Rules

1. GENERAL

1.1. The International Award “PURE SOUND” for the Best Recording of Russian Academic Music (hereinafter the “Award”) was founded on the initiative of Russian Musical Union (a member of the International Musical Council in the status of the National Music Council of Russia).
This Regulation on the International Award “PURE SOUND” for the Best Recording of Russian Academic Music (hereinafter the “Regulation”) defines the procedure and terms of nominating for and winning of the Award in 2020-2021.

1.2. The Award is hosted by Russian Musical Union (hereinafter the “Host”). The Host sets the dates for the Award, organizes events within the Award framework, forms the jury for all stages of the Award, provides information support for the Award, engages other organizations to solve administrative, financial and technical issues related to the organization of the Award, and also carries out other actions provided for by this Regulation.

1.3. The partners of the Award are: The National Fund for the Support of Rightholders, Orpheus Radio Station, “Russia-Culture” TV Channel, “Russian Public Television” TV Channel, European Music Council (EMC), International Music Council (IMC), “Culture” newspaper, “CineLab” Studio Complex, Information Portal “Culture Mania” (Kulturomania), State Broadcasting Company “Radio Russia”, “InterMedia” Information Agency, “Musical Life” Magazine, “Musical Klondike” Information Agency, Yamaha company, New Century Bank Limited, All-Russian Congress of sound engineers (hereinafter referred to as the “Partners”). The Partners provide organizational, financial, technical and/or informational support to the Award.

1.4. The Award is a set of events, including organization and hosting of the Award ceremony in each category, aimed at the development of domestic academic music, the popularization of the Russian composers’ school, support for the recording industry and the development of Russian musical culture as a whole. The aim of the Award is also to support composers, performers, sound engineers, and music publishers working on the production of audio recordings of Russian academic music.

1.5. Audio recordings of musical works (sound tracks) in eight categories listed in Article 2 of the Regulation may be nominated for the Award, which

  • are the compositions (works) of Russian composers. The following persons are considered as Russian composers:

– any persons with the citizenship of the Russian Federation permanently or temporarily residing in the Russian Federation or abroad;

– persons born at any time in the territory of the Russian Federation (RSFSR), the USSR (before 1993) or countries of the former USSR (after 1993), permanently or temporarily residing (or who resided before) in the Russian Federation (RSFSR) or abroad, irrespective of availability of citizenship of the Russian Federation;

– persons born at any time in the territory of the Tsardom of Russia (before 1721) and Russian Empire (before 1917), permanently or temporarily resided in the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire or abroad, irrespective of availability of citizenship of the Tsardom of Russia or the Russian Empire;

– persons without citizenship of the Russian Federation (the Russian Empire or the Tsardom of Russia), whose creative activity is closely related to the musical culture and musical cultural heritage of the Russian Federation (RSFSR) and (or) the USS, the Russian Empire or the Tsardom of Russia.

The decision on the admission to participation in the Award of audio recordings of musical works (sound tracks), the authors (composers) of which are the persons indicated above, is taken by the Host of the Award.

  • being compositions (works) of any academic genres, written for a choir, symphony orchestra, large or chamber instrumental ensemble, individual instrumental soloists or singers, or any combinations (works) of these performers. To participate in the Award are allowed any audio recordings of musical works (sound tracks), written with the use of advanced performing techniques, compositions for acoustic instruments with electronic effects and sound recordings, conceptual works.

1.6 The Award is held once every two years. This Regulation determines the procedure for participation and selection of the Award winners in 2020-2021.

The information on the date, time and place of the Award is posted on the Internet at the Award website (www.sound-pure.com) and on the Host’s website (www.rmu.org.ru).

1.7 The Award has an international status. Any citizen or organization of any country in the world who participated in the creation of audio recordings (sound tracks) of works of Russian academic music and nominated for the Award in accordance with the terms of this Regulation may become a winner of the Award.

1.8 Audio recordings (soundtracks disks) of academic musical or musical-dramatic works of Russian composers (with or without text), published in any way or released no earlier than January 01, 2019 and no later than March 30, 2021, and provided in WAV or AIFF digital formats (hereinafter referred to as “Audio Recording”), may be admitted to the Award.

1.9 Audio Recordings released earlier than January 01, 2019, as well as reprints of Audio Recordings released before January 01, 2019 of Audio Recording on other labels, which are not composer’s and/or editorial edition, cannot participate in the Award.

1.10 The winner from among the nominees is determined by the expert council – (hereinafter referred to as the “Jury”) in each of the nominations listed in Article 2 of the Regulation.

1.11 The Jury of the Award consists of prominent musicians, sound engineers, leading music critics and musicians. A separate composition of the Jury is formed for each of the two stages of the Award.

1.12 The composition of the Jury of the Award is approved by the Host. The jury may include laureates of the previous Award held in 2019 (at least 2 and no more than 4 people).

1.13 The list of Jury at both stages of the Award will be published on the Award website (www.sound-pure.com) no later than May 15, 2020.

