Organisers of the Star FM Music Awards have responded to the wide growing concerns expressed by music fans following the release of the nominations.
Fans, critics and musicians alike were quick to notice something unusual on the 2020 nomination list, chief among them the absence of a Sungura category as well as Winky D and Gemma’s hit single Mugarden was missing from the Song of the Year nomination.
General manager of the Zimpapers Radio Broadcasting Division, under which Star FM falls, Mr. Comfort Mbofana said that despite calls for entries and an extension of the entries deadline, some artists were not forthcoming.
“We approached all artists including Winky D (through his management) who we deemed eligible for this year’s award process and asked them to submit their entries,” he said.
“We even facilitated resources at the station to assist in the submission processes.
“We had a good number of artists enter the awards and we had some who —for reasons best known to themselves — would not enter, “he said.
However, Zimbuzz investigations revealed that the Submission Website was not working most of the time and this resulted in some artists getting frustrated with the technology thereby deciding not to submit.
We, however, can not confirm this to be the main or sole reason why some artists did not submit.
Turning to the Sungura Category, Mr. Mbofana said there were no entries.
“It was also unfortunate that there were no entries for the Best Sungura Song category and we could not manufacture entries if there were none,” he added.
Another bone of contention was that artists should not be made to submit for Awards when they already submit their songs for airplay.
Artists and fans were arguing that the Station should use music and statistics from their library to determine nominations.
“There have been concerns raised about the submission requirement with some asking why artists have to enter themselves into an awards process,” quizzed Mr. Mbofana
“We looked at other music awards in the region and internationally and there is a universal requirement for the artists to enter the awards process by submitting their music for adjudication.”
Zimbuzz can also confirm that this is a standard requirement in most music Awards. In the region, we looked at how the Metro FM awards are done since these are directly related to Star FM as both are Radio Station Awards.
For one to enter into the Metro FM awards an artist is required to submit their entry. However, Metro FM has not held an Award ceremony for the past two years.
The Star FM Music Awards event will be held on the 22nd of February 2020 at Manna Resort in Glen Lorne and attendance is by invite.
Share Your Comments