Please Vote for APX in CCM Awards
Mon., Sep. 11. 2006 12:14am EDT
Last week, we mentioned that CCM Magazine has just opened up the voting for its 2006 Reader's Choice Awards. If you missed that article or if you haven't voted yet, please consider taking a minute to do so. Here's the link:
http://www.ccmmagazine.com/features/3591.aspx
ApologetiX was voted Favorite Indie Artist in the 2004 awards, thanks to people like you who voted online. Unfortunately, that award was discontinued in 2005 ... but this year they've brought it back!
Once again, we aren't even listed as a choice ... BUT there is a spot in each category where you can write in a vote. It worked in 2004, and it'll work again in 2006 if you participate. There are a number of other categories in which you could choose to vote for ApologetiX, but we think "Best Independent Artist of 2006" is our best bet.
You don't have to vote in every single category. There are many categories, but "Best Independent Artist" is one of the earlier categories listed.
For over 25 years now, CCM Magazine has been recognized as the premier publication dealing with contemporary Christian music. With all of the major national labels vying for CCM's attention, it's very hard for an independent band like us to get noticed, even though our CDs sell well, we play national festivals, and our songs hit the national charts. When we won the award two years ago, it was our first real publicity in CCM, aside from numerous advertisements we'd done.
A second strike against us is that we do parodies, which probably causes them not to take us very seriously. As former CCM Editor Matthew Turner told the Los Angeles Times in 2002, "It's a concept that is incredibly cheesy, but they do it really well."
However, we believe that the lyrics and messages in our parodies have something very important to say. When we won the award last time, it certainly caused a few more people at CCM to take notice. If we were to win it again, it might get enough attention to merit a feature story and some more mention.
Are we looking for fame? No, but the more exposure we can get for our parodies, the more people we can reach and teach. We run into new fans all the time who say, "I can't believe I just found out about you guys, and yet you've been around for all these years!" Getting more attention in CCM could let more people know about us faster. It's one thing to tell CCM Magazine that we have a fan club of well over 70,000 members; it's another thing when they see the votes come in.
You can vote for ApologetiX in as many of the applicable categories (let's not be silly and stick us in categories that don't apply) as you like, but please make one of them "Best Independent Artist." And don't forget to vote for other artists you enjoy in their applicable categories.
Please submit only one ballot. People who try to stuff the ballot box by submitting more than once will be automatically disqualified. It makes them look bad and it makes the artists they vote for look bad. Besides, if we win, we want to win fair and square, just like in 2004.
Thanks! Voting ends October 15. The results will be announced in the January '07 Readers' Choice issue of CCM Magazine. Here's the link again:
http://www.ccmmagazine.com/features/3591.aspx
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