BOMU makes 29 'steps' to revamp music awards

MAUREEN ODUBENG
Staff Writer | Wednesday October 17, 2007 00:00

 

In all, this year's awards to be held in December will have a total of 29 categories - and registration for each one of them has started. The deadline is October 30.

The newly introduced categories are Music Producer of the Year, Record Label of the Year, Best Duo/Group/Cassette, Best Male and Best Female Artists of the Year awards.

Others are Lifetime Achievement, and Best DVD. After concerns raised in the aftermath of the inaugural awards last year, BOMU has also rationalised the voting system. Public cellular voting is awarded 40 percent while a panel of judges will decide the remaining 60 percent. During a consultative forum with stakeholder on October 4, BOMU accepted certain resolutions that were made by the Awards Stakeholders and has adapted the changes into the main Awards Rules and Regulations.

After last year's awards, one of the local musicians, and BOMU member Alfred 'Alfredo' Mosimanegape complained about the running of the awards. Mosimanegape queried why the voting system was not open to both Mascom and Orange cellular phone networks, arguing that the voting system disadvantaged non-Mascom subscribers. He observed that there were no voting regulations, as such some musicians won because they voted for themselves as many times as they could. 'Voting guidelines were drafted but never used,' he said in an interview with Showbiz at the time.He also contended that the judging at the music awards was poor, questioning how a three-month-old song could win the 'Song of the Year Award'. He explained that in his understanding, the awards should have been won by a song that had been in circulation for at least a year.

In response to such concerns, BOMU has resolved that for this year's awards, entries for Song of the Year must be songs that have been on rotation on local radio stations for more than six months. The Album of the Year category has been abolished because 'there are no reliable statistics like album sales records, reliable radio airplay queue sheets and reliable retail and manufacturing records'.

BOMU secretary general Nkgopolang Tlhomelang, however explained that the issue of cellular phone voting is outside their jurisdiction. He said the voting system, which excludes subscribers of the other network, was a corporate decision taken by the local networks. He stated that as BOMU, they were forced to abide by the terms set by the networks. He also noted that it was not possible to vote through one network, using the services of a competitor network.

Tlhomelang emphasised that as BOMU, they take all concerns raised seriously, noting that they received suggestions regarding the issue of giving the public a smaller percentage, but resolved that as much as the public input is valued, the system was 'vulnerable to abuse' to a point of distorting the end result. He explained that should a bigger percentage be awarded to the public, those with 'lots of money will determine the outcome, and the awards may end up going to undeserving artists'.

He said BOMU has a provisional list of five judges under consideration for this year's event. Tlhomelang assured Batswana that BOMU 'is the voice of musicians, and we are committed to addressing all their concerns'. He said they were also committed to hearing the public's concerns and acting on them.