Loudest Entrepreneur column, we handpick top music entrepreneurs from across the country and share their journey and learnings with you.

This week's feature is David Koch from Rocka Rolla, Guwahati 

Rocka Rolla Turns 10! 

Spreading The Love for Music

In the modern era,  information is easily accessible and people are more aware of what is happening around them. There are certain parts of the country where the cultural influence in music is limited. There are people who are trying to change this and attempting to sustain the old culture of rock & roll, so that people can continue to enjoy & experience this genre of music. One such entrepreneur is David Koch, has been trying to make a change and spread the love for music. Koch resides in Guwahati, a place which is home to a lot of up and coming talent. He has established himself in the town for organizing large scale events and in helping people achieve their dreams at his own expense. Koch has helped many bands achieve their dreams of performing on a global scale through his multiple initiatives.

Starting Out

Koch started organizing gigs at a very early stage in his life. On being asked how he managed to do it, David said “I started my first gig as an organizer in the 9^th standard. In that event also, I took a loan which helped me put up the concert and that instilled a belief in me that yeah, I can do it.”

Although my Parents were from the Force, my dad was a songwriter and mom was a musician in their chosen style of music. But one of my cousin brothers was a drummer in a rock band and he introduced me to the kind of music that I’m promoting and involved in for so many years now. That happened when I was in the 6^th standard and guess it’s never gonna stop - David Koch

David Koch comes from a background of police personnel, which is very different from the art that he is dealing in. But his love for music comes from his family, who motivated him follow his passion and introduced him to varied genres of music. The love for spreading music is clearly in the genes.

Passion and Love for Music, And Success! 

Guwahati, a city in Assam, is place where awareness in terms of rock music and concerts 10 years ago very limited, and its a definite challenge to organize events. It takes real courage to step up and bring in the culture of rock music in a place that often struggles to get their basic infrastructure, rights and dealing with other conflicts in place. David has managed to bring in crowds and promote new talent consistently. But it's never easy to achieve this feat.

From a time when there was only 7 to 8 gigs in a year, we have come to a time where we have more than 600 gigs in a year only in Guwahati alone, including Indoor and Outdoor ones. - David Koch

David : Yes, definitely and precisely that is the reason why I’m still doing it despite so many odds over the years. It took me a lot of time to hold my ground till things started changing. I’m a die-hard optimist and I believe that the Local Scene is going to become super big one day.

Loudest: When you started organising gigs in Guwahati, was the response as per your expectation?

David : The response was brilliant and my first open air event had 3000 people turning up for it. Besides that, all my pub rock gigs also had a super turn outs. SO yes, it was definitely as per my expectation.

The Struggle, and FireBall! 

He remained hopeful of achieving his dreams in this field and started from nothing but a loan and a dream. He has been organising the Fireball music festival in Guwahati since the past 10 years, and sent plenty of bands to perform at Waken Open Air Festival (Worlds Largest Heavy Metal Festival) in Germany. Promoting Indian musicians on an international stage and helping our homegrown talent is commendable. While this has not been an easy road for him either. 

“I still remember my Maggie eating days hahaha!!! ;) It has been a hell lot of a struggle to keep the music scene breathing with such small resources with minimum number of promoters and sponsors in the scene. But what kept me going was a strong sense of hope and my optimism. Back in 2007, we had nothing but a vision, a tiny little corner cafe to run operations from, a near-embarrassing bank situation ;) and nothing but our hearts set to promote music.” - Koch

On being asked about challenges in pulling off events without securing sponsorships in a city like Guwahati David  says  “It is very hard and difficult to convince the sponsors for a Rock Event and therein lies the catch. They ask you a lot of questions and you have to convince them with strong bona fide answers that what you are looking at a long term sustainable project rather than a one time money grabbing endeavour”. 

Loudest: How did you manage to organise the first Fireball festival without any sponsorship?

David : Haha! Yeah, it was organised out of a personal loan which one of my friends was kind enough to grant me. The event was a success in terms of turn out for a first timer but I suffered severe financial losses ad it definitely had repercussions o my later events and It took me a lot of time to even out that loss.

The Failures Gave Rise To Newer Opportunities

"I often depend on sponsorships but, the money I used to earn from my café always used to get invested in my events. Although it badly effected my café and it got shut down, however, the same gave rise to Rocka Rolla Events and Productions." David Koch

Rocka Rolla Fund For Wacken Open Air! 

Loudest: It is wonderful that you are running a fund to represent local bands at the Wacken Open AIr. In what way can the government or musical society in general aid this movement?

David: If the state government wants, they can definitely support and promote this event. When Plague Throat from Shillong represented India, there was a substantial financial support from the Government of Meghalaya as it is a prestigious International event with participants from around 30 countries all over the world. The musical society can also contribute and support in the same manner.

Fighting On for The Dream

Today, even after a facing multiple failures and struggling financially, he still chooses to live by his dream. Learn from his failures and do what he does best. Irrespective of all that he’s been through he soldiers on to follow his passion and helping many artists from North East as a result. 

Even after all his struggles he still wishes to continue his pursuit and stick around to help the people. He plans on expanding his venture to Delhi and Bangalore in the future.

His advice to the young people out there who plan on entering this field in Tier-2 and 3 cities,  “The very first challenge is financial if that can be overcome then other issues are a cakewalk. One should have a strong sense of hope and optimism that you are going to make it happen and that you can never quit fighting.”

David: Currently I am entering into an enterprise which is going to launch an Event that aims to make its name known to every region in the planet that has music in its heart. This is going to be a festival in the line of all major open air music festival that will have camping accommodation for all listeners and bands from all across the world. There is also going to be a Rocka Rolla Music Awards for North Eastern Bands thus year which is going to become a an India Award Event in the next year.