2012 MAMA Rules
The MAMAs honors outstanding achievements in music for those artists who choose to become members and enter themselves for consideration. Artists must meet the eligibility requirements stated on the official MAMA website to be considered in their chosen award categories. Special eligibility, registration and submission rules apply for the youth award categories. See the special youth awards eligibility and voting rules.
Artists and fans alike take part in a participatory process of choosing the nominees in the first voting round. Write-in votes are cast for several categories during the registration period, resulting in a list of choices for the first voting round. The highest vote-getters in the first round are the Nominees that move to the final round where the MAMA members vote for their choices for winners. Membership is required for all MAMA voting, which is open to the public. Membership requires a five dollar donation that is segregated from other funds and goes directly to the MAMAs charitable recipients.
2012 MAMA FAQ
What are the MAMAs?
MAMA, Inc. is a non-profit organization. To read the MAMA, Inc. mission statement, click here. MAMA is an acronym for Madison Area Music Association. Each spring we hold an award show that honors the efforts of local musicians. This award show, along with the many other initiatives of MAMA, Inc. throughout the year, raises money to foster the next generation of musicians by helping fund youth music programs and by putting instruments in the hands of kids who might not otherwise have them. We work with many school districts and also community groups in the Madison area. To see a history of our charitable giving, click here. Our objective is to keep the fundamentals of music available for our youth and to promote that cause.
How can I get involved by volunteering for the MAMAs?
The MAMAs are always looking for dedicated persons willing to help out. We are a small, volunteer organization with an incredible task that we’ve chosen to take up. The complexities are sometimes overwhelming. Each year we make enormous progress toward refining and improving the entire process of entering, selecting and presenting the awards as well as producing the awards show. There are specific areas we need volunteers in. To volunteer, send us an email.
How do I make a financial contribution to MAMA, Inc.?
If you would like to make a financial contribution to the MAMAs, apart from becoming a member or registering/nominating, click here. MAMA, Inc. is a charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions are eligible for tax deduction. You’ll want to consult with your tax advisor as to specific deductibility for your individual situation. We accept musical instruments in good working order as well as cash contributions.
What are the eligibility requirements for the Madison Area Music Awards?
The eligibility requirements for the MAMAs require you to meet one of two eligibility requirements. You must have some members of your group living inDaneCountyor be based inDaneCounty. A good benchmark for this is having 50% of your band members or 2 of 5, 3 of 7, etc. Alternatively, if you play a significant amount of performances, around 50% of your gigs, inDaneCountyyou are eligible. Registration is on the honor system, primarily. If a nominee comes into question, MAMA, Inc. will then verify that the artist or group is eligible.
Expanded Youth Awards: In 2012 the youth categories were expanded. There are now eight instrumental categories (prior to 2012 there was just one youth instrumentalist). These categories now reflect the instrumental award categories for the other awards (bass, drums and percussion, keyboards, guitar, brass, woodwinds, strings and specialty instrument). The youth vocalist awards have also been expanded to male vocalist, female vocalist and ensemble vocalist. Awards are still available for youth song and youth album. Additionally, the Madison Regional winniners in the Launchpad competition will continue to receive honorary awards and those winners are not prevented from entering the othe youth categories on their own.
The area of coverage was also expanded to include a circle that includes Jefferson, Monroe, Dodgeville and Portage.
Registration for the youth awards requires no $5 membership. Consequently, those registered as youth artists will not be able to vote for the general award categories. If they do wish to vote they will need to sign up as a general member and donate the $5 membership. Registration for the youth awards is also open until May 15th. Instructors can register their students, or the students can register themselves. Music or video uploads will be required.
Voting for the youth awards will be done by committee. The MAMAs have partnered with Globe University and the Wisconsin School Music Association. Representatives from these two groups will judge all the youth entries and make the selections.
What is different for this year?
In 2011 the registration fees normally charged to artists to place themselves, songs and albums into the awards system were eliminated. Once an artist is a current MAMA member (has renewed their membership by making the $5 annual donation) there are no other fees.
The important change for 2012 is the expansion of the youth awards as described above. No other categories have been added or altered and the voting procedures are the same, except for the youth categories.
What are the time restrictions and other requirements that make an album or song eligible?
