ABOUT US

The ATBC Awards began in 2024 as a project started by the Austin Tribute Band Community Facebook group.

Both the FB group page and the awards were a response to the Austin Chronicle's decision in 2018 to eliminate the Best Cover/Tribute Band category from its annual Austin Music Awards. We felt that this decision was misguided, and recognized that it served to disenfranchise numerous professional, talented, and hardworking Austin musicians --- along with their fans. While the focus of the Austin Tribute Band Community is on tribute bands, we made the decision for our annual ATBC Awards to also recognize and honor cover bands. 

2024 marks the inaugural year for the ATBC Awards. The finalists were nominated by write-in votes from the public, with the top five making the list for the 2nd and final round. Winners were chosen by open public voting in the 2nd round.

Given that this is the very first ATBC poll, conducted and managed by the free labor of the group admins/moderators and without the support of sponsors (although we are hopeful that will change soon), we made the decision for this year’s awards to be online-only. Upon request, we will send to each winner a high-resolution PNG of the award suitable for printing if they choose. 

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For the 2025 ATBC Awards, the nomination process will be modified. Nominees will be chosen from a combination of write-in votes from the public and write-in votes from an independent panel of (non-musician) Austin music industry professionals. The 2025 awards will also feature new and modified categories.