Indie Artists Crowdsource Sounds and Lyrics for Twitter India Initiative

Among the top 10 most popular Twitter profiles in the world, six belong to current music icons. The fact is indicative of the microblogging site’s enormous power to bring music stars closer to their fans. One of the other best things about Twitter is also perhaps its uncanny ability to throw surprises at you ”“ both good and bizarre [Remember when American rapper Kanye West tweeted ”˜I’m this generation’s Disney”¦ I want to bring dope shit to the world”¦? earlier this year]. It is all of these little joys that indie musicians from across India are aiming for tomorrow, June 16^th, as they crowdsource music raw material from their fans.

Maati Baani plan to throw crowdsource lyrics for a breezy, acoustic track as part of the #EveryCharacterMatters initiative. Photo: Courtesy of the artist

Delhi singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad, folk-rock outfit Maati Baani and a cappella group Voctronica from Mumbai and Noida’s Siddharth Sharma will engage with fans on June 16^th as part of the ongoing #EveryCharacterMatters week initiated by Twitter India. Says Pratiksha Rao,  Head-Media Partnerships, South East Asia, Twitter Inc, “We know that there are a lot of young creators on Twitter who have a following and use the platform in interesting ways. This initiative is to highlight them. A lot of Indian people associate Twitter with either Bollywood or cricket-centric news and updates, so we wanted to collaborate with creators from other fields.”

Prateek Kuhad will request fans to tweet to him their favourite lyrics and parts of his recently released single “Tune Kaha”. Photo by Parizad D.

While Sharma will crowdsource sounds on Twitter and create music using them, Maati Baani will do the reverse ”“ they will upload a short audio clip and ask fans to send them lyrics for the song. Voctronica, on the other hand, plan to invite people to tweet about issues that matter most to them. They will use these crowdsourced themes to create music. Kuhad, on his part, will request fans to tweet to him their favourite lyrics and parts of his recently released single “Tune Kaha”.

Nirali Kartik, vocalist of Maati Baani, is hoping they will receive a bunch of ideas from their fans for the breezy, acoustic track they are planning. She says, “We are going to throw a theme to our audience, which is ”“ their idea of a perfect day.  They can send in a line in either Hindi or English about whatever they think makes their day and we’ll incorporate it in the song, which we will release in the evening.”

Apart from reaching out to musicians, the ongoing #EveryCharacterMatters week saw Twitter India bring on board icons from various other fields.

https://twitter.com/MallikaDua/status/741983530918383618

While Monday, June 13^th saw comedians José Covaco, Mallika Dua and Varun Thakur among others tweeting out to their fans and creating vine videos, Tuesday June 14^th featured lifestyle bloggers Debasree Banerjee and Larissa D’sa et al using tools like Periscope to offer tips to users. Wednesday, June 15^th was reserved for modern romance and witnessed the cast of The Viral Fever’s Permanent Roommates among other talking about modern relationship.  Say Rao, “The whole idea is to focus on young creators from across different fields. We have been thinking of this for a while ago and are glad that this took off.”