Nexa Music Launches Nationwide Talent Hunt for Emerging Indie Musicians

In a bid to promote indigenous talent, Maruti Suzuki’s Nexa Experiences has launched Nexa Music, a nationwide hunt for emerging artists. The platform, created in collaboration with digital media company Qyuki, is looking to support creators of English-language original music across the country. Rolling Stone India has joined hands with Nexa Music to help curate the year-long series.

Aspiring contestants will need to share unreleased or non-promoted original music compositions on the Nexa Music website after which a jury, comprising Grammy award-winning composer and co-founder of Qyuki A. R. Rahman and Bollywood composer Clinton Cerejo, will shortlist 24 contestants who will be chosen for a mentorship program at the Nexa Music Lab. Out of these 24 contestants, only the best four will be shortlisted and guided by celebrity mentors to create four more additional tracks and music videos. In addition to Rahman and Cerejo, the celebrity mentors who will be guiding the contestants are Mumbai singer-songwriter Nikhil D’Souza, singer/performer Anushka Manchanda and rock band Indus Creed’s frontman Uday Benegal. The final four candidates will also get to tour and perform at 12 live events across India with their mentors and begin their journey to build a steady fanbase.

“Nexa and my company Qyuki share a common goal,” said Rahman about Nexa Music in a statement. “We want to provide independent artists creating original English music a real opportunity to be discovered and promoted on a global stage. With Nexa Music any deserving artist stands a chance to collaborate with some of the best bands in the industry to produce music that reaches audiences across the world.”

Rolling Stone India will be joining the project as a curator and editorial partner to help spread the word and find a wider range of independent artists who can make an impact on a global audience. “Our partnership with Qyuki and Nexa Music couldn’t be more fitting because we all share a common goal: to create a creative ecosystem for independent artists to flourish,” said Rolling Stone India‘s executive editor Nirmika Singh. “As the Indian edition of the world’s greatest music magazine, Rolling Stone India is committed to discovering and putting the spotlight on emerging talent. In fact it is the only international title in India that has been consistently reporting on the subculture of artists creating original music in English, thus, telling important stories that need to be told.”

Qyuki co-founder and managing director Samir Bangara said about the partnership, “We’ve created an interesting collaboration with perhaps the most iconic magazine in music and pop culture, Rolling Stone. They will help us curate a lot of the talent and when we talk about packaging its also important [for artists] to be covered editorially, get your voice out there. So I think we’re doing everything in our power to sort of amp this up.”

If you’re a musician hoping to make your voice heard on a global scale, stay tuned to know more about this project.