Emerging indie record labels aiming to change the Indian music industry

Hip hop artist Sun J who has been signed on by AzadiThe aim behind Azadi Records is to tell stories says founder Mo Joshi who has been an artist manager for more than a decade Both Joshi 35 who has managed acts like Raja Kumari and Akala and Uday Kapur 24 who used to work in artist management at OML are about releasing music with a socially relevant voice Their record label which launched last week joined a small but growing tribe of indie labels who could be trying to change the way the music industry works in India We want to provide a support system right from managerial duties to packaging and marketing We want to give genuine artists a platform to showcase their talent and feelings he saysMo Joshi and Uday Kapur of Azadi RecordsFor starters Azadi has signed on three hip hop artists all with unique backgrounds There is Prabh Deep 23 who hails from Delhis Tilak Nagar an area that was badly hit during the 1984 riots and who writes songs and raps about growing up in a Sikh community haunted by the past His song Kal Future released last weekThere is also Sun J 24 who comes from Mohammadpur Azad Basti and was discovered by Joshi on desihiphopcom where he would upload songs about making the best of life And there is Sez 23 the producer of Divine and Naezys tracks We are the only record label to have tied up with Kobalt Music a USbase publishing house which is the largest in the world There are hundreds of platforms for these artists and we want them to get there Right now we are Delhi based but we plan to conquer one city at a time We are also selffundedThe band Mojo Bombay performs at Discovery Nights edition 4 at Cat Cafe Studio VersovaAt another Delhibased record label Pagal Haina where Dhruv Singh runs the show artists are chosen only if he believes in them We are not genre based Its not about trends or norms These are artists we love says the 33yearold The label which has been operational since 2011 has signed on three artists popular singersongwriter Prateek Kuhad Rounak Maiti and Ditti Aditi Vina The aim is to find unique and distinct voices We want to help them in their journey Singh says that their services are personalised to the artists needs Sometimes we invest in the album Sometimes we take a nominal fee for label services We think of it more as artist development For Singh its important that the process of discovery is organic and once he does find them its all about the music being a collaborative team effort He also shares that the money seems to be rolling in slowly thanks to live gigs There are good and bad days Sometimes I consider selling an organ or two But I think we are managing to create a fairly decent balanceDhruv Singh of Pagal Haina who manages Prateek KuhadIf Azadi and Pagal Haina are trying to help unique artists hone their craft and business acumen labels like Mumbaibased EnnuiBOMB who stopped managing artists because of the thankless nature of their job are about providing venues and finding an audience Financially its draining and in the end you need to make money says Bombay boy Rishu Singh who started the label in 2004 We have launched a new property called Discovery Nights where we break new acts We had done this before with hip hop Bomb nights where artists like Divine rapped before they were big And look whats happened with the hip hop scene nowEnnuiBOMB founder Rishu SinghAlong with Divine Singh and his team have worked with bands like Laxmi Bomb The Riot Peddlers and Kabir Cafeacute We also release an annual compilation of songs from these new talents Their business model is simple either the gig is sponsored or they do a gate share with the venue At the end of day its all about making sure that the label survives so that the artist can thrive in turn As Dhruv Singh of Pagal Haina puts it I think indie labels work as a sounding board sometimes to be honest and say this is not working sometimes to say this is it But at the end of the day its about letting them artistes be who they are