by Marc Lefkowitz, Head of YouTube Creator and Artist Development, APAC
This June, we announced that YouTube NextUp is back in India for its 4th edition, with special editions to celebrate the diversity of talent on the platform. For the NextUp for Artists edition, we received an overwhelming response from the length and breadth of the country, across varied forms of music and in diverse languages. Be it hip-hop or rap, electronic music or folk, classical or pop — the quality of music that India’s young artists are creating is truly inspiring.
We are extremely excited for them to find a global audience on YouTube, find success and make their voice heard. All our NextUp for Artist winners will join us at our first NextUp class for this year; scheduled to take place at our Pop-Up Space in Mumbai, this August.
Over the course of five days, the winners will attend workshops to enhance their production skills, camera work, lighting, sound, audio and more! That’s not all, they will be mentored by industry veterans, leading music label and marketing executives on songwriting, digital marketing and building and managing their brand. Each winner will also receive a production voucher worth INR 1,40,000.
Meet the YouTube NextUp for Artists 2019 Winners (in no particular order) and take a sneak-peek into their musical journey:
Prabh Deep — A hip/hop rap artist, who started out as a breakdancer before finding his musical voice; Prabh Deep recently dropped his album ‘K I N G’ on YouTube.
Arjit Agarwal — Based in Lucknow, Arjit draws inspiration from A.R Rahman, adding a unique indo-western element to his compositions. Fun fact…he can also play the cajon!
Cover TV — Covers, Compositions and Competitions has Varsha owning the music space. You may recognize her from Indian Idol 6, X Factor and The Voice India!
Tom Murmu — A band set out to represent Jharkhand’s cultural heritage through music by fusing regional Santhali sounds with modern contemporary music.
Prithvi Raj — Singer, Songwriter, Sound Engineer and Karaoke Jockey, Prithvi is ready to add YouTube Success to his list of accomplishments!
Taalpatar Shepai — This Kolkata duo is known for their unique music videos that convey social/political messages through song.
Vani Rao — A brother/sister team who have spoiled us for choice, with an abundance of musical content , including Bollywood, Western, Classical, Medleys and Mashups!
LostStoriesMusic – These DJs have set out to ‘Take India to the World’ by using ethnic Indian instruments that will appeal to the International audience.
Akanksha Bhandari – A Bollywood playback singer, whose career started on YouTube itself. You might recognize her voice from the albums of Fukrey Returns and Namaste England!
Bharatt-Saurabh — An Economics post graduate and a Computer Engineer form this dynamic duo that covers everything from singing, composing, producing and writing their original music.
And that is not all! For our first Artists edition, Winners will get an opportunity to perform at India’s largest music industry conference, All About Music. As part of this association with AAM, our artists will also be receiving mentorship from industry specialists and an opportunity to pitch their original songs to movie producers, music directors and music labels, focusing on Independent music.
