After much deliberation and more than a few considered discussions, the finalists for the Taite Music Prize 2012 have now been confirmed.

Named after the late Dylan Taite, one of the country's most highly respected music journalists, this will be the third year for the award. In a similar vein to several international awards, 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 PPNZ Music Licensing.

This year’s nominees, from a lengthy list submitted by record labels both independent and major from right across the country, are:

• Andrew Keoghan - Arctic Tales Divide (Brave Beluga Records)
• Beastwars – Beastwars (Destroy Records)
• David Dallas – The Rose Tint (Dirty Records)
• She’s So Rad – In Circles (Round Trip Mars)
• The Bats – Free All Monsters (Flying Nun Records)
• Tiny Ruins - Some Were Meant For The Sea (Spunk Records)
• Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Seeing Records)

The voting panel to determine the finalists was made up of a broad section of music media/industry specialists plus all current members of Independent Music New Zealand (IMNZ). There will be a second round of judging by a selected music panel to decide the eventual winner. The judges will make their decision based entirely on the artistic merit on the album(s). Sales, genres, artist recognition or popularity are not contributing factors in their decision making process.

The selected music panel for 2012 is made up of the following persons:

Finalist Judging Panel for Taite Music Prize 2012

• Jon Bywater (Programme Leader, Critical Studies @ Elam School Of Fine Arts)
• Hugh Sundae (Entertainment Editor, NZ Herald Online)
• Stephen O’Hoy (IMNZ / Amplifier / DRM)
• Jeremy Morrow (Warner Music)
• Leonie Hayden (Editor, RipItUp)
• Richard Thorne (Editor, NZ Musician)
• Andrew Tidball (Editor, Cheese On Toast)
• Russell Brown (Public Address)
• Charlotte Ryan (95bFM)
• Glenn Williams (Wammo) (KiwiFM)
• 11th Man – John Taite (BBC America)
• The Judge Wrangler – Damian Vaughan (APRA)

Dylan Pellett, Business Development Manager at IMNZ says, “there were 87 nominated albums this year, which is a new record for the Taite Music Prize. It clearly shows that the Taite Music Prize is going from strength to strength – and is held in very high regard by our music community. Each of the finalists have made truly great albums and we are very proud to now present them to the finalist judging panel. It will take some serious work for the music panel to decide the overall winner for the prestigious Taite Music Prize 2012”.

The award winner will be announced on the 20th of April at an invitation-only event at The Loft, Q Theatre in Auckland’s central city. The winner of the 2011’s Taite Music Prize, Ladi6, will be attending the event in an ambassadorial role.

Independent Music New Zealand (IMNZ), PPNZ Music Licensing and NZ On Air (NZOA) are the principal music industry supporters of the Taite Music Prize in conjunction with the Taite family. Other contributing sponsors for the Taite Music Prize 2012 include the NZ Music Commission, The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), Native Tongue Music Publishing, Jagermeister, Amplifier.co.nz and Moa Beer.

Media Release: Taite Music Prize