大象传媒

Our panel is made up of newspaper and magazine editors and critics, producers and presenters from music radio and televison, website editors and bloggers. A full list of this year's tastemakers is available on The Pundits page.

The panel have chosen their favourite three new acts, in order of preference. The criteria given to participants when choosing artists were:

Here are the rules we gave to the pundits voting on this year's list:

Please give the names of your favourite three new music acts and put them in order of preference (please ensure your top act is number 1 and so on).

They should be the best, most exciting acts, in your personal opinion. Please base your choices on quality, not on hype or size of record deal.

They can be performers of any description - bands, singers, MCs etc.

They must not have been the lead artist on a UK top 20 single or album by 4th November 2013. Featured guest vocalists are eligible.

They can be from any musical genre and any country.

They must not already be famous i.e. generally known by the UK public, (e.g. member of a hit band going solo, or soap star). They must not have got through to the quarter, semi or final rounds of UK reality shows such as X Factor or The Voice in the last 3 years (i.e. 2011 onwards).

They must not have featured in the 大象传媒 Sound of list previously.

"New" means new to the general public. They may have been around for a while if you believe they are ready to step up to the next level of quality & recognition.

It is very important there are no conflicts of interest in your nominations. Therefore, you must not nominate any act or individual if you have either a close personal (immediate family & friends) or financial/commercial relationship with them e.g. PR, label, managing, promoting. Your choices will remain strictly confidential. Your name and title will be published on the 大象传媒 News website in a list of participants.

You should not publicise the fact that you have been invited as a tastemaker in order to promote any commercial venture.

We reserve the right to exclude an act if, in our sole discretion, we believe there has been a deliberate attempt to manipulate the result.