which artists feel at home. A&G Records has two sister companies, both based in Italy. A&G's Tuscany base is one of the leading sales and suppliers of professional audio hardware and software in Italy. A&G's website can be found at www.AGRecords.co.uk.
IMA Winner Update
Matt Shulman 2003 IMA Winner - Best Jazz Album
2003 IMA Winner for Jazz Album of the Year, Matt Shulman, will release his new album, So It Goes, (Jaggo Records) on July 24. He has been hailed by the New York Times as “A new voice from jazz’s emerging generation…” and by fans as "Miles Davis meets Radiohead... a Chet Baker for the new millennium..."
Shulman has toured internationally, recorded and/or collaborated with such diverse artists as Brad Mehldau, Ethan Iverson and Reid Anderson from The Bad Plus, Musiq Soulchild, Super Furry Animals, The Jazz Mandolin Project, Robert Sadin, John Medeski from MMW, Kenny Werner, the Complexions Dance Company, Skitch Henderson, and Nneena Freelon. His work as a soloist has been featured on NBC's Saturday Night Live, the nationally syndicated Showtime Channel, and as both soloist and composer at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Hear why Shulman has earned international acclaim for having virtually reinvented the trumpet through his highly expressive sound and pioneering approaches. Visit www.myspace.com/mattshulman.
Partners Spotlight
Havoc Television has partnered with DIRECTV to bring a revolutionary new interactive program block featuring the best indie music and action sports to "The 101" - channel 101. Airing several hours every day of the week, this interactive video jukebox shows a range of great music videos and action sports programming, complimented by viewer-generated SMS text messages that appear on screen. Additionally, viewers vote via text messaging for the videos that play during each episode, affecting the playlist in realtime while the show is airing, making it one of the most interactive shows in the U.S.
Programming includes punk, metal, alternative, hip hop, electronic and reggae music videos often overlooked by mainstream music networks, as well as surf, skate, snow, motocross, and BMX videos.
Havoc Television is also carried as a free Video On Demand (VOD) channel by five of the top seven US cable operators, including the #1 Comcast, and many more. In total, Havoc's free VOD channel is available in about 17 million US TV homes.
Entries for the upcoming Independent Music Awards
must be postmarked by July 27, 2007.
Go to www.IndependentMusicAwards.com for complete
details, judges, and entry forms.
Support Independent music, become an IMA Sponsor
Contact Joelle: Joelle@IndependentMusicAwards.com
