The scheme for Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2014 exposed

Ghana Music Awards is the biggest and most significant annual entertainment event in Ghana.

For Fourteen (14) successive years, the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards  scheme has grown into a Festival of Music and Entertainment that has gone beyond National bounds to engulf the whole Continent and beyond.

It is organized under the auspices of the Musicians the Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Arts.

It is produced by leading event management firm Charterhouse, in collaboration with leading telecommunications network Vodafone.

The Objectives of organizing the VGMAs are:

•To appreciate those working in the music industry who have released work(s) that have generated the most public excitement within a definite period of contention.

Provide an international platform through which the Ghanaian music industry can be accessed.

•To reward veteran musicians who have blazed the trail in the music industry.


The VGMA Festival is largely a people's choice awards scheme that seeks to foster the development of the Ghanaian music industry by rewarding and celebrating musicians who have excelled in the seven main music genres of Ghana; Gospel, Hip-life, Hip hop, Highlife, Afro Pop, Reggae and Traditional.

Their music should have been released and received prominence during the year under review.

The Award Scheme has become the barometer by which Ghanaian musicians measure their success each year and undoubtedly serves as an inspiration and aspiration to the entire music industry.

With guests attending the Festival from all over Africa, and Europe, the 2013 VGMA promises to be one of the biggest Festivals ever to be held in West Africa, and is encouraging Ghanaian musicians to take their craft TO THE NEXT LEVEL!!

PROCESS

The organisers of the VGMA aim to present an award scheme that is representative of the opinion of the General Public as well as Industry Professionals. To this end, a Selection Process has been structured, over the years, to take all these into account.

COLLECTION OF ENTRIES /NOMINATION / CATEGORISATION  PROCESS

Blank list of categories along with definitions were sent out to industry practitioners in all ten (10) Regions of the country, i.e. Radio station DJs, Night Club DJs as well as MUSIGA Regional Offices, Major Distributors of Music etc, for nominations in the various categories.

Entries are also received from the following:

·Published call for entries in the Press

·Nomination forms submitted by Record Companies.

·Google and other internet search engines are used to track online releases and to verify dates of release

·Data from Mobile Content companies are also used to verify releases

·Statutory organizations such as Copyright office are also used to verify works released as well as IP ownership

·Nominations gathered are subjected to short listing by members of the VGMA BOARD.

2. THE CATEGORISATION PROCESS

The VGMA Board compiles all entries received into the appropriate categories and provides a final nominations list which is published for public voting. It is a very tedious and painstaking exercise which requires a number of sittings to generate the final list of Nominees.

3. AWARDS CATEGORIES

* 15 Public Voting Categories

* 12 Industry Voting Categories

* 3 Honorary Categories.

4. ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for a VGMA 2013 the music work should have been released from 1st January 2012 – 31st December 2012.

5. VOTING PROCESS

The VGMA maintains the 3 tier voting system i.e. the Public, the VGMA Academy and the VGMA Board. The voting system thus is as ff:

* Most Popular Song: Public  - 100%

* Public Voting Awards: Public 40%,

VGMA Academy 30%      VGMA Board  30%

* Industry Voting  Categories: VGMA Academy 50%       VGMA Board 50%

* Honorary Awards:   VGMA Board - 100%

* Sound Engineer, Music Video, Music  Producer: VGMA Board and  Peer voting

VOTING CHANNELS

The following channels will be used for  voting for the VGMAs 2014

** Voting on mobile phone via short code.

A limit of 20 texts is placed on the number of votes per mobile number to level the playing field.

* There will be only one VGMA Academy (Selection Committee) voting event which will be done in one location with Members drawn from across the Country.

* There will be one VGMA Board Voting event.
All these votes are supervised and tabulated by world renowned business advisory firm – KPMG and presented on the night of the event.