1.14. No registration fee is charged for participation in the Award.

2. NOMINATIONS

2.1 The Award presents the following nominations:

  • Opera (an audio recording of an opera or a collection of vocal performances from operas accompanied by an orchestra or chamber ensemble);
  • Choral works (an audio recording of a large choral form or a collection of individual choral works (including with soloists) accompanied by musical instruments or performed a capella (without accompaniment);
  • Orchestral music (an audio recording of a large symphonic work (symphony, suite, overture, symphonic poem, fantasy, rhapsody, variations, etc.) or several works performed by a symphony orchestra, as well as a concert for a solo instrument (including non-traditional or folk) with a symphony (string, chamber) orchestra);
  • Chamber vocal music (a audio recording of vocal works (or chamber operas) performed by singers solo and/or as part of vocal ensembles (up to 12 people) accompanied by musical instruments or a capella (without accompaniment);
  • Chamber instrumental ensemble music (an audio recording of a large work or a collection of works performed by a chamber instrumental ensemble);
  • Chamber instrumental solo music (an audio recording of a large-form work, a collection of works performed by one instrument);
  • Restoration of archived audio recordings (an audio recording on which music recorded before 1990 is presented (previously released without restoration is allowed), which has gone through restoration work. It shall be submitted in the form of two separate audio files (before restoration and after restoration);
  • Various works (a collection of audio recordings with a different cast).

2.2 By decision of the Host, special nominations may be presented in the Award.

3. AWARD PROCEDURE

3.1 Applications for the nomination of an Audio Recording for the Award may be accepted from authors of works, performers, producers of sound tracks, publishers and other rightholders who hold exclusive rights to the Audio Recording (hereinafter referred to as the “Applicants”). Both private individuals and organizations may act as the Applicant.

3.2 An Audio Recording may be allowed to participate in the Award, in the creation of which one of the members of the Award Jury has participated in one way or another. In this case, the vote of such a member of the Award Jury is not taken into account in the voting results for the Audio Recording, in the creation of which he participated in any way. At the same time, the member of the Jury himself, whose Audio Recording is nominated for the Award, cannot act as the Applicant.

3.3 By submitting a copy of the Audio Recording, the Applicant permits the use of this copy of the Audio Recording by listening to the Audio Recording by the members of the Award Jury (including by the methods specified in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) for the purpose of expert evaluation and selection of the winner of the Award.

3.4 Applications for the nomination of Audio Recordings for the Award are accepted from May 15, 2020 to March 30, 2021 inclusively.

3.5 When nominating an Audio Recording for the Award, the Applicant provides the following materials:

  • application for the nomination of an Audio Recording for the Award (the application form is available on the Award website www.sound-pure.com).
  • An Audio Recording of a musical or musical dramatic work that complies with the requirements specified in clause 1.5 of the Regulation.

3.6 Technical Requirements for an Audio Recording shall be as follows:

  • format – Waveform Audio File (wav) or aiff. The provision of Audio Recordings in the form of compressed files (mp3, aac, flac and the like) is not permitted;
  • permissible frequencies – 44.1; 48.0; 88.2 or 96.0 kHz;
  • valid bit depths are 16 or 24 bits;
  • the number of recording channels – 2 (stereo);
  • An Audio Recording shall be submitted as an active link to the hosting resource;
  • the file must be available for download without a password and/or captcha during the entire term of holding the Award;
  • it is not permissible to use file hosting services at submitting the application for the Award (such as “peer-to-peer” (P2P), the YouTube channel, or online public access resources. In the nomination “Archival Audio Recording” two audio files must be submitted: the original recording (before restoration) and the restored Audio Recording.

3.7 Voting is conducted on an anonymous basis. An Audio Recording is available to the Jury under the code name. The code name of an Audio Recording can be a word (several words) or a set of alphabetic and/or digital characters (no more than 20 characters, including spaces). The code name of the Audio Recording should not contain the names and surnames of the authors and performers, as well as repeat the name of the works (collection, album) or release label.

3.8 By submitting to the Host of the application for participation in the Award, the Applicant confirms the full and unconditional consent with the terms of the Regulation, and also guarantees that the Applicant fulfills all the conditions of the Regulation.

3.9 Compliance of the Audio Recordings with the requirements of this Regulation is determined by the Award Host.

3.10 All Audio Recordings that meet the requirements of this Regulation, under the code name, are registered in the Long List. The long list of eligible Audio Recordings (hereinafter referred to as the “Nominees”) will be published on the website of the Award no later than April 05, 2021.

4. PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINING THE AWARD WINNERS

4.1 The Award involves several consecutive stages, consisting of the evaluation of the Audio Recordings included in the Long List, carried out on the basis of this Article of the Regulation, the awarding ceremony of the Nominees and a gala concert.

4.2 Audio Recordings are evaluated according to the following general criteria:

  • the content of the Audio Recording (preference is given to full-fledged releases, rather than separately recorded works);
  • sound quality, including technical and artistic aspects;
  • artistic level of performance and interpretation of music.

