Internet radio - harbinger of music revolution

From rxpgnews.com

India Sci-Tech
Internet radio - harbinger of music revolution
By Frederick Noronha, IANS, Feb 9, 2007 - 8:18:27 AM

Bangalore, Feb 9 - It's called RadioVeRVe, it's hiding out there in cyberspace and can come to you via your mobile phone. The Internet radio, you might not even be aware of, sees itself at the forefront of the 'Indian independent music revolution'.

'RadioVeRVe started out of a PC in a bedroom sometime in 2003. It then involved two hours every night, playing music by independent music friends of mine like - Phenom and Thermal and a Quarter,' said 24-year-old Kaustubh Srikanth, one of the leading lights behind the concept.

Thermal And A Quarter is considered one of India's most popular, talented and innovative bands. With their own signature band of invention, they create music that challenges any form of classification.

RadioVeRVe sees itself as an experiment to help independent musicians across the country promote themselves.

This venture was earlier called InfinityRadio.info. 'I used to host the show every night between 9 and 11. We had about 10-15 bands from India. Lot of bands put up stuff for downloading without any license,' Kaustubh 'Houndbee' Srikanth told IANS.

Then, musicians started writing in to them and sending music. 'We were sitting on collections of 100 Indian bands. - Shreyas 'Shres' Srinivasan and professional musician and radio jockey Gaurav 'Josh' Vaz got together and started recording shows,' he said.

They would get together whenever they could, produce a few hours of service, put it up via the Internet, and run it in a continuous loop.

RadioVeRVe was the new name that came in late 2005.

Said Srikanth: 'It's not a registered organisation, just a collective sharing of similar ideas. We've been musicians ourselves, and gone to a lot of rock concerts. We were trying to do something to promote bands whose appeal was restricted to pockets. For this, the internet seemed to be the best medium.'

When InfinityRadio started, they had 10-12 visitors each night. Now they have about 200-300 listeners a week.

'It's not in the millions,' Srikanth laughed. 'But everyone loves independent - music made in India. We've definitely made a difference in trying to create a centralised community, and build a platform where everyone can go if they want to listen to local bands.'

'It works for local musicians who do not have an idea of what to do with their music after recording it.'

RadioVeRVe has greater visibility in places like Bangalore and Mumbai. There is also some great music coming out of places like Shillong, in the youth-dominated, fairly Westernised northeastern India.

'There are a lot of small - cultures that exist across the country, but which never had a chance to work with each other or share the same platform,' said Srikanth.

Bangalore-based tech guru Atul Chitnis, who supported the youngsters in this venture, says that with this Internet radio station now being part of the MunduRadio network -, new audiences are being accessed.

Said Chitnis: 'RadioVerve is the only real internet radio station, and the only one pushing out independent music form artists in India. It is the prime target for many people using MunduRadio.'

It is expected to add more new channels, including non-English and non-rock music. 'There are other 'stations' that offer what is in effect MP3 downloads, but not streaming internet radio,' noted Chitnis.