IDMA Tallies Votes for 2008 Dance Awards by Celeste Y

On the 23rd of January 2008, online voting has come to a halt for IDMA (International Dance Awards). The votes will be tallied for this year’s premier awards show for the dance music industry. The count has not been reported, but last year there were over 10, 000 ballots ranging from all over the world. The votes go to the most innovative and elite artists, producers, promoters, re-mixers and record labels in the industry.
IDMA is hosted by WMA (Winter Music Conference), a networking event held in the US. WMA attracts professionals from over 60 countries, globally, bringing them together.

There are over 40 categories that voters can register their favourite dance artist to. Last year Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit, by Freddie Le Grand, took away three awards. The categories he won in were “Best Underground Dance Track”, “Best Break Through Artist” and “Best Breaks/Electro Sound.”

Marcus Adams directed the music video for the sound track. There are two versions of the video, a regular track and late night with extended footage. The video features a science lab with female robots creating multiple male androids. The male androids undergo a test by the female robots. At the end, a male android clicks what is going on and escapes, causing the whole laboratory to shut down.

The soundtrack was used for Eminem’s Detroit based hip-hop crew, D-12. They created a vocal version over the soundtrack for their record. Le Grand has made three compilation albums: The Ministry of Sound, Sessions and Top of the Clubs 33.

The awards are to be held in March this year at South Beach, Miami. The {a href=”http://www.wintermusicconference.com/events/schedule/index2008.php“}IDMA falls into one of the six days of the dance music seminars. Other events happening during the six days will be a session on how to make your own music label, a DJ spin off and workshops on remixing.

The DJ spin off will be co-hosted by DJ Shortee and Felix Sam. The DJs will battle it out for first place in two separate categories: beat matching and scratching. Some of the areas that judges will be looking for include technical abilities, blending, creativity and showmanship. Leading audio and apparel manufactures, which are sponsoring the event, will be providing the prizes.

During the week that WMC holds the event in Miami, top DJs that have entered for the awards will be doing live performances in the area. For five nights, specific venues will have non-stop club events, with both famous and up-and-coming DJs from around the world.

During the day, there will be a record collectors exhibit and trading at the WMC host site, the Miami Beach Resort and Spa. Record collectors from all over the world will be able to buy, sell and trade their vinyls. WMC are providing listening stations for testing and reviewing the records.

Overall, the week promises to be dance-tech packed, from parties at night to shows during the day. The awards will have a pre-cocktail event and will be followed by an after party, with top DJs doing their stuff on the mixers.