MUMBAI: There has been significant growth in the space of Independent music and Artist Aloud, a Hungama property celebrates this success. They have come up with their Artist Aloud Music Awards sixth edition to credit and encourage these singers. These awards would be held on 4 April at Dublin Square Mumbai 7 PM onwards. The event would witness performances by music divas Shirley Sethia, Shibani Kashyap and many more.

This edition did conduct a jury meet hosted by Mihir Joshi who witnessed performances and handpicked a few which would be awarded at the Awards night. On the latter part, the jury members did share their thoughts on the AAMA Awards and a lot more.

Mandar Thakur (Times Music COO) - We have all grown up listening to non-film music. We are at Artist Aloud who do celebrate non-film music in a way. From this perspective, I am honoured to be here. There are a few stand out songs, particularly two songs which are not mainstream and have those Independent roots, I was very happy going through all those performances.

Jeanne Merchant (Vocal Coach) - I am very happy to be here today, to listen to a lot of artists, some new stuff and am just glad that there is this platform to promote artists like these.

Shameer Tandon (Music Boutique Founder and Music Composer) -For me, It has also been an amount of learning experience as we do get exposed to new artists very often. These performances did comprise of new experiments, it’s interesting to see how these young artists are blending some sounds, poetries and vocals. This is a great way to discover talent which we can then cross-pollinate in either of the film or the other works which we do. Overall it was an enriching experience for us.

Atul Churamani (Turnkey Music and Publishing Founder and Managing Director) - I think the Artist Aloud Music Awards are important because they are very aspirational. It’s good for people to win awards, especially in the independent music scene. We must have something that artists are aspiring for apart from just trying to get their music out there as it raises the level of music that’s being done. According to my observation, when the AAMA Awards had started there was a certain level at which the entries were and now it’s improved vastly. So we are hearing new sounds, new voices and these awards themselves are helping in improving standards of the Independent scene.

Radhika Rao (Film Director) - We all started with pop music and now we are doing features and all but the idea of coming here at Artist Aloud was to see and discover new talent so that we could cross them into Bollywood.

Vinay Sapru (Film Director) - We are who we are because of the music business and the music videos we did make. We started our career as people who created visuals with music on songs, being vested in pop we have really mourned the loss of the Indie pop business. It’s encouraging to see something like this and I am hoping that the golden period of the Indie pop can be revived. Congratulations to Hungama for giving so much to the industry which is a bit dusky now and hopefully it will come out, shine and rise again.

Gaurav Sharma (Fever Group Programming Head) - I think the future is live! It’s about live performances, a great way to get to know the true new essence of that particular artist. It’s organic, true and pure, therefore finally I am looking up to the award ceremony. It will be great to see them and the winners performing out there. We were looking forward to the different genres that were showcased. I think most of us get an exposure to a few genres but here you had Gazal, you had Sufi, Electronic, Punjabi, Folk, that’s what we in the music industry would like to see. This is indeed a great initiative and a great way of making us aware of what’s happening in the various music genres. There was a time where there was quality not quantity now I think there is quantity but there needs to be better quality too.

Brian Tellis (Fountainhead Co-Founder Group CEO Promotions and Events/ MKTG ) - My sensibility slightly over the years have been inclined towards international and western. But opportunities like these actually open your eyes to what’s really happening. What’s really going down and truly in that sense, this session has been high on learning. Coming to a session like this which seems to enrich the potential, the possibilities and encourages the existing talent in the industry. Kudos to Artist Aloud for doing what you’ll do and thank you for having me on the jury.

Parag Kamini (Music Critic and Consultant) - I would thank Artist Aloud VP Soumini Paul for giving me this opportunity of being connected and associating with them. My discovery of Independent artists from the past couple of years is largely to Artist Aloud. They have given me the honour and privilege of reviewing their new artists and it’s just helped me become a better listener. I have been able to support it with my writing which reflects what I am listening to at this period of time.