Be it rock, hip-hop, electronica, pop or fusion – we all have a favourite indie artiste we love listening to, following online and attending their gigs. But have you ever wanted to support them and their music, for what they are really worth? Here is a way to get one beat closer to being an active participant in the indie scene through the newly launched TGIIR (short for The Great Indian Indie Recordings) app.
Launched at Shangri-La Hotel over the weekend, the app is the creation of Aum- i-art Foundation, a non-profit music foundation, founded by musician Suraj Mani who was earlier with Motherjane and currently with Suraj Mani & The Tattva Trip and Music Mojo.
TGIIR is an artiste funding community platform that seeks to revive the Indian indie music industry by having music lovers invest ₹99 a month. The money is used to pay a royalty to enrolled artistes whose music is featured on TGIIR and to record new songs that will be made available on the app..
Hence, fans are contributing towards rewarding and recording independent artistes and they have a track record to show for it.
Suraj said he was happy musicians from various musical backgrounds attended the launch. “It was a fun evening where everyone turned up as a community believing in TGIIR.” He adds that the app is the need of the hour since the indie musician is under represented. “Our industry is actually bigger than Bollywood. Not in monetary terms but in actual size.”
The initiative is a step towards giving indie music the recognition it needs, says Suraj. “On one hand, artistes get acknowledged and, on the other, audiences can go now to one place where they can listen to all of India’s indie music. The TGIIR app will host only original indie music and focusses on the individuality of its composers. Bollywood is often original but the music is mostly made to a formula. We are a huge country with so many artistic expressions. We need an outlet, which is why this is important.”
What inspired the app? Suraj says although he is an accomplished musician, won several awards and performed across the country,
“I know that most of India doesn’t know me. There are so many like me. I realised we need to do something to change that. The idea for the app came from fans who responded to a crowdfunding video I had put up by suggesting an app.”
He continues that the idea became so much bigger than what he envisioned. “The volume of work in just Music Mojo is massive and yet there is so much more we couldn’t access. So we decided to put it all onto one platform where anyone can access it. The app is designed like a jukebox where you put money in and listen to songs.”
The end result, Suraj says is “a platform where we’re making music available for a subscription, which people are happy paying for. This is a community willing to invest in musicians. The app is just a means for them to come out and revive the scene. Tomorrow, through the app, we can tell an artiste that in this pin code area, there is a fan following for them – be it Mumbai or Chennai or even in Malleswaram or Jayanagar – so they can plan their gigs accordingly. These are fans who are investing in you and they are the ones that matter the most. The takeaway for the artiste is the community and the takeaway for the community is the artiste. This is their meeting place.”
Talking of the future, Suraj says they are starting it across India because they wanted to start small. “Not that India is small. We started here because, whatever comes out of this, we will take care of India first since charity begins at home. I can predict that this will emerge into a community that will have a lot of far–reaching implications.”
The app is available for download on App Store and Google Play
