Mumbai: In the 90’s era, the Indie music scene in India was prominent with artists such as Shaan, Shankar Mahadevan and others who have shot to fame and entered the Bollywood industry. Musicians have always used music as a form to express themselves and independent musicians are able to do that in their own space. After a lull in the early 2000’s, recently artists such as Ritviz, Prateek Kuhaad and others have brought the Indie music back to the forefront. But many of them are yet to be discovered.
And with this endeavour in mind, Songfest India, an artiste-first music content company has announced an online property, “Songfest Xplore” – an online video fete, where 12 artists will be selected to create music videos for their original compositions, from across India. With Songfest’s expertise in producing world-class content, these talented creators will get a chance to launch their music video on Songfest India’s YouTube channel that has half a million subscribers. The selected entries will also be distributed on popular audio streaming platforms such as Spotify, Jio Saavn, Gaana, Apple Music and so on. The videos will be released from October to December 2021.
The entries can be in any language or genre. The last date for submission is September 10, 2021. Artists can register here: https://3xrm4jynkgn.typeform.com/to/dDOYU8Og
Songfest India has led the industry in promoting diverse, independent artists from across the country, giving them a platform to showcase their talent through branded collaborations – including placements in leading OTT shows. It has also worked with a roster of established names such as Shaan, Monali Thakur, Shashaa Tirupati and Nikhil D’souza.
Gaurav Dagaonkar, Co-founder and CEO, Songfest India, said: “Over the years, I have witnessed the journeys of many musicians at various stages including mine, and I believe more than even just putting your music out there, it is consequential to be discovered by the audiences. India today has thousands of talented independent musicians who are creating music at their own expense but are lacking distribution and promotional resources. And at Songfest, it has been our constant endeavour to provide that platform to the artistes.”
Meghna Mittal, Co-Founder and CMO, Songfest India, said: “Google’s statistics say that 90% of YouTube users in India prefer to consume content in their native/regional language. We see this even in the indie scene and therefore Songfest Xplore is focused on finding talent across India, ensuring that language is never a barrier. Also, we believe that the joy that we feel on discovering various artists should be felt by many Indians, and that’s the reason we continue to work with them and promote their music widely through leading platforms.”
Talking about collaborating with Songfest India, Gaurav Guleria, said: “Switching my career from IT to music was challenging because as an independent artiste, you don’t know the proper channels to distribute your music. Songfest not only provided me that direction but became my launchpad by giving me my first song, “Intehaan” in an Alt Balaji web show, “Bebakee”. It was a surreal experience and it definitely opened many doors for me.”