4.3 Nominees are evaluated in two stages:

4.3.1 The first – the selection stage is held from April 05, 2021 to May 31, 2021, according to the results of which the Short List of the Award is formed (a list containing the code names of the sound tracks that passed into the final stage of the Award): no more than 5 (Five) Nominees in each category.

The short list of the Award Nominees will be published on the Award website at www.sound-pure.com.

4.3.2 The second – the final stage is held from June 01, 2021 to July 01, 2021, according to the results of which the winners of the Award in each category are determined.

4.4 The list of winners at each stage of the Award Nominees in each category is compiled by the Jury based on expert judgment and personal opinion.

5. SUMMING UP AND THE AWARDING CEREMONY OF THE WINNERS

5.1 The winners of the First, Second and Third Degrees are the Nominees in each category, who have received the largest number of Jury votes.

5.2 The winners of the Prize of the First Degree are persons who have exclusive copyright and/or related rights to the work, performance, and sound track of the Nominee who won in each category (copyright holders):

  • authors of music and words;
  • performers (soloists, conductors of the orchestra and choir, musicians, singers, etc. In the event that a large group (choir, orchestra, etc.) took part in the creation of the Audio Recording, the whole group is considered as the winner);
  • arrangers (or composers) who have created arrangements, orchestrations or arrangements on folk or spiritual themes;
  • sound engineers (including the leading sound engineer who directly recorded the audio recording and/or supervised the recording process; the sound engineer who did the mixing and/or mastering);
  • producers of the Audio Recording;
  • record labels, publishers.

5.3 The winners of the First, Second and Third Degrees in each nomination are awarded with Diplomas of the Award winners, a commemorative Award and a cash prize, which is transferred to the Applicant and distributed among those listed in clause 5.2 of this Article by the rightholders of the winning Nominee at their discretion.

5.4 The amount of cash reward and a commemorative award shall be approved by the Host. The information on the amount of cash rewards and a commemorative award will be published on the website of the Award at www.sound-pure.com.

5.5 By the decision of the Award Host (by agreement with the Jury) special prizes may be established.

5.6 The Winners and Nominees of the First, Second and Third Degrees in each category will be announced at the awarding ceremony.

5.7 The awarding ceremony and gala concert will be held in 2021 in Moscow. The information about the place and time of the award ceremony and gala concert will be published on the Award website at www.sound-pure.com and on the Host’s website at www.rmu.org.ru no later than 2 (Two) months before the date of the awarding ceremony and gala concert.

6. CONCLUDING PROVISIONS

6.1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its approval (signing) by the Host.

6.2. This Regulation may be amended and/or supplemented by decision of the Host.

6.3. The Host reserves the exclusive right at any time (a) to amend and / or change this Regulation, and / or (b) to cancel the Regulation and / or recognize it as invalid in whole or in part, and / or (c) accept the new version of the Regulation as well as change and / or amend the names, the number of nominations, the number of Nominees and other conditions for holding the Award and related thereto events.

6.4. All changes and additions to the Regulation, as well as the Regulation adopted in the new edition, shall enter into force as of the day they are approved (signed) by the Host, unless a different date of entry into force is clearly indicated and determined by the Host.

6.5. The Organizer is not obliged to provide third parties with information and data on the holding of the Award, as well as on organizational measures related to it, with the exception of cases expressly provided for by the current legislation of the Russian Federation.

6.6. All and any requirements of citizens and / or legal entities related to the organization and holding of the Award or participation in it, and / or arising from this Regulation, as well as their consequences, are considered by the Host, with the exception of cases expressly provided for by the current legislation of the Russian Federation.

6.7. The Host is exempted from reimbursement of any possible and / or incurred by the Applicants, any third parties losses, expenses and / or other sums of money associated with the implementation of events for the purpose of the Award, other than those expressly provided for by the Regulation.

6.8. By accepting the terms of the Regulation, the Applicant does not object and agrees to the processing by the Host of the Applicant’s personal data in the manner and subject to the terms and conditions provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

6.9. All disputes and disagreements that may arise in connection with the holding of the Award and its results, as well as related to the conduct of activities for the purpose of granting the Award, and / or arising from the Regulation, and / or directly or indirectly related to it, shall be resolved through amicable negotiations.

6.10. The headings in the Regulation are provided solely for the convenience of working with the text and should not be taken into account. The headings to sections and paragraphs, as well as their numbering, are for reference purposes only and do not define, limit or change the meaning, content and interpretation of the Regulation.

6.11. Losses and any other damage incurred by the Host and / or third parties as a result of violation by the Applicant of copyright and / or related rights when using Audio Recording under the Regulation during the Award are compensated by the Applicant who has committed such a violation.

Host of the Award

Russian Musical Union

Address: 73, Novoslobodskaya Str., Bldg. 1, Moscow 127055

Phone: +7(495) 961-41-26; E-mail: info@sound-pure.com

The official websites in the Internet that will provide information about the Award:

Website of the Award www.sound-pure.com.