New Delhi– Shivam Malhotra, the founder of the music label Malsons, has released 45 songs with independent artistes in a short span of time. He got on board Grammy Award winner Vincent Berry II to collaborate on multiple projects with A-list singers from India.
The label will also be releasing their first Hollywood feature film soundtrack, ‘Initiation’, where it will be launching two songs created by Jubin Nautiyal.
Talking about his international collaboration, Shivam said in an exclusive chat with IANS, “John Berardo and Brian Frager, the director and producer of ‘Initiation’ are my partners on Grand Media in Los Angeles. They are two of the most talented people I’ve met so when they pitched the film for me to finance, it was a no-brainer. Jubin is like my brother and I am so grateful that he took up the music for the film.”
He added, “Saban Films, the legendary film studio behind the Power Rangers franchise have picked up the American theatrical rights. We’ve gotten an amazing response to the film, critics call ‘Initiation’ GenZ’s answer to ‘Scream’. Indian audiences will get the chance to watch the film very soon.”
Shortly after its inception, Malsons signed a strategic deal with the leading French distributor Believe to promote independent music on a global level.
Shivam shared what initiated him to launch the music label. “Malsons is an unconventional company and we intend to stay that way. I started Malsons here to bridge the gap between India and the global entertainment landscape.”
“In our three short years – we’ve backed two international films and one series, released 45 songs and we are gearing up to launch our own tech platform. Our company culture is not reinventing the wheel, it’s about making the ride smoother,” he added.
Shivam had also created an IP called ‘Electro-Folk’ through his live music sub-division, Black Magic Music in collaboration with T-series. Additionally, the start-up has executed more than 450 artiste performances in India.
Talking about the current independent music scenario in India, he said, “It is substantially easier today for an independent musician to break through and reach a wide audience today than it was even 5 years ago. This is the direct result of the boom in digital streaming platforms like Gaana, Spotify, Wynk and YT Music.”
“If you see the top trending song on Indian social platforms collectively today, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see that it’s a Sri Lankan song by a young female artiste.”
“From the Malsons family itself, we’ve seen massive success in three of our debutants who have collectively gained us over 200 million streams across platforms. In the end, it’s all about great content and winning in this game of attention,” said Shivam.
Talking about the highlight projects, he said, “One of our best acquisitions was ‘Peer Vi Tu’ by The Wedding Filmer Vishal Punjabi and Harshdeep Kaur – it was featured in Virat Kohli and Anushka’s wedding film and that has really helped give a mass reach to the song.”
“In recent times, we had picked up ‘Rabba Maine Chand Vekhiya’ by Jubin Nautiyal, composed by Tanishk-Vayu from Ravi Adhikari’s ‘Dheet Patengey’ the Hotstar film. ‘Oopar Oopar’ by Vayu and Tanishk Bagchi was a personal favourite. I am also very proud of our recreation of the cult classic ‘Dil Ne’ from the film ‘Dhadkan’ with Manish Joshi,” he concluded. (IANS)
