‘Watch Out’ for Rolling Stone India and Wishberry’s Crowdfunded Music Video Campaign

Last June, Rolling Stone India and crowdfunding platform Wishberry announced a collaborative project called ”˜Watch Out’ to help indie musicians raise funds to shoot their dream music video. The goal of the initiative was to enable artists to create content without budget constraints or corporate backing.

The four artists part of the campaign include New Delhi jazz singer Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, country artist Ratnang Singh, electronica producer-singer Komorebi and Malayali R&B artist Gowry Lekshmi, who went on to raise ₹3.5 lakhs in 45 days for their videos which released today.

In the clip for Tarana Marwah aka Komorebi’s slinky ballad “Little One,” we see the electronica producer singing the song in an old cabin while a small girl — who seems to be a younger version of Marwah — watches a thumb war. Also featured is a young boy who is trapped in a room with fingers pointed at him and a flower in his mouth portraying that he might be silenced. The video ends with the girl packing up a suitcase of old photographs and Marwah exiting the cabin with the boy.

While the video for “Little One” takes you on a walk down memory lane, Ratnang Singh’s video for the folksy “You” showcases the musician performing the song with an acoustic guitar in the background of a couple going through their highs and lows.

Meanwhile, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya plays the lead in a video for her progressive track “You Shine.” The video opens with her surfing the channels on her television and go on to show her in different situations such as a party, performing on stage and traveling in a cab but always coming back to her returning to her apartment and switching through the channels on her television. “’You Shine’ was a song I had written putting myself in someone else’s shoes and I did the same in the music video where I acted as the protagonist, which was a challenging and new thing for me,” says Bhattacharya. She adds, “I am glad that people related to that idea and emotion enough to contribute to it so wholeheartedly and the folks at Wishberry helped me so much throughout the process. I hope the message of the song resonates with those who need to hear it most.”

Lekshmi’s video for her breezy song “Aararo” showcases the vocalist performing with her band in one setting while the story revolves around her attempts to please a staunch dance instructor along with her dance partner. “This crowdfunding project made me realize how much my listeners trust me. I never expected that I would get such immense support, with funds even coming in from different countries! It was a really positive experience for me and now I’m more determined to deliver good music,” says Lekshmi.

Wishberry co-founder Anshulika Dubey says, “The response ‘Watch Out’ has received shows that the audience is finally opening up to accepting talent from across genres! We’re glad to have collaborated with Rolling Stone India and bring to life this opportunity to benefit the independent music scene in India.” Campaigns like ‘Watch Out’ have paved the way for independent musicians to achieve mainstream recognition — more and more artists are now following the same path and are likely to change the face of the indie music industry in the next couple of years.