Nominations Open For 2014 Taite Music Prize

Nominations for the 2014 Taite Music Prize are now open.  Name after dedicated and much respected music journalist, the late Dylan Taite, the award is open to any local album released during 2013 and will be awarded in April of next year. Expect a shortlist of finalists sometime in February and in the meantime, find all the details below and here's a clip from this years winner, SJD....

Here is 'Make Love Ask Questions Later' from Elastic Wasteland...

Press Release:

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

Independent Music NZ are very excited to announce that nominations are now open for the Taite Music Prize 2014.

Named after the late Dylan Taite, one of the country's most highly respected music journalists, this will be the fifth year for the award. 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 Recorded Music NZ. Additionally through the support of Red Bull, the winner receives gratis recording time at Red Bull Studios and a year's supply of Red Bull.

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 shortlisted final albums will be selected by votes from all current IMNZ members alonside an invited group comprising musicians, record label representatives, music journalists and radio staff. The shortlisted albums will be subjected to a secondary round of judging by a group of ten music judges who will collectively decide the overall winner of the Taite Music Prize.

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 be announced at a presentation in Auckland on 16th April 2014. The ceremony will also include the award presentation of this year's Independent Music NZ Classic Record, which acknowledges New Zealand's rich history of making fine albums that continue to inspire us and define who we are. This award is also determined by this year's judging panel, which is made up of a broad section of music media/industry specialists. Last year's panel gave the nod to the GORDONS - 'GORDONS' album as one of NZ's classic records.

The event will be line-streamed to the public via NZ Herald Online and filmed for later broadcast by Juice TV.

Any New Zealand album released during 2013 is eligible for nomination for the Taite Music Prize 2014. For more detail on specific eligibility and nomination forms, please visit: http://www.indies.co.nz

Nominations close 5.00pm on 21st January 2014.

THE TAITE MUSIC PRIZE 2014
Presented by:
Independent Music New Zealand (IMNZ)
Official Partners:
Recorded Music NZ / NZ On Air (NZOA) / the Taite Family
Supporting Partners:
NZ Music Commission / The Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) / Native Tongue Music Publishing / Jagermeister / Red Bull / MOA Beer / Spy Valley Wines / McCarthy Design
Media Partners:
NZ Herald Online / Juice TV / Kiwi FM

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)
2013 - SJD - 'Elastic Wasteland' (Round Trip Mars)