MUMBAI: For Artist Aloud, hosting the Artist Aloud Music Awards 2014 was more than having a music award event. It was about creating awareness regarding its platform, awarding talents and most importantly, it was about pushing the Indie space. This edition for the company was a huge move in itself.

Artist Aloud VP Soumini Sridhara Paul said, “This edition was more about creating a buzz which we did. Compared to last edition, this time we were very aggressive on social media.”  Last year, Artist Aloud wanted to make this an on-ground product, but thought otherwise.” Paul added, “When we thought about making the AAMAs a ground event last year, we realised that our strengthen lies in digital. If we are digitally strong then why would we be taking a different turn and focus on any other platform?”

Commenting on the existing music awards, she said that other music awards like Radio Mirchi Music Awards and GiMA, cannot carry content that is presented through AAMA. “We have the opportunity to be as relevant as any other music awards but in our own space. But for the mainstream awards, a lot of their content is based around the needs of TV viewers, which is not the same in our case.”

The last phase of public voting started on 29 April and will conclude on 6 May. Commenting on the response of Phase 1 of voting, Paul said, “Voting took place in large numbers. There were artistes pushing it across social media which brought a lot of attention to it.” Artist Aloud only started connecting with all its artistes just few weeks before the awards were announced. Of that Paul said, “More and more artistes actively participated during the public voting and pushed the awards amongst their fan following, which helped our awards gain more popularity. “ Through the hype, Artist Aloud has received requests from many artists wanting to put their music on the platform.

On Twitter, Artist Aloud has around 10.2k followers and 762k likes on Facebook, showing its growing strength on social media. Through the awards, it has been able to attract new following, along with constant engagement. Paul said, “It was exciting to see the drama we were able to create. We were a trending topic on Twitter more than once.”

‘Aye Zindagi’, ‘Manwaa’, ‘Cry’, ‘Maula’ and ‘I'll Never Let You Go’, are the five songs that will go under Phase 2 of voting. The Best Female category includes names like Sujata Majumdar, Sonali Vij, Chaittali Shrivasttava, Itida and Shreya Ghoshal, while the Best Male category has artists like Anurag Dixit, Ayaz Ismail, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Kailash Kher and Zubair Ahmed. For Best Group, the five finalists are Suryaveer with Ehsaas, Johnmpamei & The Band, Sanjay K ft. Various Artist, Sifar and Viraj Bahri feat. Promila Bahri.

Commenting on the mix of known and upcoming artistes, Paul said, “When the public voting takes place, it is generally the artistes who are pushing it. The bigger names are still followed for their Bollywood music and we have their content because we have acquired it from label companies or an Indie label that has their music. As a platform, we do not differentiate between new-comers and talented artistes. “

On 18 May, celebrity judges will announce the one winner every hour from 10 am to 10 pm. Following that, the winners will be asked to send across their selfie videos, commenting on the win.

Paul takes immense pride in the fact that her team and she have been able to execute such an event smoothly. She hopes next year, the awards will take place in March, which will be soon after Artist Aloud’s anniversary celebration month-January.