About
Celebrating music and artists from across Scotland.
Awards | Playlists | International Showcases | Networking | Festivals
SAMA Events Team
The Scottish Alternative Music Awards (SAMA) recognises the best new Scottish music, shining a spotlight across an eclectic range of contemporary music genres.
SAMA produces the annual Scottish Alternative Music Awards, celebrating Scotland’s alternative music scene. Throughout the year, it also hosts music industry showcases at Liverpool Sound City (UK), Wild Paths (UK) and Pro Weekend Fest (Spain), alongside its own two-day music festival, SAMA Paisley Takeover.
SAMA is also the creator and producer of PITCH, encompassing the three-day PITCH Scotland conference, PITCH International showcases and songwriting camps. Across both SAMA and PITCH, we deliver music export activity at leading events such as SXSW London (UK), FOCUS Wales (UK), Nuremberg Pop (DE) and Cranium Arts Festival (CA).
The 7 SAMA’s 2025 award winners are:
Best Live Act: Waverley.
Best Metal: Sixth Wonder
Best Acoustic: Miwa Nagato-Apthorp
Best Newcomer: Mercy Girl
Best Rock/Alternative: Martha May & The Mondays
Best Electronic: Proc Fiskal
Best Hip Hop: Loki (Darren McGarvey)
The awards were established in 2009 by Richy Muirhead whilst studying at university. Now in it's seventeenth year, the SAMAs have supported a range of award winning artists including Brogeal, VLURE, Hannah Laing, Kintra, Bemz, Taahliah, Steg G, Zoe Graham, The Snuts, Gerry Cinnamon, Be Charlotte, Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5, Fatherson and Lewis Capaldi.
SAMA are proudly part of global network and movement Keychange working towards gender equality within the music industry.
SAMA Events Ltd are ran by a small team of creatives based in Scotland who have a great passion for music, events and collaboration.
