With representation from all the major social media platforms, record labels, legendary speakers to legendary artists, All About Music is the perfect way to connect with the music industry and get inspired.

The 3 day music conference at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai on the weekend of 7^th, 8^th and 9^th September, had footfalls of close to over 2,000 people who explored every facet of music making in India. In his opening keynote, Ashish Jose, Business Head, Create and Collab, stressed upon this year’s theme ‘Transitions’, as an attempt to navigate the transitions that are shaping the industry’s future. “We embrace the enigmatic forces molding music - from the uncertainty around AI to changing consumption patterns and models within the music industry. Our stage unites local and international voices, bridging genres and cultures.”

Now in its 7^th Edition, AAM 23, India’s biggest B2B conference, also had a dedicated and much sought after ‘Connect Corner’, with not just one session each day like last year, but two sets each day, thus inviting more attendees to visit, talk and connect with each other. One hour was just not enough to attend the sessions, as there were many up and coming artists and students from various walks of life looking forward to meeting up with record labels, marketing and social media heads, lawyers, company heads, event management companies, artist managers, fellow musicians, many looking for a platform to be heard. 

AAM 2023 focused on topical panels, workshops and master classes that offered insights to accelerate an artist’s journey while traversing the wide musicscape, besides of course networking opportunities, career development and building ties.

In her Masterclass, Singer – Songwriter Shannon Donald’s advice on vocal skills was enlightening. There were informative and interactive sessions chartering the journeys of Skillbox, Coke Studio Bharat, a session on ‘AI for Music’ by music composer, producer, sound engineer Sunny M.R, to conversations with music artists like Taba Chake, Ricky Kej, Rajakumari, Sunidhi Chauhan, Lucky Ali, Daler Mehndi and Baba Sehgal.

Some key insights from the session In Conversation with Daler Mehndi who has given us foot toping chart busters like Bolo Ta Ra Ra, Dardi Rub Rub, were interesting to any wannabe singer. “Create your own journey, because everyone has a unique way to work” said the Punjabi singer who is all set to make his acting debut in the Bollywood movie “Welcome 3”. “When I was working on Bolo Ta Ra Ra, there were some people who said this song would never work. I never listened to them. I went ahead and recorded it, and the rest is history” said Mehndi while advising youngsters to listen to what they want to do and do it. “Others will tell you a lot of things, you decide what you want to do”.

Valuable takeaways came in the session on Artists & Repertoire. Atul Churamani of Turnkey Music and Publishing was in conversation with Sat Bisla, (A&R Worldwide). Bisla stressed on the need for a singer to be authentic to get his music heard by a producer. “What’s important is that the artist is confident with the music he is making” stated Bisla.

The Queen of Indian Hip Hop RajakumariArtist & Founder of Godmother Records, in her session on the Basics of Songwriting in the Modern age, simplified the process on the key aspects of song structure, auto tune and much more.

Padmanabhan N S, Head of Artist & Label Partnership at Spotify, simplified the Spotify For Artist with a detailed analysis, while terming that Spotify is the Mother App for all music artists.

Another interesting panel was the one on Independent Music, moderated by culture curator Shilpi Gupta. In the session, rock fusion band Indian Ocean’s Rahul Ram and rapper Kr$na spoke openly about the issues faced by artistes.

Lastly, introduction to the work and music of The Dharavi Dream Project and the session on the process of submission of entries for the Grammy awards offered food for thought.

Unlike previous years, this year saw almost half a dozen lawyers attending the AAM conference, and for good reason too, as music agreements and the laws for music have changed. Lawyer Priyanka Khimani threw light on Copyright, Publishing and Contracts, things many young artists don’t know about and get carried away by signing on the dotted line without really going into the fine print.

This year the attendees were much more than All About Music 2022 held last year at the Taj Lands End, Bandra. The good thing was that the rooms were much spacious than the ones at The Taj in Bandra. This year you had attendees attending almost every session, be it at one of the two large ballrooms, a tented area for smaller meetings like Connect Corner, Workshops at The Salon and Master classes at the Mahogany. Though there were a few delays in timing of the sessions, most were delayed by just a few minutes. At each session, it was nice to see the names and photographs of the speakers on the large LED screens on the backdrop, which worked for those who walked in late. All credit for this goes to the team behind All About Music and the folks at Create & Collab.

What is a music event without a party? Each day after the conference had ended, it was time to party and head over to the Ballroom. Over beer and finger snacks on all three days, each evening showcased a prodigious lineup from around the country of next generation artist live performances in its Live Showcase. So you had indie acts like Meera Desai, The Dharavi Dream Project, Samahita Narang, Dorwin John, Tech Panda & Kenzani and many more showing the music they make and getting new fans in the end.

With promises to return bigger than ever next year, it is certain that anyone who attended AAM 2023, left with more knowledge and a lot wiser about the music business.

Can’t wait for All About Music 2024.

Details:

Event: All About Music 2023

Venue: Grand Hyatt, Kalina, Mumbai,

Dates: 7^th, 8^th and 9^th September 2023

By Verus Ferreira

Photos: All About Music

The writer and Musicunplugged was at the All About Music 2023 on the invitation by Create & Collab. Musicunplugged had the privilege to be a part of the Connect Corner section.