Mumbai: Imagine, if there was no existence of music, the world would have lost half of its color and beauty. In a celebration of this artistic essence, the world recently celebrated Independent Artist Day on 3 April, honoring talented individuals who dare to dream, create, and express themselves independently.

Among them stands Artiste First, a dynamic label dedicated to promoting independent music and empowering artists. Led by co-founder Rohit Sobti, a multifaceted leader with over 25 years of experience in finance, music, and technology, Artiste First puts artists first, providing a platform for diverse voices and supporting their creative visions.

Delving deeper into the world of independent music and artists, Indiantelevision.com in conversation with Artiste First’s co-founder Rohit Sobti discussed about the uniqueness of their label, the role of independent labels evolving in the future, common challenges Indie artists face in the competitive music industry and much more…

Edited Excerpts:

On the inspiration behind starting Artiste First, and its differance from traditional music labels

It was started by Tarsame Mittal during Covid. He always wanted to do this for a long time and during covid he found time. His objective was to bring new artists to the industry in an honest, transparent, and passionate way and support them with industry insights and his knowledge. We had collaborated in November 2022 together to co-create it. It is an artist's first platform. We seek a balance between their indulgence as an artiste and audience, we co-create music(audio/video with them) in a beautiful, open, collaborative environment where we trust each other's instincts and professionalism.

On the role of independent labels evolving in the future, with the rise of streaming platforms

According to me today it is about music. It doesn't matter to the audience whether the song is of film or an independent artist/label. Independent labels are here acting as a catalyst for the consumer and educating them about how music can be discovered from other platforms and not only from films in India. A song doesn't need to be on a film to be known and trending.

Independent labels are becoming the discovery platforms for newer artists, and genres. Like we have explored the Kashmir artiste (where no other independent/mainstream label has worked consistently).

We have seven very talented artists from Kashmir who have the potential to reach a global audience and the first artiste Faheem Abdullah's songs are trending in Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and other countries apart from India.

Independent labels are also bringing new-age ways of marketing the song and using art and science (tech) to do so.

On some common challenges Indie artists face in the competitive music industry, and key tips that you would give them to sustain and thrive

The most common challenges are -

a. finding their sound

b. finding their right audience

c. finding a platform (record label etc ) to release their music

d. finding other collaborators to co-create the song. if you are a singer - you need a composer/lyrics/music producer/mix/master engineer etc

We are building an artiste-first community on Instagram and Discord where we conduct regular sessions with the artiste community to help with the above-mentioned challenges. In our discord community, they have started interacting within themselves.

On the strategies that you find most effective in reaching diverse audiences, in promoting genre-neutral music

We need to find the core of the song and a corresponding audience on the digital medium that can act as a community for the music and interim help to spread to larger audiences. We have understood that Instagram is the new platform for discovery and people from all audiences are discovering music from platforms like Instagram, YT Shorts, and in India apps like Josh and Mauj. We try to break the marketing templates with every song release. Our marketing team led by Garishma (supported by Laksh & Deepank) are deep into it.

On technology shaping the landscape for independent musicians, and what opportunities does it present for them

Tech is helping in many ways with audio, video, promotions, and fan data. Collaborations have become easy. We can understand the global trends/sounds that are working; and reach out to musicians. Inter-dependence on creative people in order to create an album art or a visualiser. AI helps in everything. Platforms like Musixmatch are helping artists to create visualisers with lyric videos to help them promote their music.

⁠In your opinion, do you believe that having a foundation in Indian classical music can benefit artists, regardless of their genre or style? If so, what aspects of Indian classical music do you think are particularly valuable for indie artists seeking to innovate and diversify their sound?

Right now in 2024, we see artists with learnings from their childhood with a foundation in music and we also see artists who have literally turned their hobby into a profession and the third type we see are music producers coming up with no background in music and learning everything from Youtube as the internet provides you with all sort of learnings.

It really helps in the long run if you are trained with a good learning foundation of music. Some artists call it "AAMAD" - God's gift to them then the education doesn't matter - they are a vessel and music flows through them.

We work with both these kinds of artists and enjoy working with both.

On the future of independent music, and Artiste First contributing to its growth and evolution

We think the Indian music scene will become like the US where independent music/artiste are mainstream. Currently, it is 50:50 approx (mainstream: independent). It is going to tilt towards 75:25 in the next two -three years. You will see a lot of independent artists dominating the mainstream as well because they will have a huge fan base. New streaming/digital platforms are all artist-centric and give them a lot of tools to develop their fanbase and understand deeply to quickly find their orbit of music.

Artiste First is putting the artiste at the forefront with an honest, passionate, transparent platform to grow their audiences in India and the world and create an open community to help every talented artiste to go to the next level.