Crowdfunding the "The Lost Cause" by Dhruv Visvanath

The Indian Independent Music has seen a great year, so far. As we are nearing the last quarter and the festival season,  there have been many releases in the Indie circuit that have made us go crazy. There can be another addition to that list, and that is completely up to us. Dhruv Visvanath released his last record ‘Orion’ in 2015 under Vishal Dadlani's record label VLT. Since then, he’s been on an extensive tour along with cooking up a bunch of fresh songs into an album he’s called ‘The Lost Cause’. In 2016, Dhruv Visvanath did one of the biggest tours in independent music space promoting Orion called "The Lost Cause". This tour consisted of 22 shows across 17 cities which were MASSIVE! 

Dhruv Visvanath, a Solo percussive acoustic guitarist, and a singer-songwriter. As Dhruv rightly says,  He spanks the guitar and sings while he does it.

I love writing songs about my past experiences and my childhood. I really don’t like love songs. But I do love music. 

Dhruv started his musical journey at the age of 7, with the majestic albeit small instrument, the piano. He is the only Indian musician to be featured on Acoustic Guitar Magazine, where he has been mentioned in the ‘30 Great Guitarists under 30?"  alongside names like Ed Sheeran, Laura Marling and Newton Faulkner, who is a personal favourite of Dhruv.

The Crowdfunding Culture

India is seeing a rising trend in Musicians taking up crowdfunding as a way to finance their musical dreams, and its working. It's delighting to see how the community has come together to support and promote the independent artist. Crowdfunding is an incredible way of engaging your fans, connecting with them, as well as promoting your work and it becomes a shared dream. It's a great way of keeping them engaged, and have a sense of shared ownership.

With his Wishberry Crowd Funding Campaign being launched a couple of days back, we reached out to Dhruv to talk to him to get to know more about where he’s been and what this record is shaping up to be. 

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lWy1RkZKA[/embedyt]

Loudest: Before we get into the specifics, let's talk about where you've been since the last record. It's been a long time, what have you been up to?

Dhruv Visvanath : It actually has been a little while, but having released “Orion” in 2015, it felt like enough time had passed for me to get to work and release my next record. In the last year, I’ve spent all my time literally traveling the country, making videos, learning plenty about how to be better at what I do. In October, I spent the month recording the new record and then headed off to 17 different cities, playing across the country. Let me tell you, organizing it was a nightmare, but I had the honor of working with some amazing people and got to drive some amazing cars (Thank you Audi!) across some amazing landscapes. India is a fascinating place, it really is. I loved the fact our population is filled with kindhearted people, but we’re just caught in the same mess, politically. 

Dhruv happens to be one of the very few independent artists to be collaborating with BIG brands like Audi, Microsoft and promoting a collaborative message via music marketing for brands. We see a rise in brands choosing influencer marketing as a way of communicating with their consumers.

Loudest: Let's talk about 'The Lost Cause'. Where does the name come from?

Dhruv said, The name of the album is an ironic one on its own. I harked back to a lot of discussions I’d overhear from tons of folks saying that they’d like to go on journey’s to find themselves. I realized that it’s not all true and often times the sheer thought of it whilst it is noble, in today’s society it looks like a Lost Cause. I thought that by going on this tour and journey, from October through December of last year, I’d have the chance to travel through India and find my family’s history. I thought that through this tour, it’d be a great task to sort of find my self through the stories of my ancestors. I guess the title of the album feels more like a challenge. For everyone that looks at what you do as a long shot, you still try to fight through, struggle to hopefully one day make it count for something!

Loudest: Going into the music more, these set of songs are definitely more simple - Just you and your guitar. Was there a specific reason for the departure from the whole band-style songs that were there in the last record?

Dhruv Visvanath , It was expensive. I joke, but I realized that with the last record, the mix of instrumental songs, with my more percussive singer-songwriter material, I guess I felt my efforts were outdone by the effort of the band: 7 solid songs with Dhruv Visvanath Trio (the band that featured on the record with Ashwin Nayar, Ishaan Gandhi, and Amar Pandey). The talent of the band really shone through that album and I felt that whilst the songs were strong, the music seemed too contrasting. With this effort, I really wanted to take a step back and focus on what I started off with in the first place. I wanted to show the acoustic guitar as a beast of it’s own, to show that it possesses a great deal of power if done right. Having grown up listening to Newton Faulkner, Michael Hedges, Tommy Emmanuel and so many other guitarists, I just thought I needed to put my own spin on things and this is where it needed to be shown. I do hope to make more albums with DVT, but this was a really personal test this time.

