Channeling the Indie Scene

The iconic Punk band split regrouped for the first anniversary celebrations of MTV Indies.

On April Fool’s Day, the good folks at MTV Indies decided to kick off their first anniversary celebrations with an awards show at Blue Frog, Mumbai. During the performance of Split — the iconic punk band had regrouped only for the anniversary celebrations — a scenester was overheard saying, “Who are these people?” It is a question often asked when one switches to the channel. Sometimes it is uttered with disdain at the content, and at other times, with the surprise attached to newly-discovered quality music.

Whatever be the underlying emotion, it is indicative of the fact that MTV Indies, launched on March 19 last year, has succeeded in one of its primary objectives. The channel has brought unknown musicians to the fore, and made the often incestuous music scene into a level playing field. The channel accepts everything from Punjabi rap to pop, metal to EDM, without judgement, as long as it has a good music video. “We started with a cache of about 60 videos. We have over 500 within a year,” says Ankur Tewari, head of programming for MTV Indies.

Over the last year, Borkung Hrangkhawl has seen how the channel has impacted his music, and that of his friends from Tripura. The musician, who makes dubstep- and EDM-influenced nu metal, has received great response from fans for his video Never Give Up that is aired on MTV Indies. “When I go back home, everyone is talking about what artiste they discovered through MTV. When they like a video, they go online and check the artiste out,” says Hrangkhawl, who believes this helps artistes from the Northeast whom one wouldn’t otherwise hear about.

Rohit PMan Pereira, of the bass heavy band Vice Versa, whose video for Habibi has received ample airtime on the channel, believes music videos can be inspiring. He says, “In India, you are not a star unless you are on TV. Watching an Indian band makes aspiring musicians believe they can make that kind of music too, just the way I was inspired watching MTV in the ’90s.”

But while indie musicians are using the channel to reach out to a wider audience, they aren’t themselves watching it. The future garage, experimental music act Sandunes aka Sanaya Ardeshir released three music videos in the past 15 months but confesses, “I don’t watch the channel much. Indies, for me, is like the internet, another platform to get my music out to people.”

The channel in its first year was targeting metro cities, where the indie subculture exists. This year, they are looking to take it to people from smaller cities and towns to build a larger audience base for indie music over the next few years.

To achieve this, the channel has been going beyond television, by partnering with festivals such as Ziro and Big 69. They have also taken music in the form of live gigs to 22 cities across India. And their latest monthly live property, Ribbit, is a platform to push new talent. “Indies has a 360-degree approach, where we want to promote the independent scene in every capacity possible,”
explains Tewari.

This approach has worked especially well for fringe artistes and genres. Sahil Makhija, who is well-known in the metal scene, believes that while metal videos are too explicit for the censor board, the channel is aiding the subculture. “It is almost impossible for a metal fest to get sponsorship,” says Makhija, talking about the channel’s collaboration with the metal gig BIG69. “But when you sell the fact that you have a television channel on board, sponsors are keener to show interest.”

The channel’s egalitarian outlook has its detractors too. Nikhil RK of the metal band Chaos from Trivandrum, loved the idea of the channel initially. But he now refuses to watch it even though his own video airs on it. “It used to be about the music. It didn’t matter if they weren’t airing metal, but you could see that a lot of effort was going into making the music. Now, they play Punjabi gansta rap. That’s not something I believe in.”

The TRPs have been low. Low enough for the channel to not give out their performance stats, in fear of driving people away. Tewari says the channel is working on a different model with integration of online, TV and live events. “It has been difficult with sponsors, but you have to remember that it’s only been a year. We have a lot of work to do ahead, and it is very exciting.”
kevin.lobo@expressindia.com

Source:: Indian Express