MUMBAI: The DopeStudio bagged three trophies at the 2014 ArtistAloud Music Awards, with wins for Best Sound, Best Composition and Best Lyrics. Band member Abhishek Dasgupta was presented the award for Best Lyrics by ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas, while Best Sound and Best Composition were given to the indie rock band by composers Leslie Lewis and Salim Merchant, respectively.

Soul singer Viraj Bahri and Bollywood playback singer Sujata Majumdar tied with two wins each. Bahri along with his mother, singer Promila Bahri, won Best Group and Best Video for ‘Vande Mataram Reprise Acoustic Version’. The award for Best Video was presented by singer Sona Mohapatra, while Best Group was presented by Turnkey Music & Publishing Pvt. Ltd MD Atul Churamani.

Majumdar won Best Female, which was presented by popular Bollywood playback singer Shaan. She also won the Bajate Raho Best Song award for her single ‘Manwaa’, which was given to her by RJ Malishka.

The Best Male award was presented to Hindi pop/rock singer Anurag Dixit by famous Bollywood musician Shankar Mahadevan, while Sanjay Pathak took home the Best Album award for his self-titled album, which was presented to him by Bollywood singer/ composer/ actor Himesh Reshammiya.

Meanwhile, one half of the Salim- Sulaiman composer duo- Sulaiman Merchant presented the 9XO Best International Artist award to Mick Clarke. Bollywood playback singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya presented Shruti Pathak with the Best Genre award, while live electronic act The Sanket and Rajan Project was awarded the Best Single (Jury) for the track, ‘Kahani’, by actor turned singer Priyanka Chopra.

On the awards, ArtistAloud VP Soumini Sridhara Paul said, “The most credible aspect of the concept was that it is totally democratic. When the public votes were being tallied, the technology ensured that there was nothing wrong in acquiring the correct numbers. When the jury votes were being tallied, the jury members were unaware of the final winners. Also, who we thought would win, ended up winning, especially in the jury categories. Short-listing the 40 nominees was a challenge since all of them were so close. We are satisfied with the final winning list, as it helped us prove the point that we truly put forth good content, and even the jury members acknowledged it.”

The 2014 ArtistAloud Music Awards were presented digitally, on Facebook, Twitter and the ArtistAloud website on 18 May, between 10:00 am to 10:00 pm.