The Amplify Music Incubator (AMI), an Indian not-for-profit initiative that aims to fill the gaps in the infrastructure available to up-and-coming independent artists by providing them with training in creative entrepreneurship, has launched AMI South.
Put together specifically for talents from the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and musicians performing in Tamil and Malayalam “or building an audience base within these regions”, AMI South marks the first time the programme—which was started in 2021—is focusing on a particular region.
It comprises two weeks of online sessions, which began this week, and a ten-day residency in Goa that will end on 7 August, for a cohort of 11 artists who were selected through a closed scouting process.
Like in AMI’s pan-India avatar, the participants will attend a series of 90-minute masterclasses and workshops designed to help them understand both “the creative and business side of what it is to be an artist” through sessions that cover topics such as PR and promotions, copyrights and royalties, and streaming.
Additions to the programme include a three-day songwriting camp, at which the artists will be split into groups to create studio recordings under the guidance of a mentor, and a performance enhancement workshop that will focus on “how to read the crowd, and build confidence on stage”. As always, the proceedings will culminate in the staging of a showcase.
The acts chosen for AMI South are composer-producer Ashwin Syam; singer-songwriters Arjun Dev, Goutham Vasu Venkatesan, Sahana Naresh, Saras Menon, Shakti Sivamani, Simmo, and Vaisakh Somanath; and rappers STIC, Vaasi, and Veno Miss.
Tamil is among the top five most-streamed languages on Indian music streaming services, while Malayalam is among the fastest-growing. Yet, says Amplify Music Incubator founder Tanish Thakker, “There’s never been a bridge between the south and the wider Indian indie scene. With AMI, we’re building it.”
AMI South is supported by Believe through its ‘Shaping Music for Good CSR’ initiative alongside its brands, the distribution company TuneCore and the south Indian regional-language label Think Music in which it acquired a majority stake in 2021.
Think Music’s division Think Indie, notably, has enjoyed breakout success with singer-composer Sai Abhyankkar who is widely regarded to have become one of the first Tamil pop stars.
Thakker told Music Ally the reason Amplify South decided to leave out the two other major south Indian languages, Telugu and Kannada, for its first edition, was because “we could leverage Believe and Think Music’s expertise in the Tamil and Malayalam music markets.” He found that artists in those markets face different sets of challenges.
“Some want to perform more but aren’t sure how to build an audience or get booked for shows,” said Thakker. “A lot of them also feel isolated, without a network of artists to collaborate with or learn from. And almost everyone is tormented by the same question: how do you build a financially sustainable career without compromising your art?”
That last concern is common to indie acts from all across the country, a small but significant chunk of whom Amplify has empowered over the course of its seven earlier editions.
More than 90 acts representing 15 cities across India have benefited from the programme, which AMI says, has “generated more than 100 hours of performance opportunities for emerging artists”.
These include electronic music producer sudan, R&B and hip-hop duo RANJ x Clifr, and singer-songwriter Abdon Mech. They will be joined by a new set of cohorts when AMI conducts the eighth instalment of its country-wide programme, which is scheduled to be announced next month.
