Beatport opened voting for its first Music Awards.
The ballot covered 19 categories. Most were organized by genre, including trance, house, techno, drum and bass, minimal, dubstep, and hard dance. There were also awards for a single, a remix, and the most influential person in electronic music.
The nominee list came from unit sales on Beatport during 2007. Registered users would choose the winners. Voting opened March 18 and was scheduled to continue through April 22.
The sales order was not the final result. Registration gave customers access to the ballot, and their votes would decide each category.
I was Director of Information Technology at Beatport. My responsibilities were on the systems side of the company. I did not write the category rules or choose the nominees. The awards announcement concerned artists, categories, sales, and voting.
The structure was easy to state. Use the previous year's store sales to make a nominee list. Open that list to registered customers. Keep voting available for six weeks. Publish one winner in each of 19 categories.
The categories covered a broad section of the electronic music sold through Beatport. A customer who bought trance could vote in trance. Somebody following techno, minimal, or dubstep had a separate category. The awards for single, remix, and influence crossed those genre lists.
No winner had been announced on March 18. This was the opening of voting, not the result. We had the previous year's sales, 19 categories, and an April 22 closing date.