Now that we’re all set up for the final voting in the WRPCAs, I have a question for you.
What should we do differently next year?
We have already discussed adding ‘Best Compilation Album’ and getting rid of the ‘Non-Hogwarts Band’ category (it’s just too confusing). Other categories, a different procedure? Let us know what you think.
I think the first form was probably too intimidating… it just kept going and we had to wrack our brains for anybody we knew of. That said, I’m glad we’re doing these.
I don’t know. Maybe giving us easier access to sources by which to vote for…I found all my videos for best clip in the comments… It would certainly decrease the intimidation Abby said. And warn us that we can only vote once, so make it count, and research.
Besides that…
I agree with Abby. It was really hard to think of bands to nominate for the first form. Also, I had a really hard time picking between the collaborations – maybe you could allow two votes in categories that involve more than one band in a song? I dunno, just an idea to throw out there.
BRING BACK TEH METALZZZZ
\m/
There should be a second category that works like the Lifetime Achievement Award, but for people, organizations, websites, etc who aren’t bands who have had a big impact on the Wizard Rock scene.
Also, “Band Using The Most Exotic Instrument” should probably be rephrased to read “Best Use of An Exotic Instrument” but still leave it Band/Instrument without having to pick a specific song. (I think the crumhorn is a more exotic instrument than the hammered dulcimer strictly speaking, which is what the category asked for with its current phrasing. But I don’t even know which Humdingers’ song used the Crumhorn, whereas Snidget’s PRIMARY INSTRUMENT is the hammered dulcimer and if anyone deserves an award for using an exotic instrument in their wrock songs, its her.)
“Best Non-Hogwarts Band” should be renamed “Best Multi-house or Unhoused Band” or something along those lines with the description line “Any band that represents either no Hogwarts House or no Hogwarts House, whether personally or in canon, is eligible.” I think that works a bit better than “Best Non-Hogwarts Band” because it covers everyone who doesn’t fit in to one of the four house categories.
Oh yeah…I also think Catchlove was highly under-represented in the finals, but that’s up to the fans to change next year, not the ‘pedia. 😛
Maybe get rid of best band from beyond the grave, just because the bands in that category don’t necessarily have anything in common except the fact that they are about characters who died at some point in the series. I mean there isn’t necessarily any musical or thematic connection between all the bands, so it seems a bit pointless. As for new categories, maybe add one for best love song or best duet (songs with just two alternating singers instead of just any collaboration). And maybe allow two winners for best comedy song because there are sooo many really brilliant ones and it was way too hard to choose just one. And, yeah, the first form was pretty long and intimidating. And for some of the categories I didn’t really know which bands qualified, especially for the different houses because, unless a band sang lots of songs from one house perspective, I didn’t necessarily know which house the band identified with, so if you somehow created a list of which bands were in which houses that would help a lot. And also maybe one for which bands were considered which genre of music because sometimes the musical genres kind of overlap and I wasn’t sure what category to choose. Maybe if you set up some kind of list here where the bands could come and list all the categories they were eligible for right here on this site instead of just on their band websites that would take care of the problem. Obviously not every single band would end up posting their info. but I’m sure a lot of them would and it would help a lot. Sorry for all the rambling, lol. Just trying to help.
I’m highly sleep deprived right now, so I’ll have more to say after I sleep (I can’t go to sleep now – Lost is on tonight!), but right now, the only thing I can think of is to bring back Best Instrumental Song, or whatever it was called. There were some great instrumental pieces this year, such as “Dances With Thestrals” by Luna’s Ceiling, an entire EP of instrumentals from Essence of Dittany (the stand-out selection of which is definitely the amazingly epic “Dance of the Grindylows”), plus two or three songs from the Hermione-Crookshanks Experience’s EP, “Penelope”.
Also, I agree, you should scrap Best Band.
I agreee about bringing back Best Instrumental Song.
I think that there ought to be a “submitted for consideration” step first, where people submit the names of bands or songs they think should be considered for a category. (Everybody only gets to submit two per category.) Then once those are in, everybody picks five out of the “submitted for consideration” submissions, and the ones that get the five highest numbers of votes are the nominees. It would remind people of a lot of songs and bands they might not have thought about.
I like the nomination process; while the form is long, it allows everyone to vote for exactly whom they like and gives smaller bands a chance to make the ballot.
Many bands created lists of all the things they were eligible for; maybe the ‘pedia could encourage bands to do this before the nomination form is open for voting and then post a masterlist with links to all the lists so that voters will know exactly what’s eligible.
I submitted my noms before some bands had posted lists, and I realized too late that I’d missed some good selections.
That said, you guys are doing an amazing job with this!
And Bobby, thanks for the dulcimer love. 🙂
I thought the catagories were good this year, but how about “Wrock song with the highest playcount on your itunes library” – a nice fun one there 🙂
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