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Engineers in India have good career opportunities. This isnt the case with artists. This was something Sriram Emani realised very early.
After starting the marketing and business development team at the National Centre for Performing Arts, Emani observed while arts organisations in India spent significantly on marketing high-profile concerts, very little was done for young artists.
As an MBA student at MIT Sloan, when Emani proposed the idea of a platform to promote Indian classical music online, he got an overwhelming response. The platform, IndianRaga, works on a freemium model, says Emani, chief executive and co-founder of the site (Anasuya Mandal and Neha Jaiswal are the other co-founders). Musicians can create profiles and use various features of the site to promote themselves. Those considering careers in music can become featured artists on the sites network.
The beginning
As an engineering student at Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Emani was keen to leverage technology to promote the creative industry. During a six-month project in New York in 2007, he came across the vibrant industry in the city. Later, at a concert in Mumbai, tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain urged the media to promote young, Indian classical musicians. These events left a deep impact on Emani.
An idea has to be executed. MIT Sloan School of Management played a critical role in enabling that. I remember presenting my idea and business model to my class in almost every course possible from communication to introduction to technology entrepreneurship and digital innovations. The ability to discuss and refine the idea in a variety of groups and environments helped me shape it better, said Emani. Though MIT doesnt have a stake in the venture, he says it has been an inspiring ecosystem.
The start-up won the Community Choice Award at the MIT IDEAS Global Challenge 2012 that, Emani said, was the culmination of the groups efforts. After this, the company partnered ITC Sangeet Research Academy.
Offerings
Analytics will certainly play a major role in helping upcoming musicians widen their reach and create a global audience footprint. The IndianRaga platform shall have a recommendation system powered by user engagement and social media interactions. We are also working on other ways through which these artists can engage with global communities through digital media, Emani said.
The beta platform IndianRaga.in was officially launched in November 2012 and its first selection process for fellowships is underway. All semi-finalists would be featured on IndianRaga. The fellowship (application fee: $25) is open to musicians from the US and Canada. Emani said this would be extended to other regions soon. For the IndianRaga fellowship, there is a tie-up with ITC Sangeet Research Academy.
Musicians can create profiles on IndianRaga free of charge and upload up to five songs. To upload more music and connect with different organisations and mentors on the network, a paid subscription would be necessary. We havent finalised the pricing for this, but there will be a tiered system, depending on the level of benefits offered. There will be no advertising in this version, Emani said, adding when IndianRaga posted opportunities on the website (for instance an opportunity to perform at the Chennai Festival), artists would have to pay a small fee to apply.
IndianRaga is already working on several mobile app ideas and is trying to launch its first such app by autumn this year.
Fellowship advantage
The companys fellowship programme would provide artists an opportunity to engage with seasoned ITC Sangeet Research Academy musicians. The finalists would be invited to Boston for a series of classes with ITC Sangeet Research Academy experts. A finalist from each category would be awarded a cash prize of $1,000.
As the fellowship programme continues to grow, we envision it to be an incubator for upcoming musicians. It can provide performance opportunities in different parts of the world and educate musicians on leveraging the power of digital media to reach audiences and generate revenue, Emani said.
Challenges
He added the venture had got immense support; musicians from across the world had requested the programme be extended to their regions. What has been a bit of a challenge is inspiring action among some of the traditional music venues and arts organisations in India. These entities havent engaged with such a platform before, he said. They had to see some of their peer organisations adopt it before they felt comfortable in investing their time and efforts, he added.
IndianRaga will have to wait for one or two years for Indian organisations to open up to this idea. We still have a traditional way of thinking and such organisers would rather rely on their judgement than choose an artist promoted by a portal, said a senior classical events manager of a Mumbai-based event management firm.
Emani said the fact that while competitors were focussed on global music, IndianRaga was focussed solely on India which was an advantage. The start-ups competitors in this segment include SoundCloud, ReverbNation.com and BandCamp. Emani says what distinguishes IndianRaga is its teams knowledge of the Indian music space, as well as professional experience and global networks.
Users speak
Harsha Nagarajan, an applicant to the IndianRaga fellowship, said the portal was one of the most simple and aesthetic ones for information on artists. He added many talented classical musicians in India werent able to make music their full-time career either because the financial back-up was unpredictable or due to the lack of marketing skills on the musicians part. IndianRaga would help overcome these issues, he said.
Another applicant for the IndianRaga fellowship, Varun Ganesan, said the portal wasnt just a medium for artists to showcase their talent; it also motivated others by allowing them to listen to all public recordings available. Samarth Nagarkar, featured on IndianRaga, said the portal was an essential avenue for Indian musicians across the globe, particularly in the US. This is one of the very few dedicated portals that offer a variety of services to Indian musicians seeking to break through different industry barriers, he said.
Scaling up
IndianRaga plans to expand geographically. It is already working on various offerings for India. The Indian diaspora would be a key customer for the company.
Emani said the company was devoting significant time to developing the platform this year. It would prioritise scaling up revenue generation; this year, the company expects to record revenue of $30,000-50,000. Emani said as the portal was launched only a few months ago, so far, the revenue through subscriptions and sponsorship was limited to a few thousand dollars. Our focus is on launching a few products this year to better understand our market and its needs, even if it means prioritising user acquisition over revenue, he said.
As opportunities through partner organisations are incentives, the companys business development team is building strategic partnerships. The first is with ITC Sangeet Research Academy. We are finalising a few more through this month and the next. We are also planning to enhance the IndianRaga experience through trivia games and apps that would keep audiences and musicians hooked to the site, he said.
To scale up the portal, the company is also considering private equity/venture capital investment. IndianRaga plans to go for an angel or venture capital round of funding around mid-2013.
A chief technology official from a rival portal said since Indian music was increasingly becoming popular across the globe, IndianRaga could also promote Indian music by individuals across nationalities.
Such approaches are needed to keep the funds flowing. Else, it would be difficult to scale, said the senior vice-president of a digital media consulting firm.
Growth
With new products and services on the anvil, IndianRaga aims to be a holistic platform for an array of services for upcoming musicians. Digital media has opened up significant opportunities to capture a global audience base and create new and interesting products in this space. The Indian diaspora is supporting and adopting cultural traditions in a strong way. We aim to leverage this and rethink Indian music in the digital age. Our aim is to expand beyond the classical genre. So, we wouldnt call ourselves niche, Emani said.
EXPERT TAKE: Sushanto Mitra
Despite the upheavals across global markets due to the rise of digital distribution and falling per unit prices, in recent years, the Indian music industry has recorded robust 10-15 per cent growth on an estimated market size of Rs 1,500 crore. Predictably, the film sector accounts for about 70 per cent of this pie, leaving limited business for the western, Indipop, devotional and classical genres. Going by these estimates, the market for Indian classical music would hardly be more than Rs 100-150 crore. While promoting this integral part of our culture is surely patriotic from an Indian standpoint, the business itself could well be marginal.
The IndianRaga team is a group of music enthusiasts with distinguished academic credentials and experience in leading institutions. Currently, the business aims to get subscription fees from artists for promoting their music and listing or referral fees for educational programmes. However, with just about 40 artists and a only few educational programmes currently listed on the site, one wonders how long it would take for revenues to cover costs.
Based on limited review. The views of the author do not necessarily reflect that of the organisation
Sushanto Mitra,
Director, Hyderabad Angels
