MUMBAI: Until last year, the Artist Aloud Music Awards was based around voting. However, this time around the digital music awards has taken a leap forward, by associating itself with big names from the music industry.

For this edition, the award ceremony has revamped itself, but retained the basic idea of felicitating the best Indian independent artists and music released through Artist Aloud.

The jury for this edition includes Times Music COO Mandar Thakur, Universal Music and EMI MD Devraj Sanyal, Music critic and industry veteran Parag Kamani, Crescendo Music MD Suresh Thomas, Fluence @ CA Media digital VP and business head Ashish Joshi, 9XO channel head Luke Kenny, Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanwari, HR Musik Ltd CEO Andy Singh, National award winning music producer and engineer K.J. Singh and Turnkey Music and Publishing Ltd MD Atul Churamani Ltd.

Commenting on the role of a juror, Thakur said, “Times Music and I are honoured to have been chosen to serve as a jury member alongside some of the best executives in the music industry. In fact I like the fact that it is a mixed board of jury members – it gives the process more diversity and objectivity.”

Talking about AAMA 2014, Thakur said, “I do believe that Artist Aloud has really done a great job in assembling some of the great talent that is latent in India into a mobile friendly platform accessible to common folks. That singularly is its greatest achievement. The AAMA 2014 is a natural progression in growing that body of work of these artists towards recognition and reward.”

Sanyal, who is also frontman of metal band Brahma, echoed those sentiments. He said, “Artists Aloud is a very solid platform for rising independent music talent in the country. I am glad to be associated with AAMA and to be a part of the jury. The Artist Aloud Music Awards marks the first time the entire music fraternity completely supports a digital award show.”

Music critic and industry veteran Kamani said, “Everybody knows that people are looking for good music and this award, in itself tells us the importance of the independent genre.”

Wanvari, who is the Indian partner for MixRadio Music Connects said, “Bollywood music normally takes centrestage with India's film crazy young population. But in recent times the opportunities for independent music have also been increasing. New online digital platforms have emerged, and live has also been showing some traction. Artist Aloud has emerged as one of the premier such platforms. By instituting the independent music awards it has taken a leadership and pioneering role. I was very happy to be part of the awards process as a jury member. And as a company - Indiantelevision.com - we were extremely clear right from the getgo, that industry vertical-Radioandmusic.com would be with the AAMA at every step. The intent is to make independent music more popular with many more listeners.”

Along with having skilled and qualified jurors, the fifth edition of the AAMAs, will also have famous musicians who are known for crossing over from Bollywood to Indie and vice versa. Musicians like Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Anu Malik, Himesh Reshammiya, Kailash Kher, Lesle Lewis, Pankaj Udhas, Pritam Chakraborty, Salim Merchant, Shaan, Shankar Mahadevan, Sona Mahapatra and Suleiman Merchant have also been roped in as award presenters.

Ghazal singer Udhas commenting on Indie space said that considering the state of Bollywood music, there is a need for something that has better music. “If you see the number of bands and the indie artistes that are coming up you will definitely come to the conclusion that there is no paucity of talent in India. Also it is obvious that not everyone wishes to join Bollywood.” He also praised Artist Aloud for their initiative. Echoing Udhas’ view, Lewis said, “I am someone who has always done great work in independent music. Be it Coke Studio or Colonial Cousins, the independent space was always doing great. It is just that it got overshadowed because of Bollywood.”

The Awards is powered by Artist Aloud’s parent company Hungama, who is also known for their role in music since its inception in 1999. While Hungama brings on board popular mainstream musicians, Artist Aloud has been bringing budding talent into the limelight. Commenting on the association with Hungama, Sanyal said, “I have known Hungama for the past sixteen years. Neeraj Roy and I are old friends. Most of Artist Aloud’s non-film music catalogue features UMG and EMI; I believe that we control a major portion of that library.”

The jury process is over and the second phase of voting for the winners will be held from 29 April to 6 May 2015.

The final awards will be held on 18th May 2015 from 10 am to 10 pm on the Artist Aloud website.