The Lady and the Dame go head to head in awards shortlist

10:10 | Monday March 8, 2010

The event’s nominations, announced today (Monday), reveal Decca Records’ campaign for Dame Vera, which led to an unexpected chart-topping album, lines up against Polydor’s Ra Ra-Ah-Ah-Ah: The Rise Of GaGa campaign for the prestigious award. Also shortlisted are campaigns for Mumford & Sons, N-Dubz and Pixie Lott.

Lady GaGa, Mumford & Sons and Pixie Lott are also among the contenders in the Artist Marketing Campaign, alongside campaigns for Lily Allen, Paolo Nutini and Florence + The Machine, while the catalogue marketing campaign offers an intriguing mix of The Beatles, Queen, The Stone Roses, Dreamboats & Petticoats and Island Records’ 50th anniversary.

The newly-revealed nominations take in a number of categories that will debut at this year’s ceremony, which is taking place at the London Hilton on Park Lane on Thursday, April 15. A new Independent Artist Marketing category brings together Infectious Music’s The Temper Trap, PIAS/ Integral’s Dizzee Rascal, XL’s The xx and a Union Square Madness campaign, while those shortlisted for the inaugural Independent Breakthrough award include 2Point9 Jayded’s Jay Sean for topping the Billboard Hot 100 last year and Real World Records for Charlie Winston, who last year topped the French albums chart.

In the shortlist for Studio Of The Year, one of three new categories added this year in which the nominations and winners are being decided by Musicweek.com readers, Abbey Road finds itself in contention, after a period in which its future was the subject of much media speculation. Its competition in this category comes from Air, Brighton Electric, British Grove and Metropolis.

The shortlists for the newly-introduced App Of The Year and Festival Of The Year categories

have also been decided on Musicweek.com, with the App front runners including Spotify and the U2 Blackberry App, while the festival prize is between Bestival, Creamfields, Glastonbury, Global Gathering and V Festivals.

Other categories debuting this year include Consumer-Facing Digital Service and Digital Artist Tool, while an array of new retail categories include ones for non-specialist and mail-order online retailers of the year.

This year’s event has already won the backing of a number of sponsors, including Cutting Edge Group, Gem Logistics, Metropolis Studios, PPL, Sound Performance and 4 Music, which is backing the drinks reception and main after-show party.

4 Music’s director of programming Dave Young, who was also a judge at this year’s Music Week Awards, says, “Whether it is through commissioning new programming or rolling out high-profile trade initiatives, we are committed to helping the music industry prosper. We are very proud to be sponsoring the Music Week Awards for the second year in a row and to be involved in what is, ultimately, one of the most important calendar dates in the business.”

A full list of nominees is available at www.musicweekawards.com

Tickets for this year’s awards are available by visiting www.musicweekawards.com  and for enquiries ring Michelle Hacker on 020 7921 8364 or email michelle.hacker@ubm.com.