MUMBAI: Artist Aloud recently organised its monthly app demo. As the name says the app is all about talent first. The company continuously endeavours to bring independent artists and music to the forefront, among the largest talent management, acquisition and promotion companies in India.

Speaking about its aspect of helping the artists Artist Aloud VP Soumini Sridhara Paul said, “The app was built first for us to acquire more music content rather than making it a manual effort. The underline belief was everyone has talent and they are not shy to put it out. The more they see the avenues they go about creating it. The first step is to put them out there as a talent. Even though there are people using many apps they get stuck. There are so many successful people but not all find the road to Bollywood if we assume Bollywood as the end destination. The app is all about one propagating original content, making their own things not copying from others and standing out. Right now distribution is a manual process and we are coordinating on that to distribute it to all the platforms we have.”

The app provides a convenient space for the artistes as well as for distribution. It gives them the space to have their original content and promote it. In terms of the security of the artistes, the technology is well secured. Users can only download the audio content on the purchase, while for the video there’s no download option available. Paul confirmed, “We do not offer a free download of the content.”

The app user would have one-month free usage wherein they can upload any number of audio and video. Once it’s done the app would ask for a basic subscription fee. In terms of artistes, the basic would be Rs.2500 which includes three features – booking for the gig, collaborating and uploading any number of videos. While in the context of the producers they have to pay a sum of Rs.1000 and get the benefits of collaborating and uploading of videos. App also provides a premium plan for the artist. It gives them distribution facility with the cost of Rs. 5,000 for three years. The Max plan is about promotion and distribution for three weeks at the cost of Rs.25, 000.

“The moment we do the promotion of these artists the revenue that comes out of the content distribution is huge because it gets more visibility. The instant there is awareness we see the numbers,” added Paul.

The app is created for everyone. It is designed in three folds-first for the artistes, then for the producers and last for the fans. “The app is open for all who are interested in music. We have with us Coke Studio (Pakistan) which to me Bollywood of Pakistan. Artist Aloud is first a talent and Independent content platform. The opportunity here is for anyone to create content which does not have Bollywood space but still has the ability to get mainstream release and promotional visibility,” she explained.

The app is available on Google Play, App Store and Windows. Paul mentioned, “It’s purely license agreement. Our agreement is on the content. We are also shortlisted for MMA Global Smarties. Our app is going in all directions and it’s really exciting.”

Artist Aloud is also looking forward to soon enable subscription model on the streaming. Paul said, “I look at Artist Aloud as a space which caters to everyone. One of the things that we are constantly working upon is identifying the features we have and how relevant it is to the user. Our strategies are actually planned on taking each features and creating activities and campaigns using the artists, social media, direct marketing and activation and a lot more things we do are out of the box tactics. We are not spending money on marketing because it’s not what people are dying to see. What we want for it is to become a watermark work organically.”

She further added, “Content will be a huge driver in this. It will also be about making the product more robust so that when people actually use it will be with the intention that we have made it for. It will become the product worth using. It is also about taking the app to a global level and we are aggressively working on it.”

The app does not focus on advertisement as the source of revenue. In terms of money, the app only collects subscription amount. She added, “It is not a B2B app because we believe there’s an artist in everybody and if we could bring out their artistic side then we have plans for them.”

Artist Aloud wants people to use the app, showcase their original material and through that reach fans. The biggest difference is that it’s talent first and then the content.