An album is defined as a group of songs (three or more) that is released for sale or otherwise available to the public by an artist or group that meets the eligibility requirements. This would include EPs (Extra-play singles, which refers to releases that usually have only a few songs) but not a CD-single, which we define as being only one or two songs on a single release. Songs from a CD-single would still be eligible in the Song of the Year category, and also the Artist of the Year awards.
For Album of the Year awards, the release of the album must fall within the eligible year. For the 2012 awards the eligible year is January 1 through December 31, 2011.
Songs are individual compositions that are original works. In 2011 we added an Interpretive Song of the Year category for cover songs. MAMA, Inc. accepts no responsibility in songs that are posted by the artists for consideration and does not represent the submissions in any legal manner or guarantee their copyright status. The same song could be registered in multiple categories or an artist may choose to nominate separate songs in separate categories. Songs do not have to be composed in the current year but may not be re-submitted in future years.
Fan of the Year and New Artist of the Year Awards
A new Fan of the Year write-in category was added for 2011. This recognition is intended for fans of local music who are especially passionate and dedicated to local artists and bolster the music scene as a whole. An artist will not be also be eligible as a fan.
New Artist of the Year is an award to recognize new talent. The criteria is based on the following: You or your band (1) first performed during the ward recognition year (for 2011 that is the calendar year 2010), OR (2) if there were no pefformances, the artist released a song or album that meets the eligibility requirements.
What are the write-in (People’s Choice) awards?
The write-in awards are just what the name implies: some specific award categories are determined solely by open ballot voting by the public and require no submissions. For 2012 the write-in ballot is open until January 31st, 2012, the end of the registration period. Voters in the first round will choose from the list generated during the registration period.
What is the “Wish You Were Here” award?
The “Wish You Were Here” award is open to musicians and songwriters that do not meet the eligibility guidelines for the MAMAs but wish to donate to the charitable cause and compete for this award. This award is essentially another Song of the Year category with the winner being determined in the same fashion as the other Song of the Year categories.
What is Broadjam’s role in the MAMAs?
Broadjam, Inc. is a worldwide company based out ofMadison. To learn more about Broadjam, go to www.broadjam.com. Roy Elkins is the president and founder of Broadjam and came to the MAMAs in 2005 offering assistance.Royhas been instrumental in helping MAMA, Inc. form its new board of directors and is the current chair of the MAMA board. He has offered Broadjam’s services and expertise in the registration/nomination and voting processes for the MAMAs. One of the things Broadjam does is to administer the voting for the Academy of Country Music. The mechanisms for running contests and selecting award winners have therefore already been developed by Broadjam and so they are a natural fit for the MAMAs. Broadjam’s services are a donation; no profit is being made by Broadjam and no monies are diverted to Broadjam or any of its employees. Broadjam’s security measures are concrete and the board is fully confident of the company’s abilities to meet our goals in upholding the fairness and integrity of the MAMAs. TheMadisonarea community owes a huge debt of gratitude to Broadjam for their commitment to the MAMAs and to funding music programs.
How do I become a member of the MAMAs?
Becoming a member of the MAMAs entitles music fans to vote and to nominate songs and albums. Becoming a member requires a $5 donation. Becoming a member of the MAMAs is saying that you care about fostering the next generation of musicians. It also says that you support the efforts of the current professionals in our area by participating in listening to and selecting from the outstanding music being produced in our area. To become a MAMA member click here.
How do I register and nominate my songs or albums?
To register yourself or your band you must become a MAMA member. All submissions will be handled online. If you do not have a sufficient connection or are otherwise not able to upload your songs, album, artwork, bio, pictures or other information, you can contact us for assistance. You can link to the registration page from the MAMAs website or click here.
How does the voting process work?
Round One of voting is new as of 2009. Instead of a blind listening round where you rate the songs, you will choose a maximum of three from a list of artists who have tossed their hat into the ring by registering. There will be play buttons next to each entry so you can listen to the music as you choose and/or view the artist’s profile.
The final round is virtually the same as the first round, only the list is narrowed down to the nominees – the highest vote-getters from the first round.
When is the awards show and how do I get tickets?
The Madison Area Music Awards event will be held on Saturday, June 2nd in the Capitol Theater. The specifics of the show are forthcoming and tickets will go on sale in April. All ticket sales will be handled by the Overture Center Box Office. You’ll want to keep your eye on this website and the media for announcements so that you can act quickly.