Samir Bangara, managing director of Shekhar Kapur and AR Rahman’s digital venture Qyuki, shares how their studios help indie artistes collaborate, connect and create path-breaking content
Two years ago, when filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and AR Rahman announced their digital media venture, Qyuki, to help creative people get a platform to create movies and music compositions, the indie sub-culture just began to spread its wings. Post that, opportunities for independent musicians and filmmakers only grew on the digital space and the progress have been to such an extent that today we also have a dedicated channel, MTV Indies, for independent artistes. Keeping in mind all these changes and the indie revolution, it was important for Qyuki to get a certain makeover. While earlier the digital site was a platform allowing artistes and content producers to engage and collaborate, now it is becoming a one-stop destination for all creators, starting with production and ending with monetisation and distribution.
Samir Bangara, managing director of Qyuki, says, “Qyuki has always aimed at democratising creativity. The primary focus is to vest the power of creativity and the ability to make money with the creator. We help the artistes form a network where they can jam, create and make a living through something they’re passionate about. Our artistes have access to studio-floors, cameras, lights, editing suites, sound studios and a team of filmmakers, sound engineers and editors. The artist gets support right from conceptualising, executing to finally presenting their creativity to their audience through our multi-platform network.”
Qyuki has number of studios across the country where the users can also get training by senior artistes. They even have a studio in Dharavi, Mumbai, and a group of 40 artistes from Dharavi have developed their own form of hip-hop. “It is a simple little set up but is the space where artistes brainstorm and come up with interesting concepts and ideas. Some of our artistes are promoting Indian classical music with a twist. They have formed a group called Classicool and they will be launching their first YouTube channel at a live concert today in Bandra,” informs Samir, who was the managing director of the digital business at Disney UTV. He further adds that to help the artistes promote their music and make money from their talent, they have entered into an alliance with Universal Music Group. “The focus is not only on mainstream music but also on a lot of niche genres. These artists are from all parts of India. We have artistes from Chandigarh, Jammu, Ranchi, ludhiana. lots of indie rock and electronic acts are also being promoted.”
With the emergence of crowdfunding websites to help the creative people raise money for their start ups and other such platforms, Samir says that we are witnessing a revolution that will result in more creative content.