The Golden Indie Music Awards is one of the two major music awards in Taiwan. Unlike the Golden Melody Awards, which honor music that is mostly commercially released, the Indie Music Awards emphasize artists' own abilities to write and produce music. For example, a contender is only qualified when 70 percent of the music on each album is written by the artist.
Another big difference is that the annual Golden Indie Music Awards accept music works that are released digitally or performed live without actual album appearances.
The Golden Indie Music Awards help to identify new local music talents through categories different from the Golden Melody Awards. The awards recognize outstanding musical artists and works of the following genres — rock, folk music, electronic/techno, hip-hop, jazz, and R&B.
Foreign expatriates can also enter the race as long as they hold Taiwanese residence or work permits.
There are also six awards given to the Best Album, Best Band, Best New Performer, Best Player, Best Live Performance and Best Singer across all music genres, along with a single award for non-Taiwanese Mandarin music artists and two special honors, the Judges' Award and the Outstanding Contribution Award.