Contact: Lauren Veteri
Music Resource Group
973-509-3140
Lauren@MusiciansAtlas.com
Montclair, NJ - January 23, 2006 - Music Resource Group (MRG) has announced the winners of the 5th annual Independent Music Awards (IMA) in a special, 8-page gatefold section bound into the 2006 edition of the company's best-selling music industry contact directory The Musician's Atlas.
This year's winners range from artists with longstanding recording credits including Jimmy Norman (Album/Blues) and Suzanne Ciani (Album/New Age); to artists with growing national fan bases like The Alternative Routes (Song/Pop-Rock); Pascal Le Boeuf (Album & Song/Jazz) and Jeff Oster (Song/New Age); to musicians who have built strong regional reputations like The Blank Tapes (Album/Pop-Rock), Kristin Cifelli (Song/Folk-Singer Songwriter) and Madrigaia (Album/World Fusion); who were named best in their category along with 26 other noteworthy music category winners.
The complete list of this year's IMA winners and a track for each is available at: www.MusiciansAtlas.com/pages/jukebox2006.asp
"The artists who advanced to the final round of this year's IMA program produced music that the judging panels cited for creativity and overall professionalism," said Martin Folkman, IMA Program Director. "The only thing that separates these fine artists and their music from multi-platinum recording artists is access to major market promotion outlets. The program's goal, since its inception, is to help independent artists gain wider recognition among music industry audiences & fans."
In addition to honors in music categories, the IMAs also recognized achievements in several creative design categories including Album Packaging, Album Photography, Poster Art and Band Website.
And for the first year, the album category has grown to encompass all genres included in the program.
"As more and more artists submitted entries to the Album Of The Year category, it was increasingly difficult to identify one album for recognition across multiple genres," Folkman said. "Expanding the Album category across all genres makes it is easier to identify noteworthy releases and provides the added benefit of doubling the number of artists and releases the program promotes."
Key to the success of the IMA program is the strategic partnerships, distribution alliances and yearlong marketing initiatives MRG has established.
As in the past, Borders Books & Music will promote the winners of this year's program via links to the IMA Jukebox. The winners' own releases will also be available for sale on the BordersStores.com retail site.
In addition to posting music for all the winners on a 5th annual Independent Music Awards Jukebox, MRG will press 10,000 copies of the "IMA Winners 2006" CD. The CD will be distributed to music journalists, commercial, public & college radio stations, music business professionals, and music fans.
Additionally, Boston-based radio promotion company The Planetary Group will service the IMA Winners CD to college stations throughout North America; and Mediaguide, a Berwyn, PA-based radio airplay tracking company, will provide a year of radio airplay results for all tracks included on every IMA winning artist's full-length CD. Mediaguide currently monitors more than 2,500 stations.
"Many past IMA winners and finalists credit the program for boosting their profile with festival bookers, talent buyers, distributors, publishers, record label a&r and fans," Folkman said.
Included among the artists the IMA program has recognized in winner & finalist rounds in previous years are: Mary Gauthier, Richard Julian, Girlyman, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Sugarcult, Darrell Scott, Johnny Society, Paris Combo, Rebecca Martin, Phil Roy, IIIrd Tyme Out, and the late Chris Whitley.
Established in 1999, the IMA program goal is to build pipelines for independent artists, labels & their music to highlight exemplary achievements within the indie music community.
The winners of this year's program were selected by a celebrity panel of judges that included: Norah Jones; Melissa Etheridge; Joe Perry; Bill Wyman; George Clinton; Jonatha Brooke; Chris Thile; Paquito D'Rivera; Sara Lee; Hubert Sumlin; Abby White, music editor of Performing Songwriter; Melinda Newman, music editor of Billboard; Dan Storper, president of Putumayo World Music; Alexandra Patsavas, music supervisor & founder of The Chop Shop; and Robert Goodale, co-founder of UltraStar Entertainment.
Music Resource Group, formed in 1997, develops products and programs used by artists and music business professionals to successfully create, perform, promote and distribute music. With or without label support. The Musician's Atlas premiered in 1998 and quickly became the best-selling music industry resource. MRG launch an interactive, online version of The Atlas, called AtlasOnline, in 2004.
