MMI Listeners' Picks

From M3P
Revision as of 15:25, 7 January 2012 by Tonisant (talk | contribs) (updated with top picks)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The MMI Listeners' Picks poll aims to establish the top favourite releases of the year among Toni Sant's Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast listeners. The poll was established on 15 September 2006 [1] when an initial list of nominations was published on Toni Sant's Blog. After this, the annual list of initial nominations has appeared sometime between late September and late November through the same channel.

Toni Sant has always admitted on his podcast and blog that he is somewhat selective with the final list of nominations, but from the published list it is fairly evident that the scope has always been to include as many titles as possible at the nomination stage. The criteria for nominations is listed below.

The top selections from podcast listeners for each year are announced during the first podcast of the following year.

Categories

The first poll ran with only four categories: Top Album, Top Single or EP, Top Internet Release, and Top Overseas-based Release. The Top Video category was introduced in 2007. A separate category for EPs was created in 2008 due to the larger number of EPs that year, however, this was merged with Top Album in 2011 as there was only a small number of EPs released that year.

Criteria for Nominations

In 2011, Toni Sant explained the criteria for nominations on Facebook, after he was asked to elaborate on the way the final shortlist for Top Video was created:

"The nomination criteria for videos are simple:
(a) I like the song and/or the video,
(b) I play the song on one of my weekly podcasts during the year,
(c) the video appears on YouTube,
(d) I try to be as inclusive as possible, without overdoing it intentionally.
Nomination criteria for the other categories are similar. But, let me be very clear that the whole purpose is promotional for the local scene rather than an aesthetic judgment, which is only rather minimal in my deciding what goes in and what stays out! The rest is up to the listeners. They do the shortlisting."


Top Picks

YearAlbumEPSingleOnlineVideoOverseas
2011KontroNatura - DanjeliRain or Shine
- Big Band Brothers
Ġurnata Famuża - DanjeliReaction - AdieThe Maltese Tenor
- Joseph Calleja
2010Vine Lady
- Red Electrick
People - Chasing PandoraJail Bail - Red ElectrickStay Away - Three Stops to China Who the Heck is Rek?
- Red Electrick
Hoodoo - Krokus
2009Moonstomp
- The Rifffs
Running in Circles
- Chasing Pandora
Champagne Charlie's Ghost
- The Rifffs
(tied) Mindwreck - Relikc
Tomorrow - RelikcLucija u Samwel - No Bling ShowAge of Decay - Joe Mizzi
2008Kuntrabanda!
- Brikkuni
Just Rock
- nosnow/nosalps
Jars of Clay - SaltPuzzle People - EzzyThoughts - WaxInto the Silence
- Airstrip One
2007Pretty
- Scream Daisy
Forza Malta (B'Għajta Waħda) - Xtruppaw
(tied) Jack the Ripper - The Rifffs
One In A Million - The Characters
Marshmallow Girl - Dean Saviour
n/aElectrophant - Mathematikal
2006Ignite - FireFeel the Rain (EP) - Chasing PandoraHead in the Clouds - 8 Uglyn/aHellraiser - Krokus


Voting Platform

Snap Poll was used for the very first MMI Listeners' Picks poll in 2006. However, as multiple votes from the same computer were only limited by a simple cookie on this free website poll, some individuals managed to vote more than once. This prompted Toni Sant to establish a fairer voting system via Facebook, where each account holder could only vote once in each category. The first Facebook MMI Listeners' Picks app was developed by James Attard in 2007. He also produced an upgraded Facebook app for the following year's poll.

Kenneth J. Vella developed a new Facebook MMI Listeners' Picks app in 2009 and upgraded it substantially in 2010. Uptake on Facebook in 2007 was relatively low since the social networking site had not gained the level of popularity it was to enjoy in subsequent years. In 2009, the app was plagued with a number of bugs resulting mostly from a radically altered API on Facebook. 498 individual Facebook users voted in 2010. Voting was suspended for a little over a week in 2011, when an upgrade to the Facebook login authentication occurred half way through the voting cycle. This did not impact the voting in any noticeable way and 623 individual Facbook users voted.

Instructions for Voting on Facebook

  1. go to the prescribed main page for the poll; available only during the last few weeks of any given year.
  2. click on the blue rectangle towards the centre of the page to login using your FB account (you'll get a pop-up window asking you to enter your FB username and password).
  3. allow the MMI poll app access to your FB account by clicking on the appropriate button in the pop-up window.
  4. once you're logged in, you'll see a large gray button with the words "Start voting" on it. click on that and you're on your way to the first category.
  5. enter your vote for each of the categories...they'll appear in sequence as soon as you cast your vote on the first one.
  6. make sure you cast your vote in all categories, otherwise your selections are not registered/saved.
  7. that's it!

External links