New Delhi: HT Media Ltd. (HTML) in partnership with Songdew has announced the unveiling of the most ambitious Artist Management Programme – SURGE to give a big boost to Indie Music in the country. As part of the 360-degree initiative, SURGE will provide end to end support to select indie artists, thereby helping them become the next music sensation in their respective genre.
Commenting on the launch of SURGE, Sunil Khanna, founder of Songdew said “Music scenario in India is going through a structural change – On one hand the role of music in films is reducing and on the other hand large numbers of talented artists in India are creating outstanding music in various genres. At this point in time, artists need support so that they realise their full potential. The launch of SURGE is in line with our strategic objective to support and amplify #PureUncorruptedMusic”.
As part of SURGE, select artists will get support in managing their social media, helping them plan launch campaigns, amplification of their music on FM Fever, Radio One, Songdew TV and on the other digital assets of HTML and Songdew. Besides this, the dedicated artist management team would help them get revenue-generating opportunities.
Neeraj Saraswat, Business Head Fever FM said “We have been experiencing huge traction for indie music for some time, and this initiative would help select artists to take their music to the masses. We are launching this initiative in partnership with Songdew and have selected three exciting talents as part of this programme. We shall be adding more artists to this programme over a period of time”.
The three artists who have been selected after a very exhaustive process of scrutiny include Pune based band Fiddlecraft, Singer & Songwriter Harpreet from Mumbai and The Tapi Project from Surat.
“This has been a big moment for us to be part of SURGE. We are extremely delighted to see two major stakeholders in the music industry coming together to support us” said Gaurav Kadu of Fiddlecraft. “This is destiny changing moment for us, we are humbled that HT Media and Songdew believed in our talent” commented Yogi, the guitarist and composer of the band The Tapi Project. “I am excited to be part of this initiative. It is great to see that finally, organisations like Songdew and HT are supporting indie music in a true sense” said Harpreet.
“The selection of the artists for the programme has been a very meticulous and challenging process especially keeping in mind that there is so much talent in the country. As the objective of the programme is not merely to manage an artist but also to help them become the next music sensation, we tracked the journey of these artists over a period of more than a year to finally decide on the first three artists to be part of the programme. We jointly with HT Media will keep on tracking the journey of other talented artists as well and add more talent as part of this programme in future” said Sunil Khanna of Songdew.
Ramesh Menon, CEO – Radio and Entertainment, HT Media Ltd and Next Mediaworks Ltd. said, “we are simply amazed at the talent of these artists. As our mission is to bring the best music to our audience, we are excited to bring the music of these very talented artists to millions of our listeners through our leading brands FM Fever, Radio One, Punjabi Fever & Radio Nasha alongside our digital assets. With the SURGE programme, we have set ourselves on a continuing journey to find indie artists and offer them the right platform to grow.”
With its latest initiative, HT Media and Songdew have taken another big leap to support India’s high-potential musical community and contributed to the ‘Future of Indian Music’.
