The first Beatport Music Awards had one very obvious winner.
Deadmau5 won Best Electro House Artist, Best Progressive House Artist, and Best Single for "Not Exactly." He was also voted the most influential, forward-thinking, and relevant person in electronic music for 2007.
That was four wins from a 19-category ballot.
The process started with the store's 2007 unit sales. Those numbers produced the nominee list. Registered Beatport users then had six weeks to vote. Thousands of people participated, and the final results covered the genre map Beatport was selling every day.
Armin van Buuren won trance. Dubfire won minimal and techno. Trentemøller won electronica and chill out. High Contrast won drum and bass. Modeselektor won dubstep and grime. The list went on.
The nominee list had come from the store's sales. The final list came from registered users. Those were two separate steps, and the published results named the winners rather than the people who built the ballot or counted votes.
I was Director of Information Technology at Beatport. I was not choosing the artists, singles, or remixes. My name was not part of the awards announcement. The company result was public even though the work behind the store remained mostly invisible.
The voting had opened March 18 and closed April 22. By the beginning of May, the count was finished. A year of store sales had produced the nominees, six weeks of voting had produced the winners, and Deadmau5 had won four categories.
No other name appeared as often on the list.