The pandemic has knocked many on its way, but particularly hit is the world of artistes, DJs and musicians. Behind the energetic online performances that artistes are pulling off during the lockdown is the looming worry of the days ahead. While many have resorted to social media, some like Hindustani classical vocal ist Samarth Nagarkar have taken a different route. He has launched a page on Patreon (a website for artistes to earn a monthly income by providing exclusive perks to their subscribers) to provide entertainment, music education, and build a community.
In fact, Nagarkar was one of the first Indian classical musicians to use this platform, which is otherwise used by video creators and filmmakers. Nagarkar started the year with nine concerts and two workshops across eight cities in India in January. In February, his concerts in New York, Houston, Austin and Vancouver were cancelled due to the pandemic and since then, everything has been on hold. “This change of circumstances has brought about new challenges. This is highlighted in a niche area like Indian classical music, which is already mired in a web of complex issues such as skewed demand supply equations, organisations exploiting musicians and artistes trying to stay visible and relevant.
While most musicians have resorted to posting free and live concerts on Facebook and You- Tube, I decided to come up with a solution that could actually make a difference to classical music,” says the Bengalurean, who currently lives in New Jersey. On Patreon, Nagarkar has set up several tiers, each coming with increasing levels of access to offerings, including playlist recommendations, podcast style video (vodcasts) that explain fundamental concepts of classical music, guided listening, live Q&A sessions, access to his unpublished concert recordings, among others. Higher slabs offer private concerts, mentorship, and bonus videos on interdisciplinary arts.
Launched about two weeks ago, his channel now has 50 subscribers. The biggest challenge has been impressing people about the idea of paying for the arts. “While most people understand the value of art and enjoy it, they do not realise it is also imperative to pay the artistes. There is an expectation that artistes should provide their art as free entertainment or as ‘seva’. And if an artiste tries to find monetisation avenues, they are branded as ‘money-minded’.
I hope we learn to separate the musicians’ spiritual endeavour from their basic need to pay bills,” he says. He adds that classical music is perceived as a serious, ancient art. “It is a contemporary art form and can be a lot of fun once you understand some basic fundamentals. I hope to achieve that outreach through the use of technology,” he explains.