{"id":3306,"date":"2018-08-21T11:50:21","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T06:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/?p=3306"},"modified":"2018-08-21T11:50:21","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T06:20:21","slug":"bacardi-house-party-sessions-provide-platform-young-upcoming-musicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/news\/bacardi-house-party-sessions-provide-platform-young-upcoming-musicians\/","title":{"rendered":"BACARDI HOUSE PARTY SESSIONS: Provide a platform for young and upcoming musicians."},"content":{"rendered":"

When you hear an alcohol brand\u2019s representative use the word \u201cenabler\u201d, context is everything. Bacardi says its newest role is to be an \u201cenabler and discoverer of new music talent in the country\u201d with their platform, The Bacardi House Party Sessions (BHPS).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fast forward to half a year later and tracks by young and upcoming artists such as Ritviz Srivastava (whose song\u00a0Udd Gaye<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>has clocked over 17 million views), pop singer-songwriter Aarya (No Game<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0has more than 600,000 views) and bass music producer MojoJojo (whose collaboration with rapper Sikander Kahlon\u00a0Chak Bass<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>has garnered more than 897,000 plays).<\/p>\n

In April, Bacardi House Party Sessions\u2019 fourth single featured somewhat notorious singer-rapper Babu Haabi\u2019s incorrigible, sarcastic tune\u00a0Kutta Hee Hoon Na<\/em>\u00a0(he had previously received flak for his video to\u00a0Bobocanta<\/em>, which featured an animated figure of Mahatma Gandhi dancing), which now has just over 646,000 hits, all via\u00a0AIB<\/em>\u2019s\u00a0YouTube<\/em>\u00a0channel. In turn, working on this campaign, Babu Haabi hails the \u201ccourage and instinct\u201d of Bacardi. He adds, \u201cVery rarely in this (music) world does one see situations where everyone is happy; this is one such case study that will go down in my book.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Babu<\/a><\/p>\n

Babu Haabi<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

At a time when record labels are more or less a sober affair, the presence of a brand like Bacardi using its monetary and media reach to give artists studio time, mentorship and a strong distribution channel is a sign of perhaps a new path. Akshay Johar aka MojoJojo says, \u201cThe audience is primarily young so naturally they are highly active on social media. Therefore, the internet becomes the most effective way to reach them.\u201d Anshuman Goenka, the marketing head for Bacardi India, likens Bacardi House Party Sessions to an accelerated career programme for India\u2019s unsigned talent. In the 20 years that Bacardi has gone from being famous for parties like Bacardi Blast and that one early jingle\u00a0Sippin\u2019 a Bacardi<\/em>\u00a0(remember \u201cBe what you wanna be\u201d?) to associating with music festivals and content, suddenly sifting through about 2,600 entries with\u00a0AIB<\/em>\u00a0and Nucleya.<\/p>\n

\"Akshay<\/a><\/p>\n

Akshay Johar aka MojoJojo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
And with their latest release of electronic music producer Gurbax\u2019s\u00a0Aatank<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0with rapper Dee MC (and Canadian singer Heiwah and American singer Blake Lovely) just ahead of the hype of NH7 Weekender artist line-ups in Pune and Meghalaya, there seems to be a defined identity that Bacardi has carved for itself \u2013 especially seen in the aesthetics of their music videos. From interpretive dance to comedy, BHPS\u2019 visual style play heavily on the outlandish \u2013 like dwarves turning gangsters (Chak Bass<\/em>) to middle-aged women and men dancing like there\u2019s no tomorrow (Udd Gaye<\/em>,\u00a0Aatank<\/em>).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"Dee<\/a><\/p>\n

Dee MC<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Although it\u2019s first batch of releases are heavily leaning on electronic music, Goenka says they\u2019re \u201cgenre agnostic\u201d. He adds, \u201cWhether it\u2019s a metal track, a singer-songwriter like Arya or an EDM producer, it doesn\u2019t bother us per se. It\u2019s about if the music can motivate you, have this intrinsic connection.\u201d In return, these artists and future signees get as much of a free hand as needed to make some tunes, have inputs about music videos and play them on big stages like Weekender. Goenka calls the videos \u201cdistinct and relatable\u201d in terms of appeal. He adds, \u201cThis outcome would not have been possible without the coming together of each creative mind \u2014\u00a0AIB<\/em>\u00a0and the teams at Bacardi and OML. We have each worked as equal partners on the conceptualisation, storyboard and design elements with the objective of positively impacting the overall vibe of the music video. The overwhelming response of these tracks echoes the success of this strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
In the case of\u00a0Aatank<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 which features a wild after-hours party for security guards at an office \u2013 Gurbax says his inputs extended to fitting the style of music. He explains, \u201cI\u2019m obsessed with using the element of surprise and journeying into the unknown by juxtaposing a palette of sounds from different eras and cultures to create one unique voice. I think\u00a0Aatank<\/em>, in a way, is an embodiment of that creative process.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"Gurbax<\/a><\/p>\n

Gurbax<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

And now that they\u2019re scaling up. Bacardi House Party Sessions wants to bring in their existing international counterparts in countries such as Singapore, Thailand, UAE and South Africa, as well as rope in ambassadors such as electronic group Major Lazer. Goenka says, \u201cWhere we come in is that we want to ensure artists create music consistently and get the chance to record songs not just within the country, but get exposure outside as well. We want to put money back into this campaign so that we can go around and find more artists the next year, so that it becomes sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the likes of Ritviz is now tasked with how he can outdo his claim to fame. But the 22-year-old says he\u2019s not too worried. He recalls what was equally memorable about the previous song\u00a0\u2014 how he wasn\u2019t asked to sign away rights to the song, the opposite of a traditional move by any major record label. \u201cThe best part was that there was no burden of expectations. They promised me a really cool Bacardi bomber jacket though, which I’m still waiting for,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you hear an alcohol brand\u2019s representative use the word \u201cenabler\u201d, context is everything. Bacardi says its newest role is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paZdga-Rk","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3310,"href":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3306\/revisions\/3310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oyspa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}