Wednesday evening the Music Publishers Award was presented for the fifth time. Norwegian authors and music publishers were honored at the Vulkan Arena in Oslo. All photos: akam1k3 The fifth annual Music Publishers Award was presented on Wednesday, February 27. The award ceremony is organized by the organization Music Publishers, an association of Norwegian registered music publishers. Music Publishers is one of the organizations that has permanent representatives on TONO's board. Cato Strøm, […]
/ 28/02/2019 / Kristian DugstadOn Wednesday evening, the Music Publishers Award was presented for the fifth time. Norwegian authors and music publishers were honored at the Vulkan Arena in Oslo.
All photos: akam1k3
The fifth annual Music Publishers Award was presented on Wednesday, February 27. The award ceremony is organized by the organization Music Publishers, an association of Norwegian registered music publishers. Music Publishers is one of the organizations that has permanent representatives on TONO's board.
Cato Strøm, CEO of TONO, was awarded the honorary prize during the ceremony. You can read more about this here.
Here is a complete list of this year's award winners.
Work: Ignite
Originators: Alan Walker, Øyvind Sauvik, Fredrik Olsen, K-391, Kristoffer Cezinando Karlsen, Goran Axl, Jakob Emtestam, Victor Thell, Maria Smith, Anders Frøen, Gunnar Greve
Music publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Sony Music Publishing Scandinavia, Vivstilo Publishing, Stellar Songs, MORE Publishers
The jury's reasoning: This year's winner in the category of Work of the Year – Popular Music has so far remained a mysterious figure on the national and international charts. The project is described as an "audiovisual experience" and a "musical escape from reality", a goal that the artist seems to have achieved so far with the debut single's more than 257 million streams on Spotify and YouTube. The work, featuring Julie Bergan, K-pop star Seungri and Alan Walker, is a fireworks display of a song that stands out clearly in the current popular music landscape of 2018. The song combines elements from several genres, culminating in a both timely and challenging drop that has caught on all over the world.
Work: Different stories
Originators: Orjan Matre
Music publisher: Edition Peters
The jury's reasoning: This year's work Classical/Contemporary Music is a great piece of orchestral music that smells of Mahler, Stravinsky and Wagner. The composer knows how to exploit the colors and possibilities of the orchestra, and the music appears intelligent, personal and not least beautiful.
Originators: Ruben Markussen – Ruben
Music publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing Scandinavia
The jury's reasoning: The winner of the year's breakthrough – Popular Music modestly started his career as a solo artist in 2015. Two years later, he surprised both the music industry and the public with the song "Walls", which today has over 24 million plays on Spotify. The artist and songwriter takes us into a vulnerable universe of pop songs that are both gripping and engaging. With his unique voice, good songwriting flair and already great success, he is a clear winner of the title "Breakthrough of the Year – Popular Music".
Author: Fredrik Sixten
Music publisher: Cantando Music Publishers
The jury's reasoning: The winner of this year's breakthrough – classical/contemporary music is a composer who has an impressive commission list for 2018 and has solid international contacts that he actively uses to get new music written. He moves in a large and varied musical landscape that Norwegian choral and church music life will also greatly enjoy.
Author: Caroline Aileen
Music publisher: Arctic Rights Management
The jury's reasoning: Songwriter of the Year – Popular music has gone from “Breakthrough of the Year” in 2016 to “Work of the Year” in 2018 to “Songwriter of the Year” in 2019. This songwriter’s track record is impressive, which is why she wins her third award from Musikkforlaggerne this year. In recent years, she has established herself as a world-class songwriter with her work for artists such as Tove Styrke, Niykee Heaton, Sigala, Ella Mai, Olly Murs, Clean Bandit, Ellie Goulding and Dua Lipa. The latter’s 2018 song “New Rules” has been streamed over 1 billion times on Spotify, making her the British artist’s biggest contributor to date. This year's author – popular music is Caroline Ailin from Arctic Rights Management, BMG Rights Management and Waterfall Music.
Author: Gisle Kverndokk
Music publisher: Norwegian Music Publishers
The jury's reasoning: The Composer of the Year – Classical/Contemporary Music is a composer who has had great success over a long period of time, and few other Norwegian composers can point to a similar frequency of performances in the field of stage music. Recently, he has made a name for himself with the children's opera Purriot and the missing bronze horse, Upon This Handful of Earth and not least the recording of his Symphonic Dances with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. The winner of the Composer of the Year – Classical/Contemporary Music is Gisle Kverndokk from Norsk Musikforlag.
Work: Drink About
Originators: Espen Berg, Simen Eriksrud, Joakim Haukaas
Music publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Eccentric Music, Universal Music Publishing
From their studio near Youngstorget in central Oslo, two industry veterans have created global success in recent years. They first gained attention in 2015 when they remixed Mike Posner’s “I Took A Pill in Ibiza”, a remix that has now been streamed over 1,1 billion times on Spotify. In 2016, they found new success with a remix of Coldplay’s “Hymn For The Weekend” and, not least, the release of their own single “Breathe”. Together with Tromsø artist Dagny, the duo released a single in 2018 that has been a huge success on both radio and streaming.
Name: Cato Strom
Score: CEO of TONO.
The jury's reasoning: The winner of this year's honorary award can be considered to be somewhat outside the criteria as this person is not a composer, songwriter or music publisher. However, the person in question scores highly on the last and most crucial criterion – that they have done a lot for Norwegian music.
Read the rest of the jury's reasoning, and Cato Strøm's thoughts on the award. here.
