Artist Aloud's latest show, Launchcast, does away with the recording studio. Premiering on November 1, the show will feature indie artistes recording their songs while performing live on stage
In the perennially evolving landscape of the Indian independent music scene, there is a tremor emanating from the unlikeliest of sources. Launched two years ago, with a core team comprising merely seven people, Artist Aloud is one of those novel music enterprises that has begun to cast a shadow much larger than itself. “The key,” says Soumini Sridhar Paul, associate vice president, “is for the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts.”
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Their upcoming show Launchcast is no exception to the rule as it aspires to shift several archetypes, on which the conventional setup of music recording is founded. Launchcast as a concept is quite simple Paul explains. “A live stage set for 12 weeks where every week, popular indie artistes will perform and also play, record and mix a brand new album live on stage. That is what Launchcast is all about.”
Each episode will be telecast on the Artist Aloud official website and the albums recorded will be distributed through the website as well. The talent assembled for the series is nothing short of formidable Shefali and Joe Alvares, Shweta and Shraddha Pandit, Sid Coutto, Shilpa Rao, Ankur Tewari, Raghav Sachar and several others are set to scorch the Launchcast stage.
“A common problem with upcoming artistes is the inability to get their music recorded. Launchcast attempts to address that problem, and then takes it a few steps ahead,” says Paul, explaining the origin of the idea. “Through the website, we also develop a marketing and distribution avenue for these artistes and their album as well. It is more like an invitation to the creative talents of the country to focus on making the best music they possibly can. If we like your sound, we will help you out. We have basically brought the recording studio to the artiste.”
The artistes performing are excited about Launchcast too. Speaking about the programme Ankur Tewari says, “In the conventional style of music recording we usually perform each of our bits separately. The vocals are recorded separately, after which the guitars, and so on. With Launchcast, I love the whole old school vibe of the recording setup with all of us performing the song simultaneously.” His take on the show was also peppered with adjectives like “exciting, organic, interesting and curious.” Suffice to say, the man was buzzin’.
Meanwhile Shefali Alvares, who will be performing with her father Joe Alvares, reminisced about how she bungled up on the bits where she would have to speak about the song and her experiences with the camera. “Put me in front of a crowd, I am in my element. In front of a camera though I become extremely shy. I was spaced out so often when I had to talk. And knowing the guys at Artist Aloud I am sure they have left those bits in the final cut. It will be so funny. For the viewers. Not for me.”
Syndicating their shows and on site tie-ups are some of the places from which the website ropes in its revenue but there is still a long way to go for Artist Aloud. The job however, is not without its perks. “After all that hard work, when talented artistes like Shilpa Rao come back and tell you that they enjoyed it a lot and would love to come back and do it all over again, you feel satisfied that it has been a job well done and well worth it,” concludes Paul.u00a0