Metro FM revises Music Awards nominations

According to a press statement from the radio station, “[a]fter carefully re-checking all the nominees we realised that some of them do not qualify for the 2008 awards as their albums were released outside the stipulated time frames.”

Following the re-evaluation of the nominees, the replacements are as follows:

In terms of artist album/singles' title the list has been corrected as follows:

• Hit Single of the Year - Kelly Khumalo for her album Ngiyamfela (instead of Siyajabula)
  
• Best Kwaito Album - Howza's for her album Cut to the Chase (instead of Howza Howza)
  
• Best Female Artist - Mimi for her album Essence of My Soul (instead of Evolution)

All affected recording companies have been informed of the changes/corrections.

“We offer our sincere apologies to the public, the artists concerned, and to the South African music industry for any inconvenience and confusion that these glitches may have caused,” says Metro FM station manager Matona Sakupwanya.

With regards to the affected categories, the station has extended the voting period by one week until Friday, 7 November 2008. Voting for the unaffected categories will still close on 30 October.

“While this technical glitch is regrettable, we would like to assure everyone concerned that the MMAs do operate in a transparent manner and that the necessary checks and balances are in place to ensure that mistakes are identified and corrected.

METRO FM will, however, be revisiting its internal processes to ensure that in future any oversights are corrected before the nominations are made public.”

She concludes, “We are continually striving to improve the MMAs to maintain their status as one of South Africa's premier music awards ceremonies, and we are confident that the ninth installment of the awards remains on track to be the most spectacular yet.”

The 2008 Metro FM Music Awards will take place in Tshwane on Saturday 29 November. Go to www.metrofm.co.za for more details.

For more:

• IOL: Red faces all round at Metro FM