Play this act on your CD

If all goes well and according to plan, Mumbai-based musician Shane Mendonsa along with his partner DJ Ihmsen and DJ Tuheen will launch a music company in January 2006.

He refuses to divulge details since he'd like his music to do all the talking but lets in, "We want to promote house music and want people to listen to our kind of music."

In the Indian music mart where Mendonsa is unwilling to share details, an increasing number of musicians are humming a similar tune, that of setting up their own music companies.

Make no mistake for these are music companies with a difference, with promoters hell-bent on giving their listeners a flavour of rock, house music, hip-hop and much more.

Which is why wacky music companies with even wackier names are catering to music lovers who want a generous slice of non-commercial Hindi film music.

So you'll find record labels like Can & Will Records, Dogma Tone Records, Counter Culture Records, to name just a few, jostling for space on the music shelves where biggies like Sony BMG, T-Series, Universal and Times Music already exist. It's a need to fill a glaring gap in the music mart that has prompted these individuals to start their own record label.

Take Girish Talwar of Counter Culture Records, for instance. A lawyer specialising in media and entertainment law, Talwar is also a part of a Mumbai-based band called Zero. Along with his friend Vijay Nair, who runs an event management company Only Much Louder, Talwar launched a music company to promote "non Bollywood music".

According to him"there's a big market in India where people still want to hear good music. Our endeavour is to promote it." That explains why well-known rock bands like Pentagram, Pin Drop Violence and Them Clones have already been signed by this record label that will give their bands as much as 50 per cent by way of royalty "" as against the 7 per cent traditional music companies offer artistes. "We're doing it for the love of it, and being in a band we understand what royalty means to artistes," he says.

Elsewhere, in Bangalore, a sizeable number of musicians in sound studios who've been shown the door by well-known music companies are setting up their own music shops. "Music companies promote music that they think will sell. Where do we go?" questions Chris Avinash, who organises corporate rock shows in India.

Come January and he will launch his own music label with an album which, he says, "is the result of churning Bryan Adams and Junoon in a blender". "The company", he says, "is backed by two big investors who have invested nearly Rs 40-45 lakh in the label". Since the company is still in the process of getting registered, Avinash refuses to give us its name but confides, "Our first big launch will happen by mid 2006."

His distribution strategy is clear: "We'll tie up with coffee bars and bookstores since our target audience is there. At the same time, we'll even sell our albums while doing live gigs."

In fact, it's a strategy that a majority are applying to get noticed with the "right set of crowds". At the recent Fringe Fest held in New Delhi, Counter Culture Records set up a stall and sold large volumes of their cassettes and CDs.

However Sunil Anand of Dogma Tone Records, another Bangalore-based music company, says, "Selling cassettes and CDs in stalls isn't sustainable. We have tie-ups with retail stores like Planet M and Music World that take care part of our distribution network." Retail stores usually take a 30 per cent commission on each CD and cassette that is sold (usually priced between Rs 100-150) and that's what prompts newer companies to tread cautiously.

Can & Will Records, started by Bangalore-based band Mother Jane in November 2002, has tie-ups with newer music companies in the US and Japan. "We sell our content on international radio channels and stores abroad," says Rahul Gandhi, ("No, not the Amethi guy," he says) promoter, Can & Will Records. He adds, "We invested nearly Rs 2 lakh to get our company registered, and then an additional Rs 70,000 on our first album."

But why is everyone launching their own music labels? "The process has simplified and all it takes is to register the company, get a trademark. Even distribution isn't very tough, especially as we find takers for our music," opines Talwar.

For music lovers, that seems reason enough to rejoice.

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Music for the soul

Can & Will Records: Started in 2002 by members of Bangalore-based band Mother Jane. Promoters: Sooraj and Rahul Gandhi. Investment: Rs 2 lakh.

Dogma Tone Records: Started in March 2005 by IT engineer Sunil Anand, Varun and Ravi. Investment: Close to Rs 1 lakh

Counter Culture Records: Started by Girish Talwar and Vijay Nair in March 2006. Investment: Rs 15,000 for getting the company registered. "I can't give you other details," says Talwar.

Early January 2006, Shane Mendonsa with DJ Tuheen and DJ Ihmsen will announce their music company for house music

Chris Avinash has invested Rs 45 lakh in his music company through "two big investors", also to be launched by January 2006.