Together with our Gig community, a decade of memories has been made. Gigstarter was founded in 2012 and started hosting the Artist of the Year competitons 3 years later. We like to highlight some of our outstanding artists, let's take a look at all the winners from our previous Artist and DJ of The Year editions. Artist of The Year is Gigstarter's annual competition in which artists from all over Europe join to win the title of Artist and DJ of the year. The competition aimed at awarding the muisicians' own compositions and at giving them more exposure. Cheers to the all the winners who deserved to be sacred Artist and DJ of the Year!
2015: Pop on Top
Lizzy V won this edition and was also our most popular artist in 2015. Lizzy reached over almost 3000 views on her profile in this year only! Nowadays Lizzy is still part of our community and has reached over 114 verified bookings. This year's competition was hosted in Bitterzoet, a cool venue lined with quirky stained glass.
2016: Rock 'n Roll
The three finalists of this edition performed in the Sugarfactory (now LoveLee) in Amsterdam. The judges made the final decision and chose ACES as Artist of The Year 2016! "In the past 4 years it has become clear to us that making music together is the most important thing. Therefore, we jammed a lot together and new songs flow from that. That gives us the satisfaction and experience of making music" the band mentioned in 2021 looking back on what happened after winning their title. The band only existed for over a year before winning this special prize, really impressive!
2017: Artist and DJ of The Year
In 2017, for the first time we included DJ of The Year in our yearly competition. The finalists performed in the church of Ruigoord where Mike Gerritsen finally became DJ of the Year and Dean and the Moonboys were crowned as Artist of The Year. Read and see more about this year's edition in our article.
2018: Artist of The Year goes International
This year our competition took a more international turn while we hosted it in the former Sugarfactory (now Lovelee). The talented French rockers of Stoned Therapists won the title Artist of The Year, we also had a special audience price for The SoulPhoenixs from France as the audience's favorite. More about this edition can be read in our blog. This year's DJ title belonged to the Spanish DJ Frank Gomez, read more about him in our interview here.
2019: The 5th anniversary
The fifth edition was another success with the Belgian ska band The Happy Suspended taking the title of Artist of The Year. This year's DJ of the Year was Savio Damiano. Talking about being multitalend: did you know Savio is not just a DJ? He also plays the guitar and produces music, he even played in a band! Besides winning the title he also won a course at DJ School Amsterdam. "This was very educational and I am still in contact with DJ School Amsterdam. You can tell from everything that they have a lot of experience in coaching DJs, from the professional equipment on hand to the specific help they offer" Savio mentioned in an interview with us. This special edition was hosted in the Melkweg in Amsterdam. Read more about this edition here.
2020: First Pandemic Edition
Despite the pandemic hitting the industry horendsously, we did not want to cancel our annual competition. Showing the power of live music we hosted this year a completely virtual edition streamed on YouTube. The jury was composed of members of major labels such as Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner. The title was passed on to the Belgian keltic band PanKart. The jury unanimously decided that LLout would represent the DJ of 2020.
Curious to how this first online edition went? Watch the video below to relive our first online competition! Or read more about the finale here.
2021: Another year, another online edition
The second online edition was in 2021 and thankfully would be the last online edition, so we can enjoy and dance together offline again. This year the stunning Julie Huard mesmerized the audience with her beautiful voice. DJ Mini Maal took over the throne in 2021, representing Belgium. Read more about DJ Mini Maal in our interview with him here.
Missed out on the big finale last year? Don't worry, we got you. Watch the video below for the full experience. Prefer reading about it? Read our blog.
2022: 10 Years of Gig
We finally could host our yearly event in real life again instead of virtually. Besides the Artist of The Year competition we also held our 10th anniversary party at our headquarters. The winners played a live set to not easily forget. Our Duo of The Year (wildcard) The Mule Stompers makes sure to get everyone on their feet with their hilbilly tunes. Our Artist of The Year 2022 belonged to Gold Collective, the band has been part of Gigstarter for a really long time now. The acoustic trio, combining a double bass, a cajón and the beautiful voice of Pip, surely is deserving of this title. Our DJ of The Year was Esta Polyesta, a DJ who allies world music, balkan music mixed with EDM.
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