Making music democratic

Crowdfunding may have only taken off only recently, but as a concept, group financing has existed in our social fibre for a long, long time. Ask Nikhil Udupa, partner of Control ALT Delete, one of India’s purely audience-funded independent music gigs.

The concert started off around six years ago, with the only form of revenue coming in via a ‘daan peti’ left outside the venue’s doors to collect money from the attendees. The more nuanced avatar, now in its 10th edition, sees an entire campaign playing out online, complete with rewards that range from tickets to the gig, to a private concert from one of the participating bands. In fact, the gig has raised Rs 2 lakh already, and counting.

Keshav Kumar with Killibrium

“We’ve always had a pay-what-you-want system,” explains Nikhil, “And we are a strictly not-for-profit venture. None of us — not our partner Himanshu Vaswani, or the volunteers — will ever make any money from it. Even our sound engineers work pro bono. All the money we make is split between performing artistes as a rule.”

Prod him on what got them to take to crowdfunding for CAD, and pat comes Nikhil’s reply, “It started from a point where both Himanshu and I were frustrated in our careers, going to brands and asking them for sponsorships. Most big things happen because of these brands, and it comes at the cost of a lot of control in programming. Obviously, indie music isn’t becoming accessible for all.”

He continues, “This gig was sort of a counterpoint to our day jobs. We strongly feel the indie scene, as much as we love it, is stuck in this upper middle class bubble, and we want to break it. You know how kids on the street hum Bollywood songs? That’s what one needs to do with indie music. At least create content that connects with people on the streets and not be stuck within themselves. We want to really upset the order.”

To that effect, the team has a blueprint in place to crowdfund and manage the gig expenses by themselves, and even publish a report of the balance sheets online. “We feel so guilty about taking people’s money that we put everything online,” Nikhil chortles. “It’s a DIY idea and we democratise and make an open source process for anyone to really do a gig. It shouldn’t be difficult or expensive. All they have to do is refer to our sheets. In fact, this time, we’ve even used the mud in the venue to shape the stage, to show you don’t need `20 lakh for a gig.”

Despite their rather different approach to live music, CAD has no dearth of musicians wanting to play for the gig, edition after edition. “In fact, our biggest problem is having to turn bands down,” grins Nikhil.

Keshav Kumar, guitarist of extreme metal band Killibrium, who will be performing at the open-air concert, explains that the platform has become large enough for any performer to resist. “Crowdsourcing requires faith and trust, and as an established property, they’ve done quite well for themselves. That’s pretty much why most attendees put in their money into this, without a second thought.”

Nikhil chimes in that unlike regular gigs, where bands simply show up to play, CAD has a more holistic approach. “Everyone’s responsible for the gig; from audiences, who wish to pay whatever he can, to bands, who do whatever they can to push their audiences to come over. It’s an ecosystem that feeds off itself.”

As far as this edition goes, he explains that the team has upped the scale compared to the last time. “This is the biggest risk we’ve taken. Not many properties last 10 editions, and there’s no overarching sugar daddy on this one. We’re combining all the vibes from previous gigs into one concert. There will be a running bar and food counters operated by us, but we’re never getting rid of the daan peti outside our doors. Even though, thanks to Modiji, we may not see a lot of hard cash,” Nikhil concludes with a laugh.