Weighing in on the trending use of audio-only platforms by musicians to engage with audiences

Of late, musicians have been increasingly using audio-only platforms like Clubhouse and Discord to engage with patrons. We dissect this trend

Ask any musician what thrills them the most about being an artiste, and chances are that the answer will be to watch audience members go nuts while they are playing live on stage. Well, it’s tough luck for them in that case, because the pandemic has brought the curtains down on physical gigs in India, at least for a while. But in the meantime, many musicians have taken to a different way of engaging with listeners — audio-only platforms like Discord and Clubhouse. These apps offer chat rooms where like-minded people get together virtually to talk about a specific subject, and when musicians utilise the same, it helps them build a sense of community with their patrons at a time when physical forms of interaction are out of the question.

Clubhouse has different chat rooms where people can opt to just listen

Simple enough. But why is it that artistes are turning towards these apps when they already had the option of existing ones like Instagram and Facebook? Sambit Chatterjee, a drummer who plays with multiple indie acts, feels that one reason is because people have started feeling saturated with the visual medium. “Insta Reels got to people like us who are not into Tik Tok, because after a point, when you keep swiping mindlessly, you are into what you are watching and at the same time, you are not. But with these audio-only platforms, you are in the circle because you are completely interested in it. It’s brought the concept of just sitting and listening to something back again,” he says.

In it together

Ankur Tewari. Pic/Prarthna Singh

Chatterjee, who runs a club on Clubhouse called Indian Drumming Community, adds that it also helps that these platforms don’t bother with ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’. “There is no opinionated vandalism,” he feels. Then there’s the fact that they do facilitate a genuine sense of community. “It helps bring in more enthusiasts to make the [indie music] circle larger. And it’s also worthwhile to let other people know that running your household as an independent musician in India is indeed possible. I have been doing it for eight years now, and a lot of kids are uncomfortable about asking questions. Clubhouse and Discord give them a voice. Youngsters who would have never gotten in touch with Gino [Banks; he’s also part of Indian Drumming Community] or me can now directly ask us about their doubts, which can have a huge impact on their brain,” Chatterjee explains.

Personality matters

Sambit Chatterjee

The point that he’s making here is something that singer-songwriter Ankur Tewari agrees with. “I feel that that’s what we are trying to do, find like-minded people who understand what you are going through as an artiste. When an audience encourages a conversation, you feel that you are not alone, which is always healing because a lot of our work is done in solitude,” says Tewari, who is a Clubhouse user too.

He also tells us that a lot of it has to do with a particular artiste’s personality. “Some musicians like open-air festivals and others like club gigs. Similarly, some of them might be more comfortable on Instagram, while others prefer Clubhouse because they can’t be seen, and that sense of anonymity suits them,” Tewari reasons, adding that the pandemic gave a fillip to these mediums because people weren’t meeting others and visually, their eyes were getting tired because of excessive screen time. “It was thus interesting to have a peek into someone else’s life without any imagery involved,” he says.

Fair point. But the question is, will this trend sustain even after our social lives get back to normal? It depends, Tewari says, on how these platforms reinvent themselves. Chatterjee, though, feels that since both these apps require a fair bit of time, he’s unsure about their popularity once people are on the move again. “I don’t know how much of the hit-and-run audience on these apps will stay,” he says, meaning that the jury is still out on this question. It’s only time that will tell.

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