Madrid dressed up to host the first edition of Premios Fest, the awards dedicated to music festivals in Spain organized by Bythefest.com and the Music Promoters Association (APM). With the 15th anniversary of the APM as leitmotiv, most of the great names of the music industry met at the Barclaycard Center to toast for the music and to deliver a message: “We will not give up; despite of the 21% VAT, the irresponsible intrusion fostered by the lack of regulation in our industry, the eternal deficit of not having a Patronage Law and the suffering of the cultural policy with every single government change”, said Pasgual Egea, APM’s president.
The comedian David Navarro was the master of ceremonies of a fast and effective delivery of prizes, with touches of humor, criticism and winks to most of the nominees and presents at the event. The Bilbao BBK Live was one of the great winners of the night after achieving the Best Camping Area and Best Large Format Festival awards. Furthermore, Las Tour, organizers of the festival, won the statuette for Best Festival Promoters.
Martín Pérez, director of Concert Studio, rose twice to the stand to collect two awards: Best Small Festival for the XV Mil·lenni Festival and Best Restoration Zone for the II Jardins Festival Palau Reial de Pedralbes. The young Vida Festival won the Revelation Festival award, and the International Jazz Festival de Barcelona, one of the oldest in Spain, achieved the award for Best Production.
The Monkey Week Festival was recognized for its work in El Puerto de Santa María with the Best Parallel Activities award and the Bona Nit Barcelona Festival was proclaimed as the Most Responsible Festival. On the other hand, the Low Festival won the Most Technologically Advanced Festival prize by pioneering purse bracelets, and the Dcode Festival, organized by Live Nation, was hailed as the Best Communication Campaign.
Moreover, Vetusta Morla was awarded as the Best National Live. The band was in the ceremony with other fellows as Dover or Supersubmarina. All of them thanked the work of the whole team behind every concert. Gojira won the award for Best International Live. And in the field of communication, Radio3 achieved the award for Best Media. Finally, the Independent Phonographic Union (UFi) offered the prize for the festival that gives more support to the emerging artists, that was committed to Sonorama Ribera de Aranda de Duero Festival.
