People's Choice

People's Choice Rules

WHAT IS IT?
The Syracuse Area Music Awards People's Choice vote is a chance for you to honor the area's best musicians and local music venues. The vote is conducted through the Sammys Web site, and decided through a popular vote.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
The People's Choice vote is held in three phases.

PHASE ONE: OPEN VOTE. During the first phase, users may either supply names for new bands and venues, or vote for bands and venues which have already been submitted to our voting system. New bands entered into the system are then selectable by future voters.

PHASE TWO: SELECTIVE VOTE. During this phase, no new bands may be submitted to the voting system. Starting with the top 128 bands and venues from the open vote, nominees will be cut in half on a weekly basis based on the number of votes for those nominees, resulting in just two finalists for each award.

PHASE THREE: FINAL VOTE. With only two bands and venues left, users may vote for the finalists during the final week of the vote. Information about the finalists will be supplied on the Sammys Web site. The winners will be announced at the Syracuse New Times Syracuse Area Music Awards Show.

WHAT HAPPENS IF BANDS ARE TIED?
Ties will always benefit bands. For example, if there are 4 bands who will be included in the next round, but the last of those four bands is tied with other bands, all of the bands tied with the last place band will be included in the next round.

WHAT IF THE FINAL TWO BANDS END UP HAVING THE SAME AMOUNT OF VOTES?
In that highly unlikely situation, we will hold a one-day sudden death round to determine the winner. The potential sudden death vote will be held the day after the final vote's deadline. In the case that the vote is still tied, a careful tally of total votes throughout the entire competition will be taken to determine the winner.

HOW MANY TIMES CAN I VOTE?
Voters can cast one vote per day, per email address. However, given those conditions, they may vote as many times as they'd like throughout the entire competition.

CAN'T PEOPLE MAKE UP FAKE EMAIL ADDRESSES TO DISTORT THE VOTE?
Yes, however the alternative would be to limit votes once per day to each IP address. However, because some families and public computers may be used legitimately by several different people, we prefer not to use that system. Alternately, we could have the vote be decided by one vote in total per email address or ip address, we think the vote is more fun and more accurate when it's conducted over a period of time, so that as many people as possible can get involved. Votes will be monitored by actual human beings, and if suspicious ip addresses are found to have an unusually large amount of email addresses voting from them, we will contact the email addresses and ask for the violator to stop. If we receive no response and continue to see abuse without explaination, we may ban an ip address from the vote in a worse case scenario.

ISN'T THIS JUST A BIG POPULARITY CONTEST?
Exactly :) While our annual album awards are judged by an independent panel of judges based on aesthetic merit, we want to give Syracuse a chance to voice their opinion on the best band and best venue in town. Bands and venues who have the biggest following will have the most potential to win. We may or may not agree with you, but that's the beauty of a vote -- popular opinion decides! The People's Choice vote is meant to be fun, and to honor members of the local music community who can truly mobilize their fans.

HOW DO WE KNOW THE VOTE IS ACCURATE?
The Sammys board takes great pains to maintain the accuracy of the vote, and to do so we keep records of literally every vote cast on our system. Rest assured our voting system has been extensively tested, and truly reflects every vote cast, so long as it has been verified through an email address. If you sense there are problems with the vote, by all means email us via our Contact page and let us know, and we'll immediately do everything we can to try to fix them.

WHY DON'T YOU POST THE AMOUNT OF VOTES BANDS AND VENUES HAVE SO FAR DURING THE CONTEST?
We feel that kind of ruins the spirit of a vote. Just look at political votes that are broadcast on TV. If you think your nominee is losing, why would you want to continue to vote? We want to make sure no one is discouraged from voting.