True School of Music Hosts Third Edition of Music Works Seminar

Uday Benegal of Indus Creed | Photo Credit: Pranab Doley

In June 2013, months before launching the True School of Music [TSM] in Mumbai, founders such as Ashutosh Phatak roped in artist managers, composers and artists for the first ever Music Works Seminar. After hosting another round at PALM Expo in May 2014, Music Works will be hosted at TSM in Lower Parel in central Mumbai this week.

With the third edition of Music Works, there’s a wider panel of speakers, extending to music industry experts from Bollywood and the advertising world. In addition to featuring speakers such as Mumbai rock band Indus Creed’s frontman Uday Benegal, keyboardist Zubin Balaporia, drummer Gino Banks, bassist Sheldon D’Silva and DJ Uri, Music Works will include a panel discussion about the music industry, led by director Zoya Akhtar, music composer and singer Salim Merchant and sound engineer Rajiv Kenkre. Says Merchant about representing the film industry at Music Works, “In my journey as a musician, I realized how important it is to learn music.” He adds that upcoming musicians can easily gain from the boom in television and video and radio advertising. Says Merchant, “There’s a new show at least every six months. Some soaps are daily or bi-weekly. Even advertising is pretty massive now, going into radio and film. It requires a whole lot of professionals, especially from the music industry, whether they are studio engineers, guitarists or singers and more.”

Also jamming and speaking at Music Works is Uday Benegal, who says they have time just for a couple of Indus Creed songs and plan to make it more of a jam. For his talk on what goes into planning a tour, Benegal says he’ll be discussing the “wider aspect of what the music industry requires.” Adds the vocalist-guitarist, “You have to remember that music in India is an emerging industry while the global one is being upended.” Metal musician Vehrnon Ibrahim, who was the frontman for Millenium, one of the oldest metal bands in the country, will bring his expertise as a music and media specialist and consultant to the seminar. Ibrahim says, “In my day, people did music they don’t like for money and for the music they like, they didn’t expect money.” He cites how, after audiences got a taste of Mick Jagger’s moves in the Seventies, stage presence became much more of a unique selling point for bands and how the Eighties made music videos a new marketing tool. Says Ibrahim, “It’s no longer okay to get stoned, sit back and play a guitar. Today, you have to be a jack of so many trades, from publicity to audio and video editing.”

Music Works 2015 takes place at True School of Music, Mumbai on February 8th, 2015. Entry by registration. Sign up to attend here.