For more information on the Independent Music Awards, Music Resource Group and The Musician's Atlas, contact: Lauren Veteri, Music Resource Group, 973-509-9898. Information is available also available online at: www.MusiciansAtlas.com
5th ANNUAL PROGRAM
Americana
Band/Artist: Maura Fogarty
Album title: Every Now And Then
Blues
Band/Artist: Jimmy Norman
Album title: Little Pieces
Country
Band/Artist: Jonah's Road
Album title: Hold On
Contemporary Christian
Band/Artist: Sonia V.
Album title: a thing or 2
Dance/Electronica
Band/Artist: Muza
Album title: Cambio de Estacion
Folk/Singer-Songwriter
Band/Artist: Chris Volpe
Album title: Refugee Blues
Hard Rock/Metal
Band/Artist: The Greatest Fear
Album title: The Coronation of the Locust Queen
Jam
Band/Artist: Aja West & Cheeba
Album title: Flash & Snowball
Jazz
Band/Artist: Pascal Le Boeuf featuring Remy Le Boeuf
Album title: Migration
Latin
Band/Artist: Manzanares
Album title: Nuevo Latino
Live Performance
Band/Artist: KJ Denhert
Album title: Another Year Gone By (Live)
New Age
Band/Artist: Suzanne Ciani
Album title: Silver Ship
Pop/Rock
Band/Artist: The Blank Tapes
Album title: Landfair
R&B
Band/Artist: Thaddeus Hogarth
Album title: Live At Bose
Rap/Hip-Hop
Band/Artist: Jerze
Album title: You In KY Now
World (Fusion)
Band/Artist: Madrigaia
Album title: Pleiades
World (Traditional)
Band/Artist: Chookasian Armenian Concert Ensemble
Album title: Passage to Armenia
Americana
Band/Artist: Chris & Thomas
Song title: Take These Thoughts
Blues
Band/Artist: Mike Andersen Band
Song title: Stuck With Me
Country
Band/Artist: Natalie Howard
Song title: I Don't Want To Live Like That
Contemporary Christian
Band/Artist: Rachanee
Song title: Here With Me
Dance/Electronica
Band/Artist: freezepop
Song title: Stakeout
Folk/Singer-Songwriter
Band/Artist: Kristin Cifelli
Song title: Show Them
Gospel
Band/Artist: Rachael Price
Song title: My God, My Adored One
Hard Rock/Metal
Band/Artist: Element57
Song title: Woke Up Late
Jam
Band/Artist: The Menagerie
Song title: Drifting Away
Jazz
Band/Artist: Pascal Le Boeuf feat. Remy Le Boeuf
Song title: Hip Replacement
Latin
Band/Artist: Niņo Torrente
Song title: Gozalo
Music for Film/TV/Multimedia
Band/Artist: Yener Korkut
Song title: Fallen Soldier
New Age
Band/Artist: Jeff Oster
Song title: At Last
Pop/Rock
Band/Artist: The Alternate Routes
Song title: Ordinary
R&B
Band/Artist: Max
Song title: Rain
Rap/Hip-Hop
Band/Artist: Lil' Peedy
Song title: Poppin & Lockin
World (Fusion)
Band/Artist: Andromeda
Song title: Norwegian Slip
World (Traditional)
Band/Artist: Mamadou and Vanessa
Song title: Sen Sen
Album Art Photography
Album title: Transformation
Band/Artist: Bloodwire
Photographer: Shawn Brice
Album Packaging
Album title: Landed
Band/Artist: Peter Walker
Label: Dangerbird Records
Design firm: Smog Design
Designer: Sara Cumings
Art Director: John Heiden
Band/Venue Poster
Artist: The String Cheese Incident
Design firm: Drowning Creek Studio
Designer: Jeff Wood
Artist Website
Artist: Rebekah Jordan
Domain: RebekahJordanMusic.com
Design firm: KINDALIKE Promo.Swag.Design