MUMBAI: Renowned music store Furtados Music India Pvt LTd (FMIL) recently announced the launch of its new record label 'Furtados Records' by releasing its first compilation album Because You Love Music – Vol 1 featuring songs by 10 rock and heavy metal bands.

"Furtados is no longer just a music store," says FMIL managing director Phillip Rodrigues. "It is a music house having a country wide network of stores and continues to remain at the forefront of music development across the country." The new record label, he says, "is a natural extension of our initiative to encourage the growth and development of musicians in the country." Phillip Rodrigues is a veteran from the corporate field, and in a brief span of two years has set up six stores across the country.

Speaking about the new label, he says, "It is not always that promising musicians get the support of a large label or are able to find resources to popularize their music. This is where Furtados Records plans to step in and offer avenues for musicians to share their music to an wider audience. "We hope that this will motivate and inspire young musicians to pursue their music ambition," he adds. FMIL presently has a growing retail network of over 350 retail outlet. The music store has been around for over a 100 years now, and has presence in major metros like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, Mangalore and Goa.

The new label, however, is not a revenue stream he says, "Our objective is not to make money out of this venture. However, the CD will be commercially sold to be able to support future labels and the contributing musicians," he says.

The record label is keen on supporting varied genres of music. "We will not restrict ourselves to just popular music as that is the prerogative of commercial labels," he says. As far as shortlist of the songs, the record labels invite entries from bands/artists across the country. A team of musicians from Furtados Records then shortlists compositions. The compositions have to be original and of a certain quality.

"The albums will be available at all Furtados stores across the country to begin with. We will shortly increase the distribution channels," says Rodrigues. The first compilation album Because You Love Music – Vol 1 is priced at Rs 150/-."We will shortly increase the distribution channels," he adds.

Furtados Music Mangalore was the first franchisee added to the chain of music showrooms located in Willys Center at Balmatta. Besides, Pune has a sprawling 2500 ft retail chain showroom located at Koregaon park, where as Banglore has an exclusive Piano showroom at Gandhi Nagar. Last year, Furtados associated itself with Yamaha Music India as its core dealer in key territories. And as a part of the association, Furtados now has two 'Yamaha Music Square' showrooms in Mumbai and Delhi. Undoubtedly, the musicians and bands featured on the album will get good exposure through various retail and franchisee chains of FMIL. But besides the visibility, will the musicians also be able to make money out of it? "Yes, they do get allocated a certain number of CD's to sell or promote themselves. However, the bigger objective is to popularize the musician and provide them the motivation to further their music career," he adds, "These artists will be promoted by Furtados by way of performances and workshops that we organize," he adds.

Rodrigues is also optimistic about the market for independent musicians, "The number of independent music listeners are definetly increasing," he says.

Over the years, Furtados has reinvented itself from a family managed to a professionally managed business enterprise. This has led to the creation of a new retail enterprise Furtados Music India Private Lmited (FMIL). Formed in 2007, FMIL is now promoted by the house of Furtados in association with Musee Musical, the Chennai based music business and Pace communications, a turnkey recording solutions company. The brain child and owners of two retail venture B.X Furtado & Sons and L.M Furtado & Co. are Gomes family. Presently, Antoinette Gomes is the FMIL Chairperson, while Nonabel Gomes Estibeiro is FMIL Director.