The Listen to Berlin Awards aims to acknowledge the “sparkling stars in the Berlin musical universe”.
Now in its third year, the award show celebrates all aspects of the Berlin music industry with 9 awards in various fields to be given out over the course of the evening. These awards will both honour those who make and create music in the city, as well as those who aim to bring projects to a wider audience, such as promoters and journalists.
The award show dubs itself a night dedicated to those who have made “remarkable achievements in the Berlin music industry” and aims to give a platform to artists and help them to be acknowledged, enjoyed and embraced by a more diverse audience. However, it is not limited merely to rewarding those who have helped contribute to the musical landscape of the city though, but also for those who have contributed to the ecological landscape too.
Industry Innovation and Development
The Preis Fur Nachhhaltigkeit (Prize for Sustainability), for example, will be awarded to a person or project which has “distinguished itself through particularly sustainable ecological, economic or social action”. As such, while the predominate focus is on the music industry, those who have attempted to innovate elsewhere will also be acknowledged over the course of the evening.
Thanks to its all-encompassing approach to reward those in the industry, the profile of the event has raised exponentially over its short history to be acknowledged by some as the quintessential award show for Berlin-based music. With the award show also serving as a networking event for the movers and shakers to discuss music and the future of the creative scene in the city.
The artists and initiatives that take away prizes tomorrow night have been selected by representatives of the Berlin music industry. These comprised the shortlist of artists who could win awards on the night, which have then been whittled down by a specialist jury comprised of a team of actors in the industry, who possess a range of expertise and knowledge, including journalists, publicists and promoters. They have each chosen three artists for each of the categories who they believe deserve the top prizes, before sitting together and choosing out of all the nominations who will be the winner.
The Listen to Berlin Compilation
While the lion’s share of the awards will be dished out in this manner, there has also been a public element to the award show too, known as the Listen To Berlin: Audience Award. This relates to another element of what the organisations aim to contribute to the world of Berlin music, namely, the Listen to Berlin Compilation. This is essentially a hand-picked compilation playlist of 18 tracks, shortlisted down from 200 submissions. These include tracks from alternative pop groups, Die Kerzen and Nosoyo, and rock and roll band, Ponte Pilas.
Die Kerzen are nominated for their track Al Pacino which can be found on the Listen to Berlin Compilation.
Made up from all genres, including, African-American funk and soul music, rap, pop indie sounds and booming rock, combined they sum up the year in the eyes of the jury of experts. While you might be a bit too late to vote on the act you want to win this year’s awards, you can still listen to the playlist right now on the Listen To Berlin website.
The award show will be the precursor to the MOST WANTED: Music Convention which will take place over the following two days. The exclusive gala will take place tomorrow evening at Kesselhaus, while the Most Wanted Conference will be on the 6 to 7 November 2019 in the Alte Münze.
