Indie acts find a Voize
By : HIZREEN KAMAL
2008/10/28
 Siva (left) with Voize.my marketing executive Prem Anand. |
Voize.my’s inaugural Voice Independent Music Awards show seeks to honour local indie acts, writes HIZREEN KAMAL.
Come January, Malaysia’s first independent awards, the inaugural Voice Independent Music Awards 2008 (VIMA 2008), will take place in Kuala Lumpur. The venue and date will be announced at a later date.
All artistes, bands, musicians, dancers, DJ and filmmakers are encouraged to submit their nominations before Nov 30.
The event is organised by Voize.my (www.voize.my), an Asian lifestyle and entertainment website that caters to the urban-affluent 18-30 year-old market.
Its editor, Siva Chandran, said that it is high time an awards show honours Malaysian independent artistes.
“Indie acts are no longer perceived as underground unknowns but are now being taken seriously.
“Eighty per cent of the global music scene constitutes indie acts. There are a lot of indie talents out there and we want to honour them and, at the same time, encourage the growth of the local indie scene,” he said.
He added that many bands have potential “but if you keep them in a pond, there is only so much that they can grow.”
VIMA 2008 will be a dressed-down event, he said. “We do not intend to make it as glamorous as Anugerah Era or Anugerah Juara Lagu.”
There are, however, plans to make it an annual show.
“When we launched it on Oct 1, we were surprised that big sponsors wanted to come in. This is a positive indication that many companies are keen to support the indie scene.”
For VIMA 2008, the main categories are Pop – which will have Best Pop Song, Best Pop Group, Best Pop Male and Female Vocalists; Rock (Best Rock Song, Best Rock Group and Best Rock Vocalist); Hip-Hop (Best Hip-Hop Song, Hip-Hop Solo and Best Hip-Hop Group) and Dance (Best Dance Song, Dance Act and Best Dance DJ).
It will also have award categories based on SMS and public online polls.
They are Best Remix, Best Collaboration, Best Instrumental, Best Genre Bender, Best Song to Play at Campfire and To Do Away with Monday Morning Blues, Film (Best Short Form Film — five minutes), Best Long Form Film (30 minutes), Best Director and Best Spoof of Parody, Best College Act, Best Guitar “Goreng” Riff, Best Act in the Whole Universe (international act), Best Producer, Fan of the Year, Best Freaking Act of the Year and Most Mind-Blowing Music Video.
Submissions for the awards should be sent to music@voize.my. Works by indie artistes should have been released between June 1 last year and Nov 30 this year, and the artistes must not be signed to any major recording label.
“They can submit a new or previously unreleased song; or film or video specifically created for the awards,” said Siva.
Along with their submission, indie artistes will also need to include details such as name of song/artiste (title of film), name of composer/lyricist (director of film), name of producer (for film), date of release, artiste biodata/MySpace/YouTube Links (at least 75 per cent of the band members must be Malaysian citizens) and contact details (address, mobile phone number, e-mail). Songs submitted must be at least 192 kbps MP3 in wave format.
“All songs should be original and the artiste should own rights to the songs (except Best Remix). Songs that have won major domestic awards are not eligible for VIMA 2008,” he said, adding that, the nominees will only be announced by Dec 10.
So far, some 100 works have been submitted.
Hot on the heels of the launch of VIMA 2008, Voize.my
will organise the Asia Voice Independent Music Awards 2009 (AVIMA 2009) on March 21 in Kuala Lumpur.
AVIMA 2009 will recognise Asia’s finest indie acts from India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
“Voize.my seeks to establish Asia’s largest indie community and we want to be that one voice to represent and honour all these amazingly talented bands and singers,” said Siva.
“We are glad to be the catalyst and a member of the global indie village.”
The call for nominations will begin on Saturday. Nominees, award categories and sponsors of the event will be announced in the coming weeks.
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