NZ Music Awards: Four Tuis up for grabs at Artisan awards

The director of Fazerdaze's Lucky Girl video has been nominated for an Artisan Award. Photo/Greg Bowker

Some big names are included in the nominees list for the upcoming Artisan Awards.

The awards, a prequel for the NZ Music Awards in November, honour those behind the scenes of the local music industry, with gongs for best album cover, best producer, best engineer and best music video.

Among those up for awards are some very big names: the artists behind Shapeshifter, Grayson Gilmour and Fly My Pretties for best album cover, the producers for albums from Nadia Reid, Leisure and Swidt, the engineers for Nadia Reid, Rei and Devilskin, and videos from Shapeshifter, Leisure and Fazerdaze.

Recorded Music New Zealand CEO Damian Vaughan said the awards honoured industry talent that was often overlooked.

"Producers and engineers ensure the world-class and technical sound quality of New Zealand music while album covers and music videos help to contextualise songs in our heads, long after the music stops playing," he said.

The winners will be announced at an event on October 25.

Best Album Cover:
Dean Poole & Tyrone Ohia (Alt Group) for Stars (Shapeshifter)
Henrietta Harris for Otherness (Grayson Gilmour)
Jamie Robertson for String Theory (Fly My Pretties)

Best Producer:
Ben Edwards for Preservation (Nadia Reid)
LEISURE for LEISURE (LEISURE)
SmokeyGotBeatz for Stoneyhunga (SWIDT)

Best Engineer:

Ben Edwards for Preservation (Nadia Reid)

Chris Chetland for A Place to Stand (REI)

Clint Murphy for Be Like The River (Devilskin)

NZ On Air Best Music Video:

Dan Watkins (Reel Factory) for Her (Shapeshifter)

Joel Kefali for Got It Bad (LEISURE)

Sam Kristofski for Lucky Girl (Fazerdaze)