When members of pioneer rock band Pentagram met each other last weekend to perform after a break of two years, it wasn’t to their usual crowd of adoring fans, but the three cameramen recording the gig at Island City Studios in Mumbai made up for it with their incessant cheering.
Pentagram was part of a set of 12 artistes performing at From The Island, an ongoing online-only indie music festival. Spread over three months, the festival has so far featured indie names such as Bombay Brass, Ankur and The Ghalat Family, and Nikhil D’Souza. The first edition of the festival, which will wrap up on December 27 with a mystery final act, has been organised by musician Clayton Hogermeer and Jehangir Jehangir (JJ), owner of Island City Studios.
“We were trying to figure out a way for indie musicians to perform during the lockdown,” says JJ, explaining that they conceived the festival in September, before small scale live gigs started cautiously opening up in Mumbai. The festival, they hoped, would also provide sound engineers and technicians with work opportunities.
“During the initial months of lockdown, I had an idea to do a sort of Live-aid for indie musicians and raise funds. Food from the table was being taken away for musicians back then,” says Clayton. But despite his best efforts, getting sponsors for it proved difficult. “So I thought ‘why not just do it ourselves?’ I was sitting on a wad of cash because Netflix recently bought a song of mine... so, use that and just let the boys come in and play,” he adds.
The festival is being streamed on Skillbox with the platform taking a mutually agreed upon fee, irrespective of the ticket sales. The money earned from the ticket sales goes directly to the musicians. There are two types of tickets: one that buys access per show for ₹399, and the other an all-access one for ₹2,999. The sales from all-access is divided between the 12 performers.
“This way, we are trying to make the artistes stakeholders in the festivals themselves. This festival is run by musicians,” he explains, adding that generally, festivals only give musicians a set fee.
In the years to come, will the festival remain purely online? That is still up in the air. “If you look at the natural progression of the music industry, it has always been preceded by the advancement of technology, right from the invention of recording sound. LPs, cassettes to CDs, MP3, now livestreaming, tech will always be advancing and musicians are the kind of people who will do whatever is necessary to survive,” he says.
JJ adds that this would mean more research into cheaper software for streaming (such as OBS). “Live broadcasts have been around for years, but on bigger scale in TV productions. We just need to bring that mentality to indie livestreams,” says JJ.
The heart of From The Island, however, remains the voice of the musician. “What we are up against is a culture (especially since recorded free streaming became the norm), that devalues musicians,” says Clayton, adding, “Our aim here is to say that we don’t need an NH7, or MTV or Spotify. We are the producers of the product, and we are going to start defining its value because the system currently in place does not.”
The next act, featuring Chennai-based Maalavika Manoj (Maali), will be streamed on December 6, from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm. Visit @fromtheisland_live on Instagram, or skillboxes.com
