Puerto Rican Pop Artist Claims Mistreatment and Breach of Contract from Mood Indigo Organizers

Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Melissa Otero was booked to perform at the 2023 edition of IIT Bombay’s Mood Indigo college festival.

The female vocalist, who found significant streaming success in the Indian subcontinent with hits such as “With You (Contigo)” and “Lo Que Pudo Ser,” allegedly had a “horrible and traumatic” experience dealing with Mood Indigo 2023’s event organizing team in India.

“It’s left me kind of traumatized in a way, because the music business, if you know anything about the music business, is quite hard to get into,” she told Rolling Stone India.

The singer claims that the Mood Indigo organizers verbally promised her access to the “best” quality of accommodation—allegedly an “off-campus guest house”—for her and her band members to reside in.

“My contract states that in good faith, to the best of their ability, they will provide my tech rider requirements and my regular hospitality requirements,” Otero said.

The musician has alleged that the Mood Indigo team forced her to stay in the IIT Bombay on-campus dormitories, which the singer claims “[were] very basic”.

“My room wasn’t even prepared,” she said, adding: “They take me into my room. There are two beds. They are not prepared. There are no bed sheets or towels. They gave me the smallest face towel when I asked for it, even to take a shower.”

Regarding the food that the artist and her team had requested before their performance, she claims, “I did a five-hour rehearsal that day so I only had breakfast and I asked them, ‘will there be food provided for us?’ They finally come back with just some ramen noodles for dinner.”

To further add to the onslaught of logistical issues, during the day of the performance, Otero claims that the Mood Indigo team failed to provide her with her instrumental requirements. Despite having promised the artist a “baby grand piano”, the festival, within a mere two hours of the performance time, “could only arrange for a Casio keyboard”.

Upon reaching back to her dorm room, Otero claims, “I went upstairs, and the door to my room was completely open. The light was on. I ran into my room and noticed that all my stuff was moved from one side to the other. My personal belongings, including my VISA documents, jewelry, and hard drives containing my music, were moved across the room. We are talking about a breach of trust.”

The singer has filed an official legal notice to IIT Bombay and the organizers of Mood Indigo, claiming breach of contract, mistreatment, and invasion of privacy.

Rolling Stone India contacted the Events and Cultural Head of Mood Indigo, Mr. Arjun Bora, for a comment. He said, “Well, the issue is still under scrutiny. The administration and Mood Indigo’s security team are in constant discussions to find out the root cause of the same.

He added, “As the issue is too vague to comment on right now as fortunately nothing was stolen from the site, we’ll need some time to comment on it as we are not sure if the lock was broken, misplaced, or opened by someone other than the artist.”