Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-led Development
Promote This!
- Dhruv Viswanath
My journey began with a simple text message 3 days before The YP foundation’s Music Promotion Workshop. I was excited on the prospect of meeting many amazing artists, all of whom were willing to lend us their knowledge. The chance to meet Sahil Makhija from Deamonstealer, Jishnu Dasgupta from Swarathma, Gaurav Vaz from The Raghu Dixit Project, Neysa Mendes, an prominent publicist, Surojit Dev from Them Clones and Dev Bhatia from Jalebee Cartel, seemed just too good to pass up.
Upon scrolling down further on the message, I found my eyebrows raised when I learnt that the workshop was in the nether regions of New Delhi. The stage was set at the Delhi College of Engineering, in Rithala, in the North West part of New Delhi, nothing a good long metro ride couldn’t fix, 2 hours to be exact.
I walked in to the workshop late and with a guitar on my back. A room full of faces stared as I stumbled to find my seat. I walked in and saw Sahil Makhija talking about the various parts of the music industry nationally and internationally. During the workshop, there was lots of friendly banter flying across the room, everything from weird cooking recipes to toilet humour!
Gaurav Vaz spoke on his experiences with The Raghu Dixit Project and the various aspects of performing and recording as a band. Sahil Makhija made a reappearance along with Neysa Mendes. They provided the prospective musicians out there with ideas on how to create press kits, promote music through physical media, being legally aware, interacting with fans and even performance tips. Sahil, being the owner of a record label, spoke a lot about the need for high quality recording and good demos.
Jishnu Dasgupta, shortly followed after, speaking about the various social networking mediums and how they must be used to maximize the potential for promotion. Surojit Dev, spoke on how to take on sponsorships and how to set up presentations and of course the all important pitch to sponsors. Finally, Dev Bhatia spoke on making jingles for advertisement and videos, and also about the most fascinating thing about the music industry, luck!
The excitement of the workshop carried well after the end of the workshop with interactions between many of the attendees and the speakers. A small jam session ensued towards the end furthering the success of the workshop.
Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-led Development
What is ‘Indie?’
That’s a question we ask ourselves quite frequently here at the YP foundation, and imagine our absolute thrill when we got to ask this question to the big daddies of Indian Indie.
‘WHO?’
Yep, you heard us. Indus Creed, an independent rock group formed in 1984 as “Rock Machine”. Based in Mumbai, they were one of the first bands in India to tour the country, get signed to a label, have massive airplay on MTV, and basically do all the things major league rock stars do. After an extended hiatus, the band is back with Uday Benegal (vocals), Mahesh Tinaikar (lead guitar) and Zubin Balaporia (keyboard) from the original line-up and Jai Row Kavi(drums) and Rushid Mistry(bass) as new additions.
The YP Foundation caught up with them on the 13th December during the South Asian Bands Fest at Purana Qila. They’d just finished their sound check and were slated to perform later that evening. The interaction was immensely enlightening because they answered to our questions from the perspective of a band formed in 1984 and playing NOW. Amongst many other epiphanies, we realized that being a rock star is hard!
Indus Creed talked about their experiences and journey through the years, the music infrastructure in the 1980s and the current music scene. They felt that the current independent scene has become much more organised than the way it used to be when they first formed their band. But it still hasn't been helpful enough for the artists because of various reasons [See: Video]. They also emphasized on the role of internet for young musicians now.
Uday Benegal, who is slated to speak at the Open House workshop (On music journalism - 23rd of January) had this to say:
“I would not be able to stress enough the need for music education and skill development with today's youth. The better prepared they are—as performers, creators and technicians—the more they will be able to harness the immense potential of the entertainment industry. The YP Foundation's efforts to help guide and develop those skills are highly commendable and deserve great support.”
Watch the video for some candid footage from the interaction.
Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-led Development
