MUMBAI: For second year in a row, audio giants Sennheiser continued its support to promote music acts from the country through its live IP competition - Sennheiser Top 50. The competition has reached its final stage, after the panel of judges - Raghu Dixit, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Papon and Ashish Manchanda - shortlisted five bands to battle it out for the ultimate prize.

Two bands from Delhi - rock outfit ‘Barefaced Liar’ and moody waltz act ‘Run it’s the Kid’ - make it to the Top 5 of the competition. Joining the two acts for the finals would be Bengaluru’s ‘Peepal Tree’ and ‘Parvaaz’. Mumbai’s alternative rock band ‘Daira’ becomes the fifth act to follow into the finals.

However, Run it's the Kid opted out of the competition, thus leading to an automatic replacement in favour of sixth placed Symphony Novel who would now compete in the Top 5.

‘Echo’, ‘Dhruv Visvanath’ and ‘When Chai Met Toast’ missed out on Top 5 with the respective bands finishing the competition at seventh, ninth and eighth positions.

The finalists were narrowed down from Top 50 to Top 5 on the basis of Jury decision (70 per cent) and public voting (30 per cent). The finale will be held at Hard Rock Café on 22 September, and the winning band would be decided by the jury panel alone.

Powered by Johnnie Walker, the second edition will award the winner of the competition a two-year endorsement deal with Sennheiser, a trophy, vocal microphone (Evolution Wireless 500 model) and pro headphones (HD 280). The runner-up of the competition will receive an opportunity for a recording session with one of the judges and the founder of the Flying Carpet Productions, Ashish Manchanda (apart from the headphone and microphone). The band that would end on the third rank, similarly to the top two ranks, will be rewarded with vocal microphones (Evolution wireless 100 G3) and headphones (HD 205). Sennheiser will also reward the fourth and fifth ranked bands with Evolution wired 900 vocal microphones and HD 205 headphones.

Every band will be honoured with a trophy.