MUMBAI: The awards season for the year 2018 has started and the music industry too awaits the acknowledgement. The tenth edition of the SKOWT-VIMA Pop Song of the Year category has now opened! What's exciting is an eclectic variety of Indian artists have also been nominated this year, including - AKoustic Soul (Home), Perfect Strangers (Selfie), Deyo and Janani feat NeeQ (Quick Sax), Sangeetha Rajeev (Tuhi), Hanita Bhambri (Let Me Go), Nokpante (Walnam Ka*sara Pring - An Ode to Life), Easy Wanderlings (Enjoy It While It Lasts) and Brothahood (Kaun Hoon Main).

"I am glad to be considered as a part of this eclectic group of artists, and there’s nothing but respect for all the nominees," said SKOWT-VIMA nominee Amit Khadikar, who is better known as AKoustic Soul. "My nominated song, Home, conveys a simple, universal message that has been embedded in me since my childhood days - home isn't just a physical place; it is where your heart is," he added.

Over 1500 song submissions were sent in by musicians from 40+ countries for this year's awards, which is in its 10th edition. Voting wraps up end-of-day on 22 January 2019, so don't forget to vote for your favorite song. 

SKOWT enables unsigned artists to upload their songs and biography online, giving them the opportunity to connect with streaming music fans, other artists, licensing managers and event organizers. The platform is free to use and open to all independent artists or unsigned bands, regardless of their genre, language or location. The only registration requirement is that the artist must not be signed to any record labels. All of the music on SKOWT is uploaded by the artists, which makes it the ideal app for music fans, managers and media seeking new talent. Listeners will have the chance to like or dislike songs and build playlists. Based on the songs with the most likes and listens, SKOWT will build a Top 10 chart that features the most popular songs from the past week.

VIMA (which stands for Voice International Music Awards) is considered the most important and anticipated music award in South-east Asia. Launched in 2008, the awards have become a benchmark for many awards platform across the globe and often act as a launch pad for music acts tipped to be the next big thing. Some of the past winners include Yuna, Altimet, The Great Spy Experiment (Singapore), Joe Flizzow, Project E.A.R (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia), Prema Yin, K-Town Clan, Ze Rebelle, Sasi The Don, Alex Subryn, An Honest Mistake, Inch Chua (Singapore), Feez Madea (Brunei), Electrico (Singapore), Pop Shuvit, Melissa Indot and many more.

Here's wishing all the artists all the best as they battle it out for this prestigious global award!