HiPipo has kicked off activations for the 3rd HiPipo Music Awards (#HMA2015) with the theme ‘The Fans Decide’. The grand finale will be held on 7th February at Wonder World Auditorium Kansanga.
“We are putting everything in place to ensure that music stakeholders continue to authoritatively and objectively recognize and appreciate those talented Ugandans who have worked extra hard and have dominated the waves, media space and musical events in the past 12 months courtesy of their good music. Our sponsors will be unveiled in the weeks to follow,” Innocent Kawooya, CEO HiPipo said.
The tagline remains ‘The Fans Decide’. “No one has the right whatsoever to underestimate the role of music fans. The two words ‘Music Fans’ represent almost each and every stakeholder of music but at different levels. The music fans are the ones that listen to and watch the music; they religiously pay to attend music concerts and also market this music in any way possible. They thus have the ability to collectively decide on who is musically hot and who is not. Their joint opinion is always representative of what is happening in the industry,” Kawooya explains.
The awards preparations are in high gear. Activities have started with all the official nomination channels (online, mobile and hard copy forms) opening. This is going to be followed by regional stakeholders’ engagements in Masaka, Mbale, Gulu and Mbarara.
At regional levels, the awards committee will source nominees for the Best Regional Songs. Songs eligible for nomination in the regional categories must have been recorded by musicians based in those particular regions and must be in the region’s local language(s). Participants in Regional nominations will include musicians, media houses (Radios/TVs/Print Media) representatives and fans based in each specific region.
Kampala activations will involve meetings with the key music stakeholders (Musicians, Talent Managers, and Media houses, Promoters, Producers and Fans). It will be during the meetings that these stakeholders will nominate their preferred artistes in the different categories.
Altogether, the HMAs has 35 categories, 10 less than the 45 categories for HMA2014. The reduction is a result of the removal of the gender categories.
