PETALING JAYA, Aug 18 — The Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) is more than just an award ceremony; it’s a grand celebration of Malaysia’s vibrant music scene, often dubbed Malaysia’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards.
Over the years, the prestige of Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) lay in the peer-judged awards celebrating many disciplines within the music industry.
Here are facts about AIM that you may not know.
1. AIM was first introduced in 1993 by the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM), initially featuring only ten categories and a special award, the Anugerah Sri Wirama, for lifetime achievement.
2. In its first year, Malaysian legends Ahmad Nawab and Sudirman Hj Arshad were honoured with this prestigious award while winners that night included the iconic Jamal Abdillah, who took home the award for Best Vocal Performance in an Album (Male).
3. The first AIM was held at the Nirwana Ballroom in Hilton KL.
4. AIM was modelled off the Grammy Awards and was organised by RIM through Persatuan Akademi Industri Muzik Malaysia (PAIMM) which was led by concert director, Jennifer Thompson from 1996 until 2010 before its organisation was taken over entirely by RIM.
5. AIM took a one-year hiatus and returned in 1995 for the second time and was consistently held every year until 2016, where it took a five-year hiatus only to make a comeback in 2022 for the 23rd AIM.
6. The awards have made multiple changes to categories contested through the years, with categories added or removed to coincide with the times such as in 2008, the 15th where AIM dropped the best Indonesian album category that was introduced in 1997, while Best Pop Rock Album and Best Hard Rock Album were combined into Best Rock Album.
7. Best Local Chinese album and Best Local Indian Album categories were not added until 2008.
8. Siti Nurhaliza’s domination: throughout her career, she set a record with 13 wins for Best Vocal Performance in an Album/Song (Female), often receiving multiple nominations in the same category at AIM. In total, she has won a remarkable 42 AIM awards throughout her career.
9. The 18th AIM in 2011 was by far the most controversial. Singer Yuna initially won the Best Song Award for Penakut but the award was taken back and handed to Anuar Zain’s Sedetik Lebih.
10. RIM chairman Rosmin Hashim later said that the confusion was due to an error in vote counting by a third party in auditor Ernst & Young who were hired for AIM18.
11. Yuna did go home with two awards that year which was for Best Female Vocal and the Anugerah Kembara for her outstanding achievements in the US.
12. Anugerah Kembara was first introduced at the third AIM back in 1996 which recognises Malaysian artists who have made a name for themselves at an international level, with Datuk Sheila Majid, Slam, Raihan, as well as Too Phat among its recipients.
13. AIM18 was also the first time organised fully by RIM without the assistance of PAIMM.
14. RIM managed to organise AIM on its own until 2016 which saw a five-year hiatus.
15. The most recent AIM held was in 2022 in was AIM23 at the Shah Alam City Council Auditorium, which was broadcasted live on Astro Ria. A total of 105 nominees were picked by 113 judges from 650 nominations.
