The press conference kicked off with a tribute to the three legends lost in the past year - Jagjit Singh, Bhupen Hazarika and Mehdi Hassan. The jury and advisory board member Prasoon Joshi introduced this segment with a couplet that he had penned specially for this occasion. Jagjit Singh's tribute was performed by Anup Jalota, Bhupen Hazarika's tribute was performed by Papon, and Mehdi Hassan's tribute was performed by Roop Kumar Rathod.

The conference was attended by prominent personalities like Shivkumar Sharma, Prasoon Joshi, Leslie Lewis, Kunal Kohli, Shashi Vyas, Vijay Lazarus, Udit Narayan and many others. A Q&A session was conducted by Atul Churamani, VP, Saregama, where he spoke about Saregama's association with GiMA, their thoughts on the way forward for GiMA and an overall view of the music industry.

The voting took place from noon to midnight, where more than 300 members of the GiMA Academy were invited to cast their vote for the final winners for GiMA 2012. The GiMA Academy comprises members of the music industry like singers, music directors, composers, instrumentalists, technicians, etc. The entire academy was sent an invite kit which consisted of the voting invite, nominees' brochure, a party invite, a pen drive containing nominated music for the members to listen to, a diary and mouse pad. The academy members who were unable to make it for the voting day were allowed to e-vote.

The nominees' celebration party took place at night and was the first-ever nominees party for GiMA. The musical evening witnessed nominees across film and non-film music coming together to perform their nominated songs and jam with each other. The attendance list for the event included eminent personalities of the music industry like Leslie Lewis, Kailash Kher, Ayushmann Khurana, Papon, Agnee, Shilpa Rao, Harshdeep Kaur, Nandini Srikar, Aditi Singh Sharma, Shruti Pathak, Benny Dayal and Nikhil D'Souza, among others.

Commenting on the nominee celebration night, Sabbas Joseph, Director, Wizcraft, said: "GIMA has been a phenomenal musical journey especially with the kind of invaluable support we have received in the last two years from the industry, the creative fraternity, the music labels and other key members. Winning a GiMA nomination itself is a reason to celebrate and recognizing this we have introduced the GiMA Nominees celebration night for the first time to honour the nominees of the Chevrolet GiMA Awards."

Speaking on the occasion, Lowell Paddock, President & Managing Director, General Motors India, said: "With a firm belief in innovation and the drive to pursue excellence, Chevrolet is proud to be associated with GiMA which is showcasing the best music talent in the country. Chevrolet has always believed in bringing together the finest elements in its creations for its valued customers and through GiMA we expect to set a benchmark for musical excellence in India. This is our third year of association with GiMA which is a platform to recognize the indigenous talent and lend global recognition to some of the best Indian music and musicians across genres."

Commenting about GiMA, Shivkumar Sharma, GiMA advisory board member, said: "GiMA has always aimed to bring together the music industry onto one platform and we are all eagerly waiting for the celebrations to begin. It has been a wonderful association with GiMA and I am delighted to be a member of the advisory board of such a prestigious musical platform."