Submissions

The Indie Acoustic Project is now accepting submissions for the IAP's Best CDs of 2011 Awards.

What Qualifies

Any full-length CD (25 minutes or longer) that:

has at least some acoustic instrumentation
has been (or will have been) released for sale to the public during 2011 by any entity other than a major US label.

Recordings released by a non-major but distributed by a major label do qualify for consideration.

Send Submissions To:

Indie Acoustic Project
570 Union Avenue
Boulder, Colorado 80304
USA

THE FINE PRINT

The Best CD Awards are a public service of the Indie Acoustic Project, so there is no charge of any kind for any aspect of these awards. Every submission will be given consideration for the awards.

Please submit a copy of each qualifying CD that you or your record label released in 2011, along with an email contact. No other material is necessary, although a brief bio sheet may be included.

Recordings that feature electronic instrumentation qualify as long as they contain at least some acoustic instrumentation.

Twelve awards will be given: one per category. Again, The categories are: Acoustic Ensemble, Instrumental, Latin, Lyrics, Multi-Genre, Rock, Roots, Progressive Edge, Singer-Songwriter (Male), Female Singer-Songwriter (Female), and World Music-Africa, and World Music-Eurasia/Global.

The Indie Acoustic Project will determine which category best fits the recording.

Submissions must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2011
Finalists and winners will be notified by email, award certificates will be mailed to all winners.
All decisions regarding the Awards are made solely at the discretion of the Indie Acoustic Project and are final

Definitions for Selection Purposes

Acoustic music: Any music inspired by or based on any folk music tradition, but into which new innovations, hybrids, improvisations, or ideas have been added. This definition will include original music, as well as traditional music which has been expanded upon, refined, added to, or blended with another musical form.

Traditional music: For purposes of this project, traditional music is any musical form that has developed into a clearly defined and easily recognizable style. Therefore "traditional" will be used to describe not only regional indigenous musical styles such as traditional Celtic ballads, Appalachian folk songs, or sea chanteys; but also jazz, classical, bluegrass, blues, big band, chorale, and gospel.

So, for example, a strictly traditional rendering of either bluegrass or Irish fiddle tunes would not qualify for the IAP Awards, but a version of those same songs where any innovation or cross-cultural aspect has been added (no matter how small) would qualify.

Questions

Please address any questions to jon at indieacoustic.com