The band, whose song Aaoge Tum Kabhi was featured in Pan Nalin’s film Angry Indian Goddesses, proudly calls itself a “people’s band”. Social media has helped a lot in this case,” adds Ramit.“Today with apps like Saavn, Wynk, Gaana and YouTube, one has to practically pay no money to share their music. When you help a band to perform in India, they would in turn help you perform in their country.R. We have the entire world’s music catalogue in our phones. She says that she had to give numerous small performances in order to gain even a little prominence as a solo artiste. It helped in building a community, which also facilitated cultural exchange. Nobody knew who I was when I moved to India until they started seeing my covers. This World Music Day, we look at ‘behind the scenes’ of independent bands and artistes — the road they walked and how they climbed the ladder of success. “When I first moved to India, my biggest trouble was getting used to living in a different country. And there’s also the insecurity, rejection, struggle, despair and defeats. I then collaborated with a band and worked with them so that people who would come to listen to them could also get a chance to listen to me,” says Akasa. “In the beginning, all we did was put up our music on the platform MySpace, and shared it on our Facebook pages.Behind the heady fame and popularity of a rockstar is a journey that’s rough, difficult and often tests one’s mettle.Jonita, who is Indo-Canadian, says that she owes much of her success to her collaboration with American composer Aakash Gandhi. As long as you’re having fun in doing that, everything else is going to be fun as well. “What worked for Reggae Rajahs particularly was that we tried to reach out to other international artistes to come to perform in India. And the best part is that your music is at the same place as everyone else’s music,” says Ramit Mehra of the Delhi band The Local Train.The Local Train’s Ramit points out the increasing number of covers and mashups of already existing songs these days and says, “There’s very less focus on creating original content today and that is not very healthy for aspiring artistes. Creating music and uploading it without any cost on their respective social media handles helped their music get a wider reach. “Be determined and very patient about the results.
Rahman discovered me through YouTube and now I am recording for him and travelling the world with him for his shows,” says The Breakup Song singer.For singer Jonita Gandhi, YouTube has been instrumental in her growth as a performer and artist. Don’t let other people influence your attention,” says Raghav. “Initially, I had to do a lot of college gigs in order to be heard and have some audience. “I have been an avid YouTuber since 2011 and this helped me get discovered in Bollywood. One should focus on making their own music. The biggest advantage of this was that our music was accessible to people in all parts of the world.” Agrees singer Akasa Singh, who is famous for her song Kheech Meri Photo.For young aspiring artistesThese music biggies share a couple of suggestions for aspiring musicians of the country. Raghav Dang from the band Reggae Rajahs agrees that it all begins with social media for beginners, but independent artistes also have to work on wood drying machine for sale engaging with other international bands and building a community of indie artistes.Ramit MehraCollaborations always helpInternationally acclaimed singer and composer Karsh Kale believes that “the experience of collaboration, even simply as an exercise, helps musicians grow in ways that no solo practice can alone. So I think I owe my success to my collaborations with Aakash Gandhi and my YouTube presence overall,” she says. There’s the dream, hope, goal, talent and determination. That’s how your name spreads and that’s how you help each other,” says Raghav. It’s a long journey.”. For all independent musicians, the biggest struggle is to simply have a dedicated audience. A.All thanks to social mediaFor many artistes, singers and composers, platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud played a huge role in their journey to success.Akasa SinghA networking-based industryApart from social media, many artistes struggle to merely spread the word about themselves and their music in the industry
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