Nominations Open For Taite Music Prize 2017

Record labels, IMNZ members, bands, and the general public are being invited to nominate their favourite local albums of 2016 for this year's Taite Music Prize.

Named after now-deceased music journalist Dylan Taite, the prize was established to recognise outstanding creativity for an entire collection of music contained on one album. The winner receives a cash prize of $10,000 (to spend as they wish), as well as recording time at Red Bull Studios in Auckland, and a year's supply of Red Bull product.

Nominations close in two weeks, and all criteria are listed here on the Independent Music New Zealand webpage. While it's not immediately obvious on the page that bands can self-nominate, IMNZ general manager Dylan Pellett assures that nominations are open to everyone. "Anyone can apply as a non-IMNZ member, listing their record label as their band name or similar - and subject to payment of the entry fee, and all other entry conditions that are listed."

If an album is selected as a finalist, it will go on to be assessed by a judging panel, as outlined on the IMNZ page. The overall winner will be announced at a ceremony in Auckland on Tuesday 18th April 2017, to be held at the new venue of the Wintergarden inside Civic Theatre.

Here is the list of previous winners:

2010 - Lawrence Arabia Chant Darling (Honorary Bedouin Records)
2011 - Ladi6 - The Liberation Of (What? Music)
2012 - Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Seeing Records)
2013 – SJD - Elastic Wasteland (Round Trip Mars)
2014 – Lorde - Pure Heroine (Universal Music NZ)
2015 – Jakob – Sines (Shoot The Freak)
2016 – Silicon - Personal Computer (Weird World/Domino Recordings)