MUMBAI: Indian indie bands are taking bold steps to market themselves and reach out to as many as possible by using the Internet and mobile.

Recently, Cochin's Motherjane launched a mobile site that allowed users to download music, wall papers, and ring tones. The latest in line are Bangalore's folk rock act Swarathma who are going full throttle with an iPhone app.

Swarathma's bassist Jishnu Dasgupta says, "With the iphone gaining popularity, it is a great way to ride the crest of a wave. Which is why we have incorporated the fun elements of the band, like the 'Ghodi', and the play along feature, about which we are really excited."

The iPhone mobile app for Swarthma is created by Only Much Louder's (OML) digital arm and bundles a host of features like links to Swarathma's music downloads, gig updates, and intrestingly, a 'Shaker' which allows a user to use their iPhone like a 'Shaker'.

"Imagine this - everyone with a iPhone from the audience gets to become a musician of the band. When we play a song on stage, those with this app can play along with us," says Jishnu.

The band has toured extensively in UK, and has garnered quite a following there. Incidentally, iPhone users are more in UK, and that's where the idea was born, he revealed.

One of the interesting features of the app is that it gives a city to city update to the fans. For instance, if a fan from Mumbai downloads the app, he will be updated whenever Swarathma visits Mumbai. In addition, Swarathma will be notified everytime a fan downloads their app.

Jishnu says, "We have always believed that we need to reach out to more and more audeince in innovative ways. Playing the Action Replay series of concerts was a good way to do it. On the same front we also like to reach out to the audience online and on the digital space."

At the moment, the OML's digital arm is fine tuning the app.

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