CHENNAI: The first edition of the IndiEarth Xchange 2012 highlighted many aspects of the independent music scene and its growth in the years to come. While festivals and artistes play a major role, another key factor is the venue where they perform.

The session 'Venues: The Heart of the Arts' focused upon different venues in cities, looking at the realities of managing such places, development of artistes and venture partnerships to find the forward path. The panel comprised of Frederic Robbe (L'Astrolabe), Stephane Rochecouste (Karbadock), Carlton Braganza (Opus), Arati Rao (B-Flat), Guru Somayaji (Counter Culture), Krishna Kumar (SMVR Hall), Didier Weiss (Sound Wizard) and Lalit Verma (Aurodhan).

While each panelist highlighted specific features about their venues and how the small space caters to music performances of various genres, they also spoke about how difficult but important it is to have such spaces in the country. Though funds are not viable in India, the audience responds to good venues which in turn helps build a communication channel between the audience and artiste.

Rao stated, "Bangalore hosts a large number of bands and musical performances. Earlier, it did not have as many venues so we created one to bridge the gap. It has attracted musicians of all genres, but we still do not get sponsors as it is a small venue. So it is a rollercoaster ride."

Due to improper development of venues, artistes sometimes take a lot of effort to create music in places that are unsuitable for them.

Robbe highlighted, "We promote emerging artistes across genres as well. We aim to be a link between the people and artistes, and thus receive funds from the govt and through tickets."

The session also focused on various ways to build on the venue, music and artiste. Working with established and emerging concerts, various media groups, commercial radio stations, social media and attractive ticket pricing were stated as the key factors to improve the scene.

Inspite of this, the archaic laws encompassing the live music scene is playing spoilsport to all efforts being taken to expand the scene to a whole new level. Amongst many host cities, Chennai does not provide a liquor license and gigs shut at 10pm.

Speaking about the laws in Bangalore, Braganza said, "Nine years ago, the venues shut at 2am. Now they have to shut by 11:30pm, so things have changed quite a bit. But the good thing here is that there is no dichotomy, and all venues shut at the same time unlike Pune. Here we have the same level playing field. But the laws have to change as we get only a two-hour window to do business."

The panellists were of the view that, performing arts is not recognised as an industry so the authorities do not take their problems seriously. The only solution in front of them now is to just keep the momentum going  with more gigs and venues, and thus the authorities will finally begin to understand the scene.