My best friend Divya and me at the GIMA's in 2014 |
I thought I'd write a blog post about the same so that more indie musicians can submit their music for consideration.
Read on..
Clinton Cerejo's band performing at the awards |
Ranveer Singh hosting the awards |
What a lot of indie musicians are not aware of is that the GIMA awards exist for both Film and Non-Film Categories of music. Sadly, due to the strong Bollywood influence in India, the non-film categories are not given as much importance on television as a result of which many people still assume that the GIMAs are about Bollywood. As an indie musician you can submit your music in the Non-film category for consideration.
What are the deadlines?
The deadlines to submit your music change every year so keep an eye open on the GIMA website for http://www.gima.co.in/
What are the categories for indie musicians?
You can check out if you're eligible to submit your music for any of the categories below http://www.gima.co.in/cp-awards-categories.php
What are the steps I need to take to submit my music to GIMA?
A star-studded night..the Indian equivalent of the Grammies |
- Log onto the GIMA website www.gima.co.in and click on the 'Apply Here' link on the homepage.
- You will be prompted to register and enter your details. The userid and password will be sent to you on your e-mail id.
- Login to the GIMA page with the username and the password received in your e-mail.
- Select Non-Film music category and select the categories ( one or multiple) you would like to nominate yourself for.
- Once you are satisfied with your entries, proceed to submit the form. A page will be displayed with the categories you have nominated yourself for alongwith the entry fee per category.This year the fee is Rs. 600/- per category for Non-film music.
- On submittion of the online form, you will receive a confirmation email from GIMA with details of what needs to be submitted to them to confirm your entry. Here's a summary of what you need to put together for your entry:
- Print out of the completed Declaration Form ( The link to the form will be sent to your e-mail ID)
- 2 CD's to be submitted per category ( Yes! You read that right). So 4 CD's in all if you submit for 2 categories, 6 CD's for 3 categories..etc
- CDs/DVDs/Pendrive with video for Best Music Video Category – Non-Film
- Entry Fees via DD/Cheque in favour of ‘Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.’ Or Entry Fees via NEFT( bank details are specified in e-mail)
- In the case of digital releases, entrants must submit a proof of release - official letter stamped by the digital platform owner OR a print-out in case the release is on social media websites. Also, if you don't hold the IPR for your music you need to get an NOC from the holders of the intellectual property rights of music.
Labelled CD's for submittion in 2 categories |
You can either submit your entries in the Wizcraft office in Mumbai in Andheri personally or post them the material. You will receive a confirmation call from them once your entry has been validated successfully.
Nominations are announced in a month or so from submission and the awards are generally towards the beginning of the year. This year (2016) it will most likely be in March.
Now go submit your music... more power to you!:) All the best .
P.s. If you like this article I would really love for you to share it and subscribe to the blog for other informative posts. Lets all help and educate one another and build the indie scene in India together:)
Cheers!