AIM 19 NOMINATION CATEGORIES, ELIGIBILITY RULES AND PARTNERS ANNOUNCEMENT
This year’s AIM nomination categories, eligibility rules and set criteria in each nomination category for the 19th edition of Malaysia’s premier music awards show, ‘Anugerah Industri Muzik’ (AIM), were revealed today by the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM).
En. Rosmin Hashim, the RIM AIM 19 Organising Committee Co-Chairman informed that this year, the AIM Awards show will be held on Saturday, 17 November 2012 at Stadium Melawati in Shah Alam.
“Due to the unavailability of last year’s awards venue, Stadium Putra which is currently undergoing renovations, RIM and its broadcast partner, Astro has decided to hold AIM in Stadium Melawati this year. The capacity of the stadium is slightly smaller than that of Stadium Putra but large enough to accommodate the many fans and supporters of the Malaysian artistes and music industry to attend the live AIM Awards show”, he added.
RIM believes that the awards show, which gives recognition and honour to Malaysian-based talents, will help spur creativity and development in the local music industry. He then announced the following in respect of the nominations; eligibility rules and period; award categories and criteria; and judging and partners:
Eligibility & Nomination Period
This year’s AIM 19 award nominations are open to Songs/Albums in the Malay and English languages that were released in Malaysia from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012. Submission of Nominations for AIM 19 opened on Monday, 16 July 2012 and will close on Wednesday, 15 August 2012 at 5.00 pm. The relevant nomination forms have been issued to all RIM members.

Categories
For this year, RIM will be maintaining the following categories of AIM Awards:
1. Best New Artiste
2. Best Vocal Performance In A Song (Male)
3. Best Vocal Performance In A Song (Female)
4. Best Group Vocal Performance In A Song
5. Best Album Cover
6. Best Engineered Album
7. Best Music Video
8. Best Ethnic Pop Song
9. Best Nasyid Song
10. Best Rock Song
11. Best Pop Song
12. Best Hip Hop Song
13. Best Local English Song
14. Best Malay Song Performed By A Foreign Artiste
15. Kembara Award
16. Outstanding Achievement Award
17. Best Musical Arrangement In A Song
18. Song Of The Year
19. Album Of The Year
As part of the objectives to further drive the local music industry, RIM plans to organize two (2) separate annual AIM Award events to recognize and honor local music recordings and achievements in the Chinese and Indian language. Details of these upcoming industry events will be announced in the coming months.
Criteria Revisions
1. The eligibility criteria for songwriters have been revised to allow nominations for songs that have been composed by foreign songwriters who are based in Malaysia and exclusively signed to a Malaysian music Publisher similar to the set criteria for eligible artistes. The eligibility criteria for songwriters is now as follows:
(a) Any composer/lyricist who is a Malaysian citizen;
(b) Any composer/lyricist with permanent residency status and who has lived in Malaysia for at least six months per year for the two consecutive years prior to the Awards (i.e. during the qualification period and the previous qualification period);
(c) Any foreign composer/lyricist who is based in Malaysia for at least six months per year for the two consecutive years prior to the Awards (i.e. during the qualification period and the previous qualification period) and signed exclusively to a Malaysian music Publisher.
2. The eligibility criteria for artistes is as follows:
(a) Any artiste who is a Malaysian citizen
(b) Any artiste with permanent residency status and who has lived in Malaysia for at least six months per year for the two consecutive years prior to the Awards
(i.e. during the qualification period and the previous qualification period);
(c) Any foreign artiste who is based in Malaysia for at least six months per year for the two consecutive years prior to the Awards (i.e. during the qualification period and the previous qualification period) and signed to a RIM member Recording Company and/or Production House.
In the case of groups or duos, at least 50% of the members of the group must satisfy at least one of the above criteria. The RIM Council reserves the right to exercise its discretion to grant eligibility in special circumstances where, for example, the artiste in question has a strong historical and cultural connection with Malaysia.
3. In the ‘Best Hip Hop Song’ category, nominations from English language repertoire are now allowed. The eligibility criteria for this category is as follows:
- Judging will be based on application of genre (inclusive of Rap, R&B, etc.)
- Song quality
- Musical arrangement
- Recording and production quality
- Vocal presentation (where applicable)
- Bahasa Malaysia and/or English repertoire
- 100% composed by Malaysian(s) subject to eligibility criteria
- Either Basic Recording, Mix and/or Mastering must be done in a Malaysian studio Award Judging
The previous practice of PAIMM (Persatuan Akademi Industri Muzik Malaysia) members judging the AIM nominations has been replaced with judging by a panel of selected expert judges comprising of eminent practitioners from the local music industry and presided by a Chief Judge this year. The management and administration of the judging process will this year be handled by MACOMM Management Services, an independent professional firm who has previously overseen the administration of the ‘4A’s Kancil Awards’, ‘Malaysian Effie Awards’ and ‘Malaysian Media Awards’ for the media and advertising industry.
Auditor
KPMG has been appointed as the new judging auditors by RIM replacing Ernst & Young.
Partners
This year, Astro RIA (Channel 104) and ERA fm (103.3) will once again be the official television and radio broadcast stations respectively for AIM 19.
Mr. Khairul Anwar Salleh, Vice President of Malay Language Business Astro also said, “We are very pleased to continue our partnership with AIM and returns as the official television and radio media partner of AIM 19 for the second consecutive year.
Through this collaboration, Astro will continue to elevate the best-in-class Malaysia’s biggest music industry awards experience that Malaysians look forward to every year and help to amplify the excitement for this event.”
He also added, “As in line with our tradition to support the development of the local content industry by providing the best content to our customers via our platform, we are very committed to support AIM’s missions in recognizing local musical excellence as well as advocating for the well-being of local music makers to ensure great music remains an indelible part of our culture.”
