In search of this year's finest New Zealand album

Press Release – Thursday 6th December 2012

The Taite Music Prize: in search of this year's finest New Zealand album

We are very excited to announce that nominations are now open for the Taite Music Prize 2013.

Named after the late Dylan Taite, one of the country's most highly respected music journalists, this will be the fourth year for the award. In a similar vein to several international awards, The Taite Music Prize's purpose is to recognise outstanding creativity for an entire collection of music contained on one album. The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000, to be spent as they wish. The cash prize is kindly supplied by PPNZ Music Licensing.

Acknowledging originality, creativity and musicianship regardless of sales figures or genre, The Taite Music Prize was established to champion the finest release by a New Zealand artist or group – the previous winners have all been excellent albums that demonstrate these criteria well.

The nominated finalist albums will be selected by votes from all IMNZ members and a thirty person judging group - comprising musicians, record label representatives, music journalists and radio staff. There will then be a secondary group of ten music judges that will decide the overall winner.

The judges will make their decision based entirely on the music on the finalist albums. Sales, genres, artist recognition or popularity are not contributing factors in their decision making process. The winner will then be announced at a presentation in Auckland on 17th April 2013. The event will be live-streamed to the public via the NZ Herald Online.

Any New Zealand album released during 2012 is eligible for nomination for the Taite Music Prize 2013. For more detail on eligibility and nomination forms please visit http://www.indies.co.nz. Nominations close on 21st January 2013.

The Taite Music Prize
Presented by:
Independent Music New Zealand (IMNZ)
Official Partners:
PPNZ Music Licensing / NZ On Air (NZOA) / the Taite Family
Supporting Partners:
NZ Music Commission / The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) / Native Tongue Music Publishing / Jagermeister / Red Bull / MOA Beer
Media Partners:
NZ Herald Online

Previous winners are:
2010 - Lawrence Arabia ‘Chant Darling’ (Honorary Bedouin Records)
2011 - Ladi6 - The Liberation Of (What? Music)
2012 - Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Seeing Records)

ENDS

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