Recently The Independent Music Awards had a chance to meet with Dave Cool of Bandzoogle. Excerpts of the interview can be viewed below. For the full scoop, click here http://bandzoogle.com/blog/blogposts/competitions-for-musicians-are-they-worth-it-an-interview-with-the-independent-music-awards-22718.cfm

There are probably hundreds of songwriting contests, battle-of-the-bands competitions and awards aimed at the independent musician community. Some are real boosts to an artist’s career, others, maybe not so much. One well-respected awards competition for indie artists is the Independent Music Awards, who have been around for 10 years and have been associated with some of the biggest names in the industry. We asked them some questions about the IMA’s and competitions for musicians in general, to get a better idea of what they do and how they differ from other awards. Enjoy!

Q: Why did you decide to create the IMA’s?

In 1997 the parent company of the IMAs, Music Resource Group, launched The Musician’s Atlas – a detailed, contact database that gives independent musicians access to performance, promotion & distribution opportunities that had only been available to major labels.

As a result, we had daily contact with all facets of the music industry including incredible independent musicians and labels that were our customers.

It was frustrating for all of us that this exceptional and diverse talent didn’t get the attention they needed and deserved from the mainstream gatekeepers and music consumers.

While there are many songwriting contests and battle of the band competitions, there were no programs that honored and supported the artistic excellence and vision of independent musicians throughout the world. And The Grammy’s focus was more on mainstream releases and sales numbers than artistic merit.

Because The Atlas gave us access to influential, industry influencers and music consumers, we realized that we were uniquely positioned to place deserving artists in front of press, radio programmers, agents, talent buyers, music supervisors and other key industry players.

We created The Independent Music Awards in the year 2000 and since then have helped hundreds of artists and bands of every genre to enhance their profile and realize their career goals.

Q: Why should artists participate in the IMA’s? How can it benefit their careers?

The IMAs is a community and an awards program for professional, independent musicians and labels. It’s not a program for hobbyists. We work hard to connect every artist who joins The IMAs with career opportunities regardless of whether they earn an IMA nomination or not. We like to say that artists and labels win just by joining The IMAs, because we have recognition programs for all who enter their music.

And there’s no expiration date on our support for IMA artists. We frequently pair past and current winners and nominees whenever suitable projects arise. You can get a taste for some of these WebTV and performance programs at: www.GrooveableFeast.com/grooveablefeast and www.IndependentMusicAwards.com/ima/imatv/

Q: How does the IMA program differentiate itself from other songwriting contests & awards?

In addition to celebrating artists who follow their own muse, The IMAs is the only international awards program that connects independent musicians to new revenue opportunities and an audience of more than 1 billion music fans.

Artists who join The Independent Music Awards have reached a level of accomplishment where marketing, sales support and performance opportunities are more meaningful to their careers than the prize packages offered by songwriting and battle of the band contests.

Program benefits include a 12-week radio promotion campaign, featured placement on 20,000 digital jukeboxes, a yearlong promotion campaign on eMusic, distribution to music supervisors, ongoing publicity campaigns, as well as live and filmed performance opportunities.

We’re always adding new marketing and promotion campaign benefits for winners and nominees. And in fact for the 11th IMA program that’s currently accepting submissions, we just announced that the music of all winners will be distributed and made available for sale to more than a billion mobile telephone subscribers in China. This is an incredible opportunity for IMA artists’ music to break through in this vast, emerging market.

Q: We’ve heard some skeptical artists say that songwriting competitions and awards are just a money grab by the organizers. What do you say to that and how do you communicate what the IMA’s are really about?

I can’t speak for other organizations, but The Independent Music Awards receives tremendous word-of-mouth within the global independent music community. The program attracts a diverse pool of top self-released and independent label talent.

Artists, labels, managers, publicists, etc. consider IMA honors a badge of distinction and appreciate all the work we continually do on their behalf.

In the program’s early years, it was the judging panel and career opportunities that was the primary attraction, now artists submit their best work to the program because they respect the artists that The IMAs honors and supports.

This partnership broadens the sales, marketing and fan base reach for all IMA winners and enhances the overall winner premium benefits package that already includes radio promotion, jukebox distribution, sales initiatives, live performance and related IMA marketing campaigns that support winners’ songs.

