At the press conference held on Tuesday, Zain’s corporate communications director Mike Okwiri, MTV Networks sales manager Lisa Amenya urged the music industry players to hand in their videos to beat the June 30 deadline for the MTVbase Africa Music Awards.

Mtaatv spoke to  Lisa Amenya, Sales Manager – East Africa, MTV Networks Africa and this is what she had to say:………
There are just 5 months to go until the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) with Zain – what promises to be the most exciting music event Kenya has ever seen.  2009 MAMA with Zain is deliver as a joyous celebration of African contemporary music talent.

It might seem a long way off but I promise you, before the 2009 MAMA with Zain comes to Kenya for the first time, there is a lot to do:  booking artists, finding a host, deciding the nominees, voting for the winners, and more.  The 2009 MAMA with Zain may be a great party, but is definitely no picnic to put together.

But how do artists from Kenya get involved in this show which, after all, takes place on their doorstep? This is the info that i want to get out to Kenyan artists.

There are several different ways that Kenyan artists can get involved in the 2009 MAMA with Zain:

• they can be nominated for an award, like East Africa Bashment Crew was nominated in 2008
• they can perform at the 2009 MAMA with Zain show or suround events, like Jua Cali in 2008
• they can be a guest presenter and walk the red carpet in front of thousands of fans and media
• and, they can ultimately win a 2009 MAMA trophy – as we know from Wahu’s brilliant victory in the Best Female category last year

But how do we select the artists that are nominated to the MAMA with Zain awards? And, how do we get more Kenyan artists winning in 2009?

It is pretty simple: for consideration in the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain, artists need to have had their music video played on MTV base in the qualifying period – 16 Aug 2008 to 30 June 2009.

Submitting the video alone is not enough – it needs to be actually accepted by MTV base and played on the channel by the deadline.  The video needs to be in a certain format and adhere to certain guidelines set by MTV base.  (Note, artists are able to contact any MTV representative in Kenya for that info. – I have info on my Facebook page)  If artists adhere to those guidelines, they have a significantly better chance of getting their videos onto MTV base – so its definitely worth reading and absorbing.

Once an artist’s video has been submitted and accepted by MTV base, the good news is that they are automatically included in the 2009 MAMA with Zain nominee shortlist in the relevant category, such as Best Video, Best Female etc. A list of the qualifying artists is then sent to the 2009 MAMA with Zain Academy – a panel of 150 music industry insiders across the continent who vote for their favourite artists.  The results of this vote form the basis of the official 2009 MAMA with Zain nominee list.

On the 18 Aug 2009, MTV and Zain will be announcing the nominees in all key categories.  We will then throw the nominations out to music fans who will ultimately decide the winners, voting via SMS and on-line, to choose their favourites.

Last year 13 Kenyan artists made it to the MAMA with Zain shortlist.  They were:  Abbas, Buddhahat, DNG, IDA, Jua Cali, Kaya, Maleek, Nameless, Nikki, Pam featuring Abbass, The Bugz, Wahu and Wakamba Wawili.  Two of those artists went on to be nominated and one to win.

There is only a short time remaining but we would love there to be more Kenyan artists reflected on the Academy list and the nominee shortlist this year – particularly new and emerging artists.  I urge all artists with current material to get to work – as we know from our work on the MTV Making the Video Challenge – it doesn’t have to take a long time or a lot of money to make a great video.  This could be the stepping stone in your music career you’ve been waiting for – can you afford to miss it?