In an invitation only awards ceremony held at the Backbeat bar on Auckland’s K’Rd tonight (Wed 15th May), around 150 industry guests including some of New Zealand’s top musicians and their managers attended to celebrate the big successes from the preceding year.

‘Andy Murnane and Frequency Media Group’ won the prestigious ‘Manager of the Year’ award for his work with artists Home Brew and Aaradhna.  Andy also took out prize for ‘Outside the Box Award’ recognizing the Home Brew Speakeasy 48 hour album release party, which garnered unprecedented media attention for the band and resulted in a #1 debut on the New Zealand top 40 album chart.

‘Teresa Patterson’ of CRS Management won three awards on the night;  ‘Online Achievement’ for the re-launch of the Six60 website which came 2nd in the Umbraco international design awards; ‘International Achievement’ for her work growing Six60 in the American and European markets, and finally ‘Best Independent Tour’ recognising the extra work required to put together Six60’s sell out nationwide tours including several dates in Australia.

Nominated for the first time this year, ‘Janette Searle’ took home the ‘Upcoming Manager’ award for her work with Sola Rosa while ‘Ria Hall’ received the award for ‘Self Managed Artist Of The Year’ for her outstanding effort balancing the fine line between being creative and business minded in her musical career.

This year the venue awards were split into to categories: over and under 750 capacities. These awards were voted exclusively by members of the MMF – ‘Best Large Venue’ went to the iconic ‘Powerstation’ and ‘Best Small Venue’ went to the equally iconic ‘Leigh Sawmill’ for the second year running.

‘APRA’ was this year voted by MMF members as the ‘Music Managers Award Industry Champion’ for their work with licensing fees for the public performance of musical works.  APRA have been recognized for helping make music a sustainable career choice therefore supporting the industry as a whole.

And finally the MMF like to formerly recognize a member who utilises the many resources available to them as an MMF member and who shows great promise in what can be a challenging yet rewarding career.  The winner of the ‘Mentoring Success Story’ this year was presented to ‘Rachel Dawick’ for her ‘Boundry Riders Project’, which turns stories of pioneering women from the 1800’s into songs.

Lorraine Owen from the MMF says she’s extremely excited about the volume of established successful managers represented in the winner’s line-up. “It’s so good to see such a fantastic group of managers receiving the accolades they deserve this year. Music managers are vital to the future success of New Zealand Music both home and abroad and acknowledging the passion and hard work they put into their artists is why we hold the awards every year.”

Lorraine concludes, “This has been the ninth Music Managers Awards and we’d like to acknowledge our amazing sponsors, supporters, MMF members and the academy of judges who have all ensured that tonight was a massive success.”

The 2013 Music Managers Awards Winners Are:

Manager of the Year – Andy Murnane
International Achievement – Teresa Patterson
Best Independent Tour – Teresa Patterson
Best Small Venue – Leigh Sawmill
Best Large Venue – Powerstation
Online Achievement Award – Teresa Patterson
Self Managed Artist of the Year – Ria Hall
Outside The Box Award – Andy Murnane
Upcoming Manager of the Year – Janette Searle
Industry Champion - APRA
MMF Mentoring Success Story – Rachel Dawick