It will be difficult to find someone untouched by A R Rahman’s music. Winner of Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, Grammy Awards, Golden Globe, and National Awards, the Mozart of Madras has ensured a worldwide following.Rahman was born on January 6, and what better way to pay tribute to this genius other than through music. YourStory presents a list of 10 startups in the music industry.
- Saavn, is one name that props up when someone talks about online music streaming. Saavn works with over 500 record labels and has a customer base of more than 10 million unique users, two-thirds of whom are based in India.
- Gaana, meaning song in Hindi, comes from the Times Internet stable. It is in competition with Saavn over the user base and differentiating factor arises from the user experience and the time to stream a song. Gaana has created a playlist for the birthday boy.
- Dhingana apparently similar music streaming site was questioned about an uncertain future by a leading tech site, as one of the partners withdrew its license from Dhingana. Though we did not hear any songs from the partners who decided not to support, Dhingana kept the spirit alive by having this list of songs.
- Tune Patrol is a social music discovery platform that works towards developing and connecting a thriving community of independent musicians and their fans in India. Though the team sold the venture to undisclosed buyers at an undisclosed price, they maintain that nothing has changed.
- Music Fellas was incubated by Time Internet Labs and is a platform to support and discover independent artists and you can buy their digital music legally.
- TommyJams is a platform that connects artists, venues and fans. They aim to revolutionize live entertainment by consistently providing innovative technology.
- Songdew is an online music streaming website for independent artists and fans. The artists have a social network to showcase their talent by helping them interact with their fans/listeners, and thereby help bridge the gap between talent and awareness among people.
- With Muslate, one can listen, upload, organize and even share their music all in one place and that too without any subscription charges. Users will be able to access their music anytime, anywhere on the go just by logging in to their account.
- WhatsTheScene is a startup which covers live music concerts across India. They promote the live music scene in India and are taking it closer to the masses through unbiased music journalism.
- Enzy Studios is an extension of the parent company TBZ into the space of entertainment, which is being spearheaded by Nishchal Zaveri, a music producer and artist.
The music industry is big and growing. There are new players and enthusiasts added every day. Another very recent one was SongKira, a music search engine, and unlike other search engines it gives exactly one result per song. Though the user interface needs to be improved to a great extent, let us see if it lasts long. But at the end of the day, it’s the music that matters.
