PART 3: THE VENTURE
It was one of the normally dull evenings in the hostel blocks. I was deeply engrossed in an extremely boring google research for one of my marketing (m-AD-MAN*) projects. It was then that Jai pinged me, to discuss about his project for NID Bangalore. Little did I know, that this discussion would shape a significant amount of time in the coming year. Frustrated with uninspiring assignments, we turned to music, and “the MC Project” broke out of shell. For the next 3 months, Jai and I worked on the idea, as a part of our academic tenure. After which the term ended, and I found lesser time for working on it. So, as I narrowly scraped through my management diploma, I decided to dedicate some time for the MC Project in 2009.
MC actually stands for Music Collaboration, and the name was taken from my project title, which was “Music Collaboration through social networking”. Our basic idea is to create a platform for amateur musicians, where they can easily share their work with others, and even collaborate to finish their/others music piece. And as these musicians will come together, there will be communication, which might lead to learning from each other. So we have three basic concepts: Share, Collaborate and Learn. At this point in time, we have created the basic working model, which provides for the functioning of all these concepts; but it does requires some polishing.
As I finished all the traveling, I turned back to the MC Project. For the 3 days my body rested, my mind started to ideate. The main reason we started the MC Project was we were never able to find a place for us in the social hierarchy, with respect to the fact that we wanted to play music. We were not professionals, neither did we intend to become one. For us music was a means of joy, passing time and not money. As one would say, we are amateurs; and although there is a term that defines us, there isn’t a place that connects us.
I never intend to become a professional musician, I enjoy strumming my guitar now and then, and I intend to keep it that way. Being professional adds a pressure to churn out songs every now and then, as my livelihood will depend on it. Also, I don’t get the rights to my creation, the distribution company does. And if I see the track record, Phooti Kaudi has produced some 4 songs in last 4 years. Which is not at all a bright sign, but it sort of makes me understand why we are seeing so much of copying in the industry. Involving money in the process, changes the equation dramatically; specially when ones livelihood is in question. As for me, I want to make music, not money; I want to make friends, not fans. Money is a means and not the end. A means to joy, to happiness, to music again.
When I actually like a music piece, my subsequent reactions to it is, listen it again and tell everyone about it. I often make others listen to it, and share it, if some one is far. While I feel, I am adding to the fame of the artist, I am actually practicing piracy. Something which I have stopped doing, once I realized what I was doing. First of all, it is against the will of the artist and secondly his livelihood depends on it (well not the insanely famous one’s). But then I ask myself this question, what if the artist doesn’t mind me sharing the music piece. What if he/she (him/her)self wants to distribute it for free. An amateur musician may be, some one who thinks like we do. Or it may be an upcoming/struggling artist who just wants his/her work to be out there, to create a name. Or a seasoned professional may be, who just wants that one song to get out there which he made just for himself and no one else.
And based on all this philosophy we have started the MC Project (which we self proclaim as non profit). I understand, many may feel the idea to be impractical; and we may be the only people who might end up practicing it. But then it is a idea that we float, the acceptance of which is not the question here, it is something we believe in. Plus looking at the current scenario, famous music is today being pirated for free, some doing it intentionally and some unintentionally. Today internet is more efficient and powerful an distribution channel than any when it comes to digital media. And this power should be used in a manner, which should benefit the artist and not hurt him.
I was familiar with the concept that creative commons, were floating and I found it to be applicable here. I like the idea behind creative commons, and I certainly feel it is the way to be for our project. It has its own glitches and has had its share of problems, but then evolution needs time to give birth to perfection. The license which I personally like is the attribution non-commercial. It says that, any one can distribute the piece, if they do not earn anything out of it, until they give the author due credit. Plus, if any one is making money using the work, then they need to pay a fee to the author for it. So I can share my work, and people can share it, as I want; and if it finds a commercial application (for instance, in advertising) I get a slice of the pie.
For 2 months Jai and I worked on materializing our idea, and while we were on the verge of launching it in September, life hit me in a way, I never imagined….
* – m-AD-MAN is actually short for one of our marketing subjects, Advertising Management. While others Called it Ad-Man, I used to call it mAd-Man
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