The 88TC88 campaign gives IMA winners the opportunity to have their lyrics and meta-data translated from the original language into Chinese. 88TC88 will also coordinate the approvals process for all winners’ songs with the Chinese Ministry of Culture. The company will then arrange for IMA winners’ songs to be distributed and made available for sale on all mobile phones in China, reaching a market of over a billion mobile subscribers.

“The IMAs has enormous, international reach through partnerships with companies like AMI Entertainment, eMusic, The Planetary Group, Dropcards and other formidable entertainment businesses that provide IMA winners access to millions of music fans,” said Martin Folkman, Executive Director of the IMAs. “88TC88 is an ideal addition to the premium benefits mix, giving IMA artists access to millions of new music fans and marketing opportunities in the largest growing market of entertainment consumers in the world.”

“In addition to delivering access to the China market, the sale of IMA winning songs as ringtones, ringback tones, full track downloads and subscription packages will generate income and awareness in China for IMA winners,” said Thomas Reemer, Co-Founder and Chairman of 88TC88. “In our experience, as one of the only services to legally supply music into the Chinese mobile phone market, making music available to this huge, emerging marketplace can also create other significant opportunities in China, like touring, branding and sync placements for artists.”

The IMAs: Artistry Has Its Awards

Produced by Music Resource Group, publisher of the popular industry contact database The Musician’s Atlas, The IMAs leverages its unrivaled access to performance, promotion and distribution outlets to connect Winners and Nominees to new audiences and revenue opportunities.

The program receives submissions from artists previously on major labels as well as self-released and indie label talent from more than 70 countries on six continents.

Submissions for the 11th annual Independent Music Awards are currently being accepted at: www.TheIndependentMusicAwards.com/ima/submit

About 88TC88

88TC88 is an automated, web-based service that helps bands, artists and labels to translate, approve, sell and promote their music in Greater China. 88 translates song lyrics and all meta-data, and arranges official approval by the Chinese authorities for the material to be released.

88tc88 offers access and sales to over 950 million subscribers on China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom for digital and mobile release. Artists earn 90% of the net earnings on the sale of their music, after Chinese telecoms and Chinese distributor commissions are deducted.

88tc88.com translates, approves, releases, promotes and sells music to more than one billion Chinese people.

We are proud to announce our partnership with CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival 2011! CMJ is one of the world’s most important platforms for the discovery of new and emerging music invades New York City over five non-stop days and nights, from October 18 – 22, 2011.

Over 120,000 fans, music industry professionals, college radio taste-makers, bloggers, press, filmmakers and musicians take over 80 of the city’s greatest venues for more than 1,300 artist performances, over 70 industry-centric panels and dozens of cutting-edge films.

For a full line-up of artists, films, panels, parties, Q&As, seminars and other special events, visit www.cmj.com/marathon

11th IMA Judging Panelist Shelby Lynne releases her latest album October 18 on her own EVERSO Records imprint. Titled Revelation Road, the new album is being called her most personal record, to date. And with Lynne serving as writer, performer and producer, this new one can credibly live up to that claim. Oh…and it just so happens to be great. So Shelby…thanks for sharing, at the very least, the experience of listening to your new album with the rest of us!

Visit Shelby Lynne @ http://www.shelbylynne.com/

“The air in this city tastes like somethings going to die
and the sweet sound of ammunition cuts through the night
Still you kneel at the alter like you knelt before the boot
of the man who took everything that he could take from you”

Was what Tim Easton answered when American Songwriter asked “What’s a Lyric You are Particularly Proud of?

How do you typically write songs, words first, or melody?

Well, I think they both arrive at the same time, but nobody admits it. When you are writing lines, often your brain is in a musical mode that goes back to the cave songwriter days. You are writing in a way that permits you to sing it later. I am constantly writing lines down with no song in mind, but actually, deep in my mind, there is a song. I’m just not singing it at that particular moment.

Click http://www.americansongwriter.com/2011/08/tim-easton/ for the full American Songwriter interview with Tim Easton our 10th IMA winner for Americana Song!

What A Zoo! CD Release Tour
7/16- CBS-2 Kids Music Series, Channel 2 Live Performance- 9 AM, NYC
8/17- Hippo Playground- NYC
8/20- Greenfest Festival- Boston, MA
8/23- Philadelphia Zoo- Philly, PA
9/23- Park Ave Syn-  NYC
10/16- Beth El- Baltimore, MD
11/12- Symphony Space- NYC
12/10- Beth Shalom- Kansas City, KS