RT announces new partnership: the RT Choice Music Prize

RT announces new partnership: the RT Choice Music Prize

RT announces new partnership: the RT Choice Music Prize - Irish Album of the Year

RT Choice Music Prize live event, Vicar Street, Dublin - Thursday 9th March 2017

Tickets on sale - Friday 2nd December 2016

Irish Album of the Year 2016 shortlist announced Wednesday 11th January 2017

Irish Song of the Year 2016 shortlist announced - Wednesday 1st February 2017

RT has today announced a new partnership with the Choice Music Prize. The partnership will see both RT 2 and RT 2FM play a lead role in supporting what has become one of the highlights of the Irish musical calendar as part of a new agreement.

Commenting on the announcement, Dee Forbes, Director-General RT , said, Supporting Irish music and Irish musicians is a core part of what RT does and this partnership will allow us to take our support one step further. Through RT 2 and RT 2FM, two established services with a long and rich history in supporting Irish music, and through our popular online and mobile platforms, RT will put the RT Choice Music Prize at the centre of a campaign that will bring the best Irish artists and songs from the past year to a wider audience .

The shortlist for this newly named RT Choice Music Prize, Irish Album of the Year 2016, in association with IMRO & IRMA, will be announced on Wednesday 11th January, 2017.

The winning album will be announced at the RT Choice Music Prize live event, held in Vicar Street, Dublin on Thursday 9th March 2017. As part of the new partnership, the event will be broadcast live on RT 2FM in a special four hour extended programme from 7-11pm and on RT 2 as part of a special RT Choice Music Prize programme, approximately one week later.

Dan Healy, Head of RT 2FM, said, The RT Choice Music Prize is a great partnership for RT and for RTE 2FM. As proud supporters of Irish music we're looking forward to fully unleashing the power of the station to get right behind the best albums and songs recorded by Irish artists over the past year and what a great year it has been.

Adrian Lynch, Acting Channel Controller, RT 2, said, RT 2 is no stranger to broadcasting the Choice Music Prize event, but as part of this new partnership which also includes radio, online and mobile support, RT 2 can play a greater role in helping all nominees make a bigger impact.

The 12th annual RT Choice Music Prize will celebrate and acknowledge the best in Irish recorded music. The prize has become one of the highlights of the Irish musical calendar since its inception in 2005 and is awarded to the Irish Album of the Year, as chosen from a shortlist of ten releases by a panel of twelve Irish music media professionals and industry experts.

The winning act will receive 10,000, a prize fund which has been provided by The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). All of the shortlisted acts will receive a specially commissioned award.

RAAP, Culture Ireland & Golden Discs are also official project partners.

Culture Ireland will fund the attendance of influential overseas Industry executives to attend the Choice Music Prize Live Event on March 9th while Golden Discs will feature special stands showcasing the RTE Choice Music Prize nominees across their stores nationwide.

The Choice Music Prize website has published a list of Irish albums released to date in 2016. This list can be viewed and updated by logging onto http://www.choicemusicprize.ie

RT Choice Music Prize Irish Song of The Year 2016

The shortlist for the RT Choice Music Prize Irish Song of The Year 2016 will be announced on Wednesday 1st February, 2017. A Special event featuring exclusive performances from both Album of the Year and Song of the Year nominees will be held in Dublin that evening.

Tickets for the Choice Music Prize live event will go on sale from all Ticketmaster outlets and from http://www.ticketmaster.ie on Friday December 2nd priced 26.50 including booking fee.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Choice Prize: Liza Geddes, Recode Publicity I lizageddes@gmail.com

RTE: Neil O'Gorman I (01) 2083989 or (087) 2077192 I neil.o'gorman@rte.ie

Notes to Editor:

The RT Choice Music Prize is organised by David Reid. Irish Times music writer/critic Tony Clayton-Lea is the chairman of the judging panel. It is unique in that it focuses simply and solely on the music in judging the releases, as opposed to sales or airplay. The full list of judges will be on the RT Choice Music Prize website from 11th January http://www.choicemusicprize.ie.

Commenting on the announcement, Victor Finn, Chief Executive IMRO said, We are delighted to continue our longstanding association with this important music prize. Irish music continues to push new boundaries and this prize shines a light on the music creators and songs that resonate so strongly with audiences at home and abroad .

And Willie Kavanagh, IRMA Chairman adds We at IRMA are happy to continue our support of the Choice Music Prize. The ongoing search for new artists and new music, which is the focus of the Choice Music Prize, represents the life blood of the music industry in Ireland .

Past recipients:

Album of the Year

2005 Julie Feeney - 13 Songs (Julie Feeney)

2006 The Divine Comedy - Victory for the Comic Muse (Parlophone)

2007 Super Extra Bonus Party - Super Extra Bonus Party (Alphabet Set)

2008 Jape - Ritual (Co-op Records)

2009 Adrian Crowley - Season of the Sparks (Chemikal Underground)

2010 Two Door Cinema Club Tourist History (Kitsune)

2011 Jape Ocean of Frequency (Music Is For Losers)

2012 Delorentos Little Sparks (Delo Records)

2013 Villagers {Awayland} (Domino)

2014 The Gloaming - The Gloaming (Real World)

2015 Soak Before We Forgot How To Dream (Rough Trade)

Song of the Year

2011 Royseve

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2016/1127/83476...
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