A brief look at the independent artists industry
In the past, the independent artists have attempted to create a sound and a demo to present to a major label in hopes of being discovered. The music industry was a much closed society which did not allow these artists to produce quality products or to obtain distribution or recognition. One of the greatest obstacles was the inability of the independent artists to gain access to the technology necessary to make their music competitive. Another challenge the independent artists face were the limited access to radio due to politics and the pay-for-play mentality that existed in radio promotion. In recent years, the plain field has become much more level.
The independent artists now have access to technology that they can only previously dream of. Entire albums can be created in a home studio. Additionally, these advances in technology have driven pricing down, therefore making the studio experience a more realistic possibility. The internet has opened up a new method for distribution and so the independent artists are no longer dependent upon the major labels to move their products. In addition to these facts, the government crackdown on pay-for-play policies in the radio industry has once again opened the airwaves to the independent artists.
Purpose: The Independent Gospel Music Coalition was established in 2005 to bring exposure to independent Christian recording artists of all genres, assisting in putting these artists in the forefront and on the national gospel music platform thus raising the awareness of their work.
Venue: This event will be hosted at the Robert Treat Hotel Ballroom in the City of Newark, New Jersey. This venue seats approximately 1000 people and is a central location that is accessible by any means of transportation. The City of Newark is approximately 30 minutes from New York City by car and 20 minutes by subway, and is located across from the prestigious New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). We anticipate that the duration of this event will be from 4-6 hours.
Eligibility: Only projects released in 2005-2007 are eligible for nomination and must be full-length. Recording must be of professional sound quality and properly packaged with barcode. Artists or labels must be visible meaning but not limited to: Online E-zines, Newspapers, and Magazines etc. In addition, various websites will be monitored for information on some of these artists. It is strongly recommended that the artists help to generate public interest in their projects and in the voting process.
Voting: Voting will take place online by the public, in addition to this, listener and reader responses are encouraged in the pre-selection process. Should there be a tie in any category, only the President of En Sound Entertainment can cast his vote to break that tie using his own discretion.
Media Involvement: Radio station that plays independent artists as part of their programming, are encouraged to send us their weekly play lists via email or fax. Our staff will then keep track of the artists appearing on multiple play lists from these stations throughout the year and this will determine whether an artist gets to the pre-selection stage.
Nomination Process: The first round of nominations will be posted here on July 5th. At the end of the voting period, the five artists with the most votes in each category will move on the the final round. From the five artists in each category, the ones that receives the top votes in each category will be the winners. Those results will be revealed on Saturday, September 22nd at the ESMA.
Voting Deadline: The deadline for voting will be forthcoming, keep visiting this site for details.
© 2006-2007, En Sound Music Awards
