Westlife win at web awards

LONDON, UK (Interactive Music Awards) - The win tops a good few days for Westlife
Westlife reigned supreme at the first Interactive Music Awards, which honours artists for their presence on the web.

The Irish group walked away with the event's People's Choice award, just days after they won two prizes at the Smash Hits awards.
Fellow boy band Blue also triumphed, picking up the artist of the year award.
Both acts were beaten to the best pop artist award by Pop Idol's Darius Danesh.

The public cast hundreds of thousands of votes for the awards, though there were also several categories judged by specialist panels of industry experts.
Darius Danesh also won at the awards
Rap star Chuck D, who has long been a supporter of using the net for music distribution, presented the awards at the BT Tower in London.

John Raczka, of sponsor BT Openworld, said: "Interactive media gives so much freedom for music to be experienced and interacted with by fans - whether it be exclusive versions of tracks, live webcasts, ringtones or webchats.
"The awards celebrate the fantastic talent and commitment that puts the UK at the forefront of this exciting area."

Winners

Other winners at the awards included the mobile phone music recognition service, Shazam, which picked up best innovation, and Supergrass, who won in the best rock/indie artist category.

The Streets picked up best urban/ dance artist while BMG walked away with best label.

With 11 awards, the event aims to showcase all elements of interactive media in the music industry, from acts' websites to promotional text-message campaigns.