MUMBAI: In a span of five years, ArtistAloud has developed from a distribution and digital platform to a venue programming and artist management service. But in 2014, it further expanded its business.

ArtistAloud business and product head Soumini Sridhara Paul said, "The biggest growth for us was in the venue space." The company has now started programming for events like Acoustic Tuesdays at The Little Door, Grooveyard Wednesdays at STFU It’s a Bar, and Band and Bar Nights at Café Infinito. Paul further added, "Secondly, we have gone aggressive in the artiste management scene; we have been booking gigs for artistes. This is our new entry."

ArtistAloud has added about 100 artistes in 2014, however, in last five years the platform has worked with over 450 artistes from multi genres, and has also helped distribute and promote independent and non-film music through major operator networks such as Vodafone, Airtel and Idea amongst others.

It has had a long-term partnership with Hungama, but streaming services like Wnyk, MixRadio, Guvera and iTunes, ArtistAloud’s recent partnerships, are what has helped the platform gain more popularity. "When we started off five years back, our hope was to distribute content on various other platforms, keeping in mind the download perspective. But the entire market changed into streaming services, it was really a challenge for a while. But today, I strongly believe that we have been able to make ArtistAloud as a top 20 merchandisable brand. We are in top destinations in most streaming services," Paul said.

She further added, "Right now, we are not focussing on the numbers but we are looking at strengthening our partnership with artistes and brands."

Commenting on the Indie space, she said that in reality Indie is still a very niche space, but they will continue to look at it with a commercial and mainstream perspective. "We are looking at partnership with communities that will help us create a buzz. We are a small platform but we have a big attitude and with the partnership and expansion plans we have, we are in the position to demand things."

In 2015, ArtistAloud plans to add their own IPs and create an artiste friendly platform that will bring more artistes to become part of its family. ArtistAloud will partner with colleges as well, to explore new talents. Paul also revealed that they are planning their next move. "We are in the process of putting up a business model; the independent music business is a serious business. It is not just a platform. There is money to be made and we want to build a consumer business through which we can add value to our artistes." In the next months, ArtistAloud plans to introduce a product that will help artistes built a human connect.  

ArtistAloud turned five on 7th January. In the few years since its inception, it has introduced programs like WebCert, TGIRF, LaunchCast, Studios Sound Garage and Confession Room amongst others. ArtistAloud has crossed over 8, 00,000 followers on Facebook, about 1, 50,000 impressions on Twitter and over 2 Million views on YouTube. It is growing steadily on other platforms as well.