MUMBAI: Giving wings to the independent music scene in India, Radio City has launched the first edition of its Freedom Awards to recognize and reward independent music across genres and languages.
Being driven by the network’s web radio station PlanetRadiocity, the awards will recognize the best of indie music from India and abroad. The entries open from tomorrow (6 April) for Indian musicians along with international artistes whose music features Indian connotations. Artistes can submit their entries online or send a CD sample to any of the network’s stations across the eight cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. The last date for submission is 5 May.
Speaking on the occasion, Radio City CEO Apurva Purohit said, “Radio City Freedom Awards is a pioneering effort to celebrate independent music. This attempt is to provide a pedestal for the immense talent of indie artists producing rich and diverse music. It is a celebration where Radio City felicitates excellence in Indie music. We are sure that this initiative will only encourage thousands of aspiring indie musicians and act as a launchpad for them.”
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The awards invite entries from across the globe in eight categories including Best Hip-Hop Rap Artist, Best Folk Fusion Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Rock, Best Metal, Best Electronica Artist, Best Video and Best Album Art.
Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Radio City SVP and business head digital media and new business Rachna Kanwar said, “This is our first edition so we are taking it out in a big way. We do aim to add more categories from next year, which will feature music released in that particular year only. Currently, we have invited entries for music released in the past two years. Depending on the feedback this year, we will change the structure accordingly but we are very excited to be giving indie musicians this platform now.”
Shortlisted entries will be judged by a jury panel comprising of Luke Kenny, Midival Punditz, Atul Churamani, Yotam Agam and Nandini Srikar. The shortlisted nominees will then also be open for public voting through SMS and online services. The artistes will be promoted extensively by visiting Radio City studios and presenting their music to listeners there. Final winners will be selected on the basis of jury and public voting. The winners will be felicitated with the RCFA award on 31 May in Mumbai.
Speaking with Radioandmusic.com OnMobile content head and jury member Atul Churamani said, “This is a very good initiative as it takes a lot of courage to do something in the non-film music market. It is really required that recognition be given to independent artistes. While judging, we are going to look at how natural the video is and how the composition and lyrics are blended into the song.”
Being the first edition, the number of awards is very limited. But they will be given prominence through a 360 degree marketing campaign across various platforms like on-air, print, TV, on-ground, hoardings and more.
The press conference event announcing the awards today was hosted by RJ Archana and RJ Ajay, and commenced with a ‘freedom anthem’ composed for the awards ceremony by Delhi based band Pratigya. It also witnessed a special performance by jury member and indie singer Nandini Srikar, who performed a song from her album ‘Beetein Pal’.
Present at the occasion were the jury members, Apurva Purohit, Ashit Kukian, Rachna Kanwar, Radio City RJs, Akriti Kakar and more.
The Radio City Freedom Award trophy was unveiled by the jury members and officials in a grand manner.
