MUMBAI: Media enterprise and multi-purpose agency Only Much Louder (OML) bagged the award for the Best Artist Manager at the second edition of the Indian National Convention & Awards (INCA), held at St. Regis, Mumbai. OML, that began its artist management responsibility with musicians, has grown into a force across genres of entertainment.

Founded in 2002, OML began with managing artists from alternative (or indie) music space, and gradually set its foot in other genres like comedy and storytelling. Today, the agency manages musicians namely Nucleya, Swarathma, Naezy, The F16s and many more. Popular storytellers Neelesh Misra and Anand Gandhi managed to move out of the familiar sphere of audience since their respective associations with OML. The artist management agency’s growth or evolution, incidentally, occurred when the stand-up comedy scene potentially announced its arrival in the Indian market. OML’s forte has been the consistent talent acquisition from the entertainment field, and through its IPs like Bacardi NH7 Weekender (that won the Best Music Event Festival) and Stage 42, not only has OML provided a platform for these artistes (musicians and comedians), but opportunities elsewhere to express their respective art and content across the country and abroad.

blueFROG Mumbai shut its operations last month, and not a single musician from the country, failed to express about the sheer importance of it as a live music venue. The franchise will move out to two new locations soon, however, it was only fitting that blueFROG received its final hurrah. With ‘Best Venue for Live Performance’, the music revelers were once again reminded how badly the venue would be missed. For ten years, the venue executed some of the biggest names from the country and the world, held acoustic gigs, metal nights and potentially became one of the homes for jazz concerts.

Other winners -

Kolkata-based Peter Cat Recording Co. won the 'Best Live Bands/Act' category
The Best Nightclub was awarded to Trilogy
Nucleya took home the ‘Best DJ’ award