In the four years since she first organised IndiEarth XChange, CEO/Founder Sonya Mazumdar says that every day has been a new challenge. The trade event for independent music, film and media, which is being held this weekend in the city, was started in 2012 by Sonya and Yotam Agam, who founded EarthSync, a world music record label. Yotam continues, “The music industry is somehow on the verge of extinction because it has become very challenging to sell the major product: music.”
It’s an ironic statement: 6.5 million people have paid for the first month of the Apple music streaming service, Jay-Z’s streaming service Tidal chalked up 1 million users and thanks to Adele’s new hit ‘Hello’, Pandora’s shares rose a few days back. Maybe these examples concern commercial music, are mostly confined to the West, and peg music streaming services as the future. Maybe ‘indie music’ is not as sacrosanct anymore. This conundrum is comparable to the one between bookstores and literary festivals. As the former shuts shop, the latter keeps increasing. Similarly, commercial music might still be going strong, but independent music festivals are numerous.
How does one tell them apart? In the case of XChange though, it’s more than just a music festival — “Music is just one of the things inside XChange; there’s also the film festival, conferences, workshops, the networking... What we’re trying to do is create a global hub right here in Chennai for independent arts,” Sonya says. This year, the duo believes, that the attendance is in a “few thousands” and “very Europe-heavy”. They say it’s all “about knowing our neighbours and the developing markets. Expect attendees from Australia, Mauritius, Germany, France and Israel, Singapore.”
XChange is no Glastonbury, but it does attract its share of tourists who stay on for a few more months, admits Sonya. But can Chennai really be considered touristy when compared to Jaipur, Goa, Mumbai or Bangalore — all of which offer music, films and other media as well as plenty of sightseeing opportunities? “That’s the sad thing, really, because Chennai is very much a place tourists should come to. It’s got everything: art, culture, Nature, accessibility… In fact, most international delegates who come always stay longer and extend dates and travel.” More talk on Chennai, leads Yotam to joke about the weather. “We’ve been in Chennai since 2004; it’s home for us mainly because of the lovely weather we always have.” That was the year when they shook things up in the city with EarthSync.
The birth of IndiEarth in 2011 saw an online platform for independent artistes to connect with media markets worldwide. “EarthSync as a company has been around a long time. We found that on the artistic side there’s been a lot of growth, but infrastructure or resources, haven’t really grown to support the independents. So, we started this platform called IndiEarth and with it, the next logical thing was to start this trade event which addresses the concerns of the industry, rather than being just about a few people and a few artistes,” explains Sonya. But they don’t stop there. Their plan is to create a movement that will encourage the arts business to grow, “because the businesses need to grow, if the artistes need to grow. It can’t be just one entity.”
And whatever the business is, it’s mostly about one thing — money. For the music industry, there’s always competition in the form of online download and streaming services; anyone with a smartphone and a half-decent Internet connection has access to these artistes. And as festivals or events are increasing and getting diverse in their own ways, it’s only fair that organisers, promoters and those behind-the-scenes are looking to be financially independent, just like their artistes’ music. Athough Yotam and Sonya laugh about the small window of funds, they get serious within moments. “That’s the biggest challenge. Ultimately, a lot of the sponsors are looking at footfalls and larger audiences, mass audiences, popularity... so they can get some returns in terms of exposure. For those who work in that minority section, there’s really not much funding; there are some small sponsors and very precious ones, of course,” says Sonya, adding, “We are really in the very early stages of bringing things together and creating interests for sponsors.”
So what’s left then? Idealism, informs Sonya, “Of course, that’s the only thing that holds good.” Yotam finally speaks up. “I think as we go along, we’re just learning how to find new, creative ways to continue doing what we do, while still staying true to making music, because we believe in it and we love it; we want to make world peace through music.”
Ideals are so byzantine and old-fashioned sometimes, but it’s what keeps the two going. It also explains why they work so hard to ensure that the line-up is and has been original for four years. Of course, it could also mean that there are several artistes present in the market. But Sonya says that it’s natural being in the industry, “because this is the work we do and it’s not a question of doing this once a year. We’ve programmed a lot of artistes — more than 250 in the last year and a half, in Chennai alone. But we’ve also programmed them outside the country, in other festivals and markets. We’re all part of the same thing; we know each other, we know what’s around... There’s always some gems that you come across.”
As the conversation draws to a close, Yotam decides to have the last word. “XChange is such a versatile collection of music: it’s really difficult to pinpoint and say ‘this you have to see, this you don’t’. Really, if you choose to come and if you have only one day, just pick one of the days and stay the whole night because you’re going to see everything from classical to DJ and those in-between. And you’re going to have a great time.”
> XChange is on till Sundayat Vivanta by Taj – Connemara.
