Why listen to music when you can Twaang it....

There are various sources of inspiration that can fuel a quest for the lesser known in people. For Isaac Newton it was an apple tree in his backyard that inspired him to discover gravity. In Archimedes’ case, a hot bubble bath in a bathtub was inspiring enough to establish the principles of buoyancy. My decision to do an MBA was inspired by a discussion over drinks with a close friend at TGIF. In Vishnu’s case, it was Bangalore traffic.

One sunny afternoon Vishnu was driving down to Yellahanka from Jayanagar, a journey that takes close to 2 hours in average traffic. He was left with little choice of entertainment to help him make this long commute enjoyable. Vishnu has a no specific taste in music and on a normal day likes listening to any song.  However, on this commute, he had forgotten his iPod at home and the FM channels available were not playing anything he liked. (“I think it was the RJ on radio that day that got to me,” confessed Vishnu).  It was in those two hours of commute (perhaps driven by frustration) that Vishnu got the idea of an application that could stream music to one’s mobile phone. “Not any kind of music but music that you choose as per your preferences,” he says. And thus was born Twaang.

(Source: http://www.facebook.com/Twaang?fref=ts)

A couple of weeks later he and his friend (now co-founder) Sirish tried using their laptop as a server and streamed a couple of MP3 files on a certain wavelength, almost as if they were trying to find their own private FM channel bandwidth on air. That was the first test broadcast of Twaang. Once the idea worked and they were able to stream music and hear it online, they realized that their idea had the potential to grow big.

They choose the name Twaang, as it is sound of the pull of a string, synonymous with the situation both metaphorically as well as literally. Vishnu used to play the violin long time ago, but both Vishnu and Sirish are music buffs.So they did research on the music industry , drew up a business plan.

The business model was fairly simple. No Bollywood music would be broadcast. Everything else would be considered. “There are many channels already airing Bollywood music such as Gana.com, Saavan.com etc. We wanted to be different,” says Vishnu. For now, Indian classical music has been identified as one of the key categories, followed by Indian fusion.  To gain access to content in this genre, Twaang has tied up with close to 50 record labels as well as many individual artists and currently has a music library of over 70,000 tracks. Artists include the popular Shubha Mudgal to the elusive first recordings of Ustad Bismillah Khan.

Why artists? Vishnu explained that most artists don’t make enough revenues from record sales. They mostly make money from concerts and appearances. So when Twaang approached them, they were eager to sign up. “We have been very transparent with our contracts. This is the biggest reason why many artists have signed up with us,” he says. Twaang also remains self funded to ensure that artists’ are kept in mind, even as business goes on.

(Source:http://www.facebook.com/Twaang?fref=ts)

For the first year, Twaang will be available free of cost to users and aspires to make money through advertisements. Its members (over 6,000 of them who have signed up for streaming music) comprise a unique demographic – those who prefer carnatic and Hindustani classical music. For certain advertisers like Silk Saree retailers, they represent a gold mine. Vishnu is quick to clarify that no personal information will be shared with advertisers.

From the second year onwards, Twaang plans to introduce subscription-based usage in addition to free usage, reducing the dependence on Ads. The subscription model will allow one to access certain music folders offline, while automatic streaming of music takes place whenever the phone has online access. That way one does not need to be connected to the internet to listen to music. He/ she can access the offline folder and listen to the songs, explains Vishnu.

You can access Twaang via Android platform currently, there are plans for iOS later.  It is currently in the Beta testing mode and around 100 people have tested it. “We expect the app to go live by end of October”.

I personally have very little knowledge about Carnatic music, having listened only to Suprabhatam by M.S. Subbulakshmi during my growing up years. But for those who do understand and appreciate such music, Twaang can prove to be a boon.

To register to receive the Twaang application please use this link.

You can also visit them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Twaang?fref=ts.

and on Twitter @twaangmusic

Would you like to access an app like Twaang? Do you see value in such an app? Do share your views.