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#HGAcademy: Understand The Music Business Space With Pioneer Dev Bhatia’s Recommendations

Jahnavi Shah

#HGAcademy: At a time when our physical spaces are confined and movement is stifled, the only constant in our lives is our own creativity. For a while, we, at Homegrown have been toying with the idea of evolving our platform into space that inspires generations to believe that their career paths are not limited to those shaped by our society and that there is a world out there that where creative industries are thriving. Our sole motivation behind this attempt is to shift the needle in the Indian creative industries.

Homegrown as a brand has always stood for responding to the Indian youth’s needs, and to this end, we bring to you HG Academy, to teach you everything your school didn’t. As we spend our days inside our homes and within ourselves, HGAcademy with its commune of creative thought leaders and pioneers will teach you the basics that you might not get access to elsewhere. We hope for it to evolve into a culture of creation, collaboration, discovery through an exchange of thoughts & ideas.

The coming weeks will see digital festivals, skill-building sessions, new personal & professional strategies and similar efforts towards connecting you to the world of creators to learn and be inspired. The aim is to deep-dive into the creative process, new ways of learning, re-imagination of old ways and experience and learn more.

This session, we have something for music enthusiasts and creatives looking to foray in the music business and entrepreneurship space. A pioneer entrepreneurs Dev Bhatia will school us on successfully running a company and translating an ethos into an effective and impactful business. From artist management to broadcast media, music festivals to international conferences, Dev Bhatia has dabbled in a lot of avenues and has come at the forefront of the artist management/music space. As the co-founder of UnMute, a music management and events agency for electronic dance music, he has been one of the trailblazers for electronic music in India.

Started by Dev and India’s most globally acclaimed electronic music artist, Arjun Vagale, UnMute manages and books a select group of quality Indian electronic DJs and Producers as well as serves as an agency for international artists in the Asian territory. As a full-service entertainment company, UnMute also consults with brands, music festivals and venues. Its ethos and philosophies though are based on Dev’s groundwork with India’s leading erstwhile electronic live act, Jalebee Cartel. During that time, Dev developed new techniques and formats to help artists as well as provide a bridge between venues, brands and talent by setting up industry defining benchmarks. Never one to sit still, while taking on the reins of Jalebee and its assorted projects, Dev was also the Creative Head for a leading national mobile radio product. His previous work with FM radio in India and in Dubai is what initially pushed him to the direction of music, but he found his true calling in music management.

From artist management to broadcast media, music festivals to conferences – Dev has broken down many barriers as the Creative Head for a leading national mobile radio product, a backstage asset for music festivals, curator and moderator for global panels and workshops at conferences in India and
around the world.

Dev understands the comprehensive workings of the music business space and there is nobody better than him to educate us. Below is a listicle of recommendations by Dev.

Podcasts

Dev listens to a bunch of podcasts. On some of them, he says:

“Recently, I contributed to and started checking out Meet The Industry by Maulik from Mumbai. He’s done a good job covering all aspects of the music industry.

I’ve also been listening to Advertising is Dead by Varun Duggirala, who’s the co-founder of The Glitch, where they cover branding, media, content and associated topics.

My love affair with sports will never end, most of what I do in life is in some way inspired by sports and it’s associated philosophies. Jake Humphrey (BT Sport) along with Psychologist Damian Hughes recently launched ‘The High-Performance Podcast’ where they speak to sports personalities across the industry and pick their minds”, Dev says.

Books

Some of his favourites are:

  • Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United, Alex Ferguson and Michael Moritz, 2015. I consider him my mentor, some of his words will surprise you. Not a better manager than this legend ”, says Dev.
  • Tools of Titans, Tim Ferris, 2016.
  • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE, Phil Knight, 2016.
  • Slash - Unreal biography about the 90’s rockstar life i.e: sex, drugs and rock and roll.
  • Currently reading: Roshan Abbas’s Speechless, an effective guide to public speaking and communication


Films/Documentaries:

People/Accounts to follow

Track playlist - Dev’s list of top 10 tracks from Indian artists, in no particular order, for more check out his UnMute India playlist on Spotify here:

AsymetriK - Delusion of Hope

Mosko - SMooth

Aswekeepsearching - Other Side

Skyharbor - Evolution

Midival Punditz - Electric Universe

Sickflip - Desert Bae

Indian Ocean - Bandeh

Dualist Inquiry - Delta Wave

Lifafa - Jaago

Kohra - Tariq

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