Beatport, the electronic music mp3 merchants, launched their first music awards, aptly named Beatport Music Awards. Voting kicks off on Tuesday 18th March 2008, giving all users the opportunity to vote for the best electronic music artists of 2007, according to Beatport sales charts.

The awards are broken down into 19 categories including Best Artist categories from each genre and the multi-genre Best Remix and Best Single. Genres covered include breakbeat, chillout, deep house, tech house, drum n bass, electro house, dubstep & grime, house, techno, electronica - to name the proverbial few.

Since the launch of the new award, complaints from users have been rolling in. Some say that the nominee lists are too narrow, while others bemoan the fact that customers can’t buy all the tracks listed due to “territorial restrictions”. Others pointed out that many artists appear in several categories (eg. Trentemoller appears in “Best Chillout Artist”, “Best Electronica Artist”, “Best Minimal Artist”, and “Best Tech House Artist”).

Jonas Tempel, Beatport CEO/Founding Partner, jumped smack into the online debate and explained:

“The BMA’s are our first attempt to really reach out and recognize the artists that are pushing the sound of electronic music. We appreciate the open debate on the quality of our efforts. Believe me, we read these posts and try to adjust our efforts based on user input. As you can imagine, putting together an awards program is tough with all the awesome music that is released every week. Basing it over a year is even harder.”

Publicity ploy or really great idea? I dunno. I stopped believing in the Easter bunny a long time ago. Check out the nominees (below) and see whether your vote is worth casting.

Long live electronic music!

The Beatport Music Awards 2008 Nominees

Best Breakbeat Artist
30Hz
Agent K
DJ Icey
Far Too Loud
Freestylers
General MIDI
Plump DJs
Soul Of Man
The Funk Lab
The Rogue Element

Best Chillout Artist
Bitter:Sweet
Burial
Chymera
Eelke Kleijn
Kevin Yost
Living Room
Pako & Frederik
Spooky
The Last Atlant
Trentemoller

Best Deep House Artist
Akabu
Anil Chawla
Dale Anderson
Francois Dubois
Jay Shepheard
Joeski
Miguel Migs
Nikola Gala
Phonique
The Timewriter

Best Drum & Bass Artist
Calyx
Commix
Futurebound
High Contrast
Lomax
Matrix
Mindscape
Noisia
TC
TeeBee

Best Dubstep & Grime Artist
Alert
Bassnectar
Boxcutter
Burial
Deadbeat
DJ Pinch
Ed Solo & Skool of Thought
Modeselektor
Shackleton
Vibesquad

Best Electro House Artist
Chris Lake
Dave Spoon
Deadmau5
Dirty South
Klaas
Olivier Giacomotto
Pryda
Robbie Rivera
Sebastien Leger
Vandalism

Best Electronica Artist
Apparat
Boys Noize
Chromeo
Gui Boratto
Hot Chip
Matthew Dear
Modeselektor
Nathan Fake
Robyn
Trentemoller

Best Hard Dance Artist
BK
Dark By Design
DJ Trajic
DJ Zany
Donkey Rollers
Lisa Lashes
Nick Sentience
Technikal
The Red Hed
Vinylgroover

Best Hardcore Artist
Art Of Fighters
Brennan Heart
DJ Isaac
DJ Zany
Gammer
Robert Natus
Sy
The Beholder
Tommyknocker
Unknown

Best House Artist
Axwell
Chris Montana
Dennis Ferrer
Dirty South
DJ Disciple
Ian Oliver
Jerry Ropero
Jesse Garcia
Robbie Rivera
Thomas Gold

Best Minimal Artist
Ambivalent
Barem
Dubfire
Gaiser
Luca Bacchetti
Minilogue
Pan-Pot
Shlomi Aber
Shonky
Trentemoller

Best Progressive House Artist
Adam K
Austin Leeds
Beckers
Deadmau5
Dousk
Glenn Morrison
Jerome Isma-Ae
Soha
Thomas Gold
Yvan & Dan Daniel

Best Psy Trance Artist
Ace Ventura
Antix
Atmos
Behind Blue Eyes
Freq
Gaudium
Perfect Stranger
Planet B.E.N.
Shadow FX
Tristan

Best Tech House Artist
Audiofly X
Booka Shade
Claude VonStroke
D.Ramirez
James Talk
Mark Knight
Martin Buttrich
Samim
The Timewriter
Trentemoller

Best Techno Artist
Butch
Dubfire
Dusty Kid
Gregor Tresher
Gui Boratto
Guy Gerber
Len Faki
Oxia
Pig & Dan
Stephan Bodzin

Best Trance Artist
Above & Beyond
Armin Van Buuren
Cosmic Gate
DJ Tiësto
John O’Callaghan
Markus Schulz
Rank 1
Sean Tyas
Stoneface & Terminal
Super8

Best Remix of 2007
BREAKS: Dave Spoon ‘Bad Girl (At Night)’ (Beat Vandals Remix)
CHILL OUT: Booka Shade ‘Night Falls’ (Larry Gold’s Night Falls Over Philly String Version)
DEEP HOUSE: Akabu ‘I’m Not Afraid of The Future’ (Jimpster Remix)
DRUM & BASS: Absolute Zero, Subphonics ‘The Code’ (SKC Remix)
DUBSTEP & GRIME: Martin Buttrich ‘Well Done’ (Headhunter Remix)
ELECTRO HOUSE: Burufunk, Carbon Community ‘Community Funk’ (Deadmau5 Remix)
ELECTRONICA: Nathan Fake ‘You Are Here’ (Four Tet Remix)
HARD DANCE: JX ‘Restless’ (Technikal Remix)
HARDCORE: Brennan Heart ‘Get Wasted’ (Blademasterz Remix)
HOUSE: Dirty South ‘Let It Go’ (Axwell Remix)
MINIMAL: Luka & Lazo ‘Dust No.4’ (Barem Remix)
PROGRESSIVE HOUSE: Diaz, Gold, Young Rebels ‘Don’t You Want Me’ (Thomas Gold & FD’s Club Mix)
PSY TRANCE: Antix ‘Free As We Are’ (Perfect Stranger Re-Edit)
TECH HOUSE: Nick Muir ‘G Platz’ (Pig & Dan Remix)
TECHNO: Butch ‘On The Line’ (Oxia Remix)
TRANCE: Bedrock ‘Heaven Scent’ (Greg Downey Remix)

Best Single of 2007
BREAKS: Far Too Loud ‘Play It Loud’
CHILL OUT: Chymera ‘Umbrella’ (Beatless Mix)
DEEP HOUSE: Anil Chawla, Dale Anderson ‘Leftorium’
DRUM & BASS: Commix ‘Be True’
DUBSTEP & GRIME: Burial ‘Archangel’
ELECTRO HOUSE: Deadmau5 ‘Not Exactly’
ELECTRONICA: Peter Bjorn & John ‘Young Folks’
HARD DANCE: BK, Judge Jules ‘Sickness’
HARDCORE: Tube-Tech ‘Paint It Black’
HOUSE: Brazen ‘Toto’
MINIMAL: Dubfire ‘Emissions’
PROGRESSIVE HOUSE: Adam K, Soha ‘Twilight’
PSY-TRANCE: Ace Ventura ‘Sao Paulo’
TECH HOUSE: Samim ‘Heater’
TECHNO: Gregor Tresher ‘A Thousand Nights’
TRANCE: DJ Remy, Roland Klinkenberg ‘Mexico Can Wait’