Turning a challenge into an opportunity

The year 2020 wasn’t all negative as many would think. It has also been a year of courage, grit and determination to rise up to the challenges life threw at us. As we get ready to bid goodbye to the year, we bring to you the stories that lift our soul

If possible, many of us would like to wipe out 2020 from our lives. Yet there has been a silver lining in everyone’s life. And one of them is Keshav Bhardwaj (Klipr), founder of record label Streamin’ Music Group (SMG). Launched officially in India during the lockdown with New Delhi as the base of operations, Klipr released a six-track Extended Play (EP) that goes deeper into the sound of tech-house on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Beatport etc. Since then SMG has released 13 singles and 4 EPs with 1 more EP by Klipr coming out on December 30 to set the vibe and style for 2021. The label will have released a total of 38 tracks including 5 EPs before the year ends.

KESHAV BHARDWAJ aka Klipr, founder of Streamin’ Music Group talks to SAURABH TANKHA on the challenges of launching a brand during lockdown, the strategy for SMG, his life and more…

What prompted you to start this venture during the period of Covid-19?
Our project was already ongoing as the business model was set up virtually. It was just a matter of time that we initiated our operations on ground in India. We believe any challenges don’t stop musicians from doing what they do which is make music.

Did people around warn you to not venture in the market during this phase?
We have taken decisions based on our own intuitions from the day we started Streamin’ Music Group. Even if anyone warned us, we sure would have gone with our plans of expanding our operations and turning challenges into opportunities.

What challenges did you come across during this phase?
Not being able to physically host events has certainly been a challenge to promote the music we’re releasing. However, we have focussed a lot on online platforms and released tracks with a rapid pace so that when events do happen, we’re ready to showcase our extensive music catalogue.

Did you have to change your strategy due to the pandemic?
We did make some alterations in our strategies to overcome the hurdles posed by the pandemic. One out of which was the launch of the venue that I specially created to host events for budding artistes to showcase their talent. We initially planned to launch ‘Chevron’ in April 2020 but due to the pandemic we have recently opened doors for public. Chevron Lounge is a dance music focussed venue-based in Gurugram.

What kind of research did you have to do before introducing it to the market?
I’m an Indian and had an idea about the Indian market. I was sure that listeners in India enjoy Electronic Dance Music. All we had to do was push quality content out and wait till it reached the right audience.

Plans for future.
Our plans include hosting high energy events at Chevron. We might host concerts and large scale events pan-India once the government norms allow us to do so. Also, we have tonnes of new music ready which we’re excited to release next year. We hope everyone stays safe and moves past these tough times and have lots of good moments to celebrate in 2021.