Come July, weekends will take on a different flavour for Vizagites. City-based startup Bead Music has tied up with the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation to start a music festival on the Beach Road that will connect independent artistes from the city and across the country at a single platform.
The festival will begin from July and the shows will be held every Saturday from 8 p.m. till 11 p.m. at the open space beside the Kursura Submarine Museum. “The music festival will be the first of its kind in the city. We have joined hands with APTDC to promote music and art in the city for a three-month weekend music festival from July to September. The venue will be filled with sounds and lights, which will introduce a different music culture in the city,” Vijai Kanth Panthayil, one of the co-founders of Bead Music told The Hindu .
The programme will feature around 30 local independent artistes in the first month and later musicians from cities like Mumbai and Bangalore will be brought in. “We also want to do fusion performances between bands, artistes and different musical genres. So there will be DJs and music like EDM as well rock bands performing during the weekend festival throughout these three months,” said Vijai Kanth. This apart, the space will also have a corner to showcase art, photography and sand sculpture. “The idea is to make it into an activity square for all kinds of artistes and a celebration of independent music,” he added.
Founded by three youngsters Vijai Kanth, Vinod Krishna and Shiva Shyam, Bead Music aims to provide a platform for independent artistes to create music for the world to listen and admire. The startup, that had also won the second best pitch at the StartAP Fest held at Rushikonda in March this year, has been able to rope in over 70 independent artistes in the city under its wings in a span of less than a year and is endeavouring to create a different music culture in the city. For this purpose, musical jam sessions were held on Sunday mornings over the past three months on the Beach Road that featured the leading bands and independent artistes of the city. Its 10{+t}{+h}and the last beach jam concluded here on Sunday.
Currently, the startup is able to make money through two channels – the Bead Music Connect and Bead Music Onboard. While the Bead Music Connect helps city-based bands and independent musicians to reach out to hotels, clubs and other venues for performances and contract shows, the Bead Music Onboard is a platform to connect the independent musicians with short film makers and other projects. “Apart from city cafes, we have tied up with clubs like Waltair Club and are also exploring the private party scene. We will also be producing music of these independent artistes soon,” the startup co-founder added.
While the startup plans to expand its base gradually to other cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore, for the next six months the young team of Bead Music will stay focussed to strengthen their base in Visakhapatnam.
