The past 5 years have seen quite an evolution at the BMAs. What was once considered by a select crowd to be just a party evening to celebrate the most popular and sometimes irrelevant artists in categories has turned into a beast all its own. I mean, voting for awards by their very nature are, of course, a popularity contest, but what the BMAs have done for local music and community in the past years with new projects and support for artists embedded in Boston and beyond has been a truly visionary and beautiful thing.

Today at approximately 11:01 AM the 2018 nominations have been released and voting starts today and continues until November 4th. There are a spattering of updated categories and a few newbies, plus a whole slew of friends of RLR nominated in categories. We urge you all to not just go to the voting page and click on the names of your friends and folks you know, but to take the time to find something new in a category you may not be familiar with and take a dive into a new band. Part of what is so brilliant about the Boston Music Awards is that it takes often silo’ed music communities that are a part of the great Boston scene and puts them all together in a room and on a stage for a collection of events leading up to the big night. Its something that happens all too infrequently, but the fact that you can take roots bands, rappers and R&B artists and metal groups and put them on a stage to create one of the best nights of the entire year, well thats just a feat of magic in and of itself.

We are especially excited to see our bud Ali Mcguirk up for quite a few awards, one of our new favorites Gentle Temper, BMA badass, sweetheart Julie Rhodes plus the new “Music Journalist of the Year” category. I mean, all that and like mentioned above, all the acts we don’t yet know and love that we cannot wait to dig into.

So head on over to the voting page and cast your vote, check out some new artists (or photographers or music publications) and support some local shit today. It will make you feel good.