Celebrating 25 years of the Boston Music Awards

The Boston Music Awards is less of a traditional awards show and more of rolling party with multiple stages and extended sets from nominated artists.

2010 reel courtesy of Extraneous Noise

This year’s event will once again be held at The Liberty Hotel in Boston on December 2nd. This year’s performance lineup feature’s the region’s most compelling emerging and established talent from Garage to Rock to Pop to Blues, Metal, Punk, Indie, Americana, International, Jazz, Hip Hop, RNB, Electronic, Folk and everything in between. The party will roll! We look forward to seeing you there and celebrating the collective accomplishments of our unique and immensely talented music scene.

Who is eligible for a
Boston Music Award?

A musician, producer or industry professional who has strong ties to New England. We define strong ties as someone who is a New England native or has lived here for a substantial period of time who has actively worked or is actively working here. (John Mayer who went to Berklee for one year does not qualify). The timeframe for consideration for this year’s awards is November 1, 2011 through October 31, 2012.

What is the Mission of the
Boston Music Awards?

To bring together the music community of New England to honor its best and brightest performers while raising money for music charities to ensure our stages and studios are filled with talent for years to come. The event is the one time of year that the entire community can come together and celebrate our own. We also strive to generate regional and national exposure for nominated and winning artists.

Where does the
money go?

Since 2003, any proceeds from the event have gone to various music charities throughout New England. We have funded scholarships to Berklee, music education programs in schools, etc. Recently, we aligned with Music Drives Us, a non-profit that provides funding for music education programs. For the past few years the money to put on the BMAs and fund our charitable efforts has been raised exclusively through sponsorship and partnerships.

How are the
nominees chosen?

Last year, we revamped our nominating and voting “Academy” to include over 150 active participants in all genres of the music community in New England. The Academy includes venue owners, booking agents, managers, writers/bloggers, DJs, program directors, music business owners, distributors, retailers, producers, publicists and others. We will continue to try to update and expand this list to ensure that it is truly representative of people who have their finger on the pulse of ALL music genres in Boston. The BMA office gets nomination requests throughout the year, which we pass on to the nominating committee. Click here to view and vote for this year’s nominees.