The annual music awards event organised by Spanish record label association Promusicae will return this year after a four year break. The trade body has not held the awards event in recent years as a protest against the rampant music piracy that goes on in the country.
Although music piracy remains a big issue for the Spanish record industry, Promusicae's President Antonio Guisasola announced last week that the Premios Amigo awards would be held again this year, at an event on 27 Nov in Madrid. The exact format of the event is to be confirmed. Originally the Premios Amigo were a big awards event, but in the last two years they took place - 2002 and 2003 - the awards were distributed at a low key press conference.
Speaking last week, Guisasola told reporters: "The grand fiesta of music and music lovers will be back this year. Unfortunately, the [music] panorama is no more promising now than it was then [in 2003], but we want to say very loudly that we still believe in music as one of the most emotional, fascinating and enriching artistic expressions that we humans have been able to conceive".
As before, the Premios Amigo will celebrate both Spanish and international talent. This distinguishes it from the country's other main music awards, the publishing sector organised Premios de la Musica, which only presents awards to Spanish artists, or Latin artists signed to Spanish labels.