MUMBAI: Only Much Louder is organising one of the first indie music conference called 'Unconvention' on 21 and 22 November in Mumbai. This two day conference aims to bring together like minded individuals from the indie scene and discuss issues relating to the future of independent music.

The tagline, 'More music, less industry' clearly states about the focus of the conference. "If you look at most of the conferences, it's more of business and very less about musicians. At Unconvention we are putting musicians first - almost eighty per cent of attendees will be musicians," says OML founder Vijay Nair.

Though Nair agrees that most music conferences that have happened so far don't make a long lasting impact, he accentuates that Unconvention will be different, "At the end of the conference we hope to have at least 8-10 solutions to improve the scenario. The speakers will not get more than three minutes or to ramble - we are learning a lot from other music conferences," he adds.

It is also learnt that very few from the mainstream music industry are expected to attend, "We are being very selective about the speakers and ensuring that people who understand the indie scene speak at Unconvention," says Nair. Saregama vice president Atul Churamani and former Soundbuzz India operations GM Mandar Thakur will be speaking at the event. As far as the international speakers go, they will be touring India and try to understand the scene better,... adds Nair.

The panelists include experts like New Music Strategies Andrew Dubber who has written authoritatively on digital strategy for independent music. David Bianchi (Manager of Reverend and the Makers & Killing Joke), Motherjane vocalist Suraj Mani,  Rahul Ram (Indian Ocean, bassist and singer) and composer Vishal Dadlani.

Out of the few music conferences that have happened in the last one year, it was observed that artistes' representation was the lowest. Musician and composer Vivek Philip, who has scored music for films like Bas Ek Pal, is one of the few musicians who has regularly attended such conferences, "It's important that these conferences happen at regular intervals - only then will it make some difference," he reasons      

The conference features a list of interesting speakers and one of the key speakers is a Punjab based farmer and singer Bant Singh. Known as 'an icon of Dalit resistance' has shown how music can transform lives and culture despite a 2006 attack that cost him both of his lower arms and his left leg.

For more info: unconvention.in

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