AMP Adds New Categories and Lines Up American Authors for Awards Gala

The AMP Awards for Music and Sound is making news, announcing two new categories for its awards competition and naming the musical act that will headline its gala awards show in New York in early May.
 
The new categories will recognize work in the areas of Sonic Branding and Radio Commercials.  Entries for the AMP Awards are currently being accepted on the awards' entry site at http://awardcore.com/amp/login.php.
 
The band that will rock the awards show, scheduled for Tuesday, May 7 at City Winery in New York, is American Authors, whose hit "Best Day of My Life" has been tapped by a number of brands for use on ads and promos.  The  Brooklyn-based foursome is signed to Island Records, whose parent, Island Def Jam, has signed on as a major new sponsor of the AMP Awards. Island joins Clear Channel Communications, which returns as a major sponsor for its second year.
 
"Best Day of My Life" – which was included on American Authors' debut album, "Oh, What a Life" – was released last year and quickly become a marketers' favorite. To date it's been heard in spots for Lowe's and Toyota in the US and Hyundai in the UK, as well as on promos for Major League Baseball broadcasts, the History Channel and the CBS sitcom "The Crazy Ones."
 
"We're thrilled to present American Authors to all of the industry professionals who'll be in attendance at the AMP Awards gala," says Marlene Bartos, President of the Association of Music Producers and Managing Director of Yessian in New York. "And we're just as excited about the new categories we've added this year, which honor achievement in the emerging field of sonic branding as well as in time-honored medium of radio. There's exciting work being done in both these areas, and it's important that as music and sound producers we recognize this in our competition."
 
Entries in the Most Effective Sonic Branding category should reflect achievement in creating a memorable sequence of notes, musical figure or sound/mnemonic which have been incorporated for the benefit of brand recognition across any media platform. The Most Impactful Radio Commercial category is open to radio spots whose success and impact on the listener, as deemed by the judges, are seen as a direct result of their creativity, production and sound.
 
 
The news about the new categories and the talent lineup follows the recent announcement from AMP that Rani Vaz, Senior VP and Director of Music and Radio Production at BBDO New York, will head up the AMP Awards Advisory Board.  She'll lead a group of executives from the agency, music label, music publishing and advertiser communities who'll bring their insight to the competition and to the awards' judging process.  The list of companies represented on the AMP Awards Advisory Board includes Saatchi & Saatchi, The Coca-Cola Company, P&G, Clear Channel, BMG/Chrysalis, Sony Music Entertainment, Songs Publishing and Kobalt Music Group.
 
For a full list of categories, rules and eligibility requirements, visit the AMP web site at www.ampnow.com.
 
The Association of Music Producers was founded in 1998 for the purpose of educating its mem­bers, as well as members of the production, advertising and media communities, on all facets of the music business, from creation and acquisition to final use.  AMP is dedicated to raising awareness of and appreciation for the value of music and sound to all broadcast content in all media.  For more information, visit www.ampnow.com.