Loudest: What were the reasons behind going independent this time? How would you compare working a label vs. doing everything on your own?

Dhruv Visvanath :  I’m drowning, help me! The thing is, the label is a blessing. There are so many positives of course, but it doesn’t really let you relax, you still have to work hard. Vishal (Dadlani) is by far one of the most humble, and genuine people I’ve met and his sense of purpose behind my music was astonishing. He really believed in my vision, and it felt like he mentored me through the process a bit. I guess the release of the last record prepared me for this. I guess I’m at the right spot in my musical career right now to sort of, try to do this on my own. There are many lessons that need to be learned. I’m always looking to the future, how do I work on the next project, what are the steps I need to take in order for this to be a success, what were my mistakes and what can I learn from them. Any older and it’d be too late to get back and recover from it, but now, this seems to be a great time to learn as much as I can about releasing music and preparing it as a product as much as making it. When the time is right, I hope that the work I’ve done really bears fruit for my future releases and who knows, I could run my own label one day! But right now, I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to see both sides of the coin and to be honest, nothing goes by without working hard, and I feel fortunate that the opportunities came, and I took them.

Loudest: Let's talk about the Crowdfunding campaign. You've already crossed 2.15 Lac Rupees about 72% of your target. Did you expect it to reach such a number so quickly? Further, do you think the concept of crowdfunding is a viable source for artists in today's scenario?

Dhruv Visvanath : At the time of my writing this, it’s crossed 72% of the goal! Well, to be honest, I thought this was going to be a long struggle; every day was going to involve hustling and pushing through, pestering people, pushing above my weight basically. I’m just very grateful for the contributions coming in. I’ve been in tears at least once a day for the last three days. There are folks stepping in and playing their part when I thought it would never happen. It really feels like I’ve won the lottery, I intend to make it up to them fully and give them an album worth enjoying and listening to. I wouldn’t like to count my eggs before they’ve hatched, but the experience feels very rewarding. I must credit the guys at Wishberry for really guiding me through the process, and it has definitely taught me so much about how people are willing to make dreams come true. I took a lot of inspiration from my friend Tejas Menon, and my buddies at Parvaaz before taking this decision. I’ve learnt that it’s probably the best way to engage with fans, and build a rapport with people, and have them quite literally be the reason that your project exists in the first place. I do still have a long way to go, but I’m really looking forward to hitting the target and setting off on an unforgettable journey.

Loudest: You've played most of the songs off the album live. What made you take that decision? What responses have you been getting?

Dhruv Visvanath : When you play live, you play to a relatively small audience, to a personal space of sorts. The feedback is direct and it feels great. It’s a great response to understanding whether some songs really do work and others don’t, and music is subjective that way! I think the response, however, has been phenomenal, the songs take different life on stage, and it feels so good to hear people woot and see some genuine headbobbing. THEY FOUND MY POCKET! That’s what I like to think, but you see the way I make my music involves so much more than just playing the guitar, I really want for people to sink in deep and when things get cozy, I feel as if I’ve just served them with a cup of hot tea on a cold day. I think these songs are my heaviest yet! It’s funny to say, but as someone who loves metal and the power of hip-hop, I really felt it necessary to put all the power and energy I had to try and get the most out of my guitar and my voice. I hope I’ve struck the right balance, whilst keeping the ideas more straightforward, I’ve really tried to change it up in other ways. I honestly cannot wait to get it out there!

Loudest: Lastly, is there any more information you can give us regarding the release? Anything special?

Dhruv Visvanath , Well, right now it’s hard to say. I’ve purposely kept the release far away from now, so that I can focus as much as I can on taking things one step at a time. Honestly, I’ve learned so much from my past releases that it was vital that I take things as they come. Work with things like a process, and really try my best to make this an amazing release. All I can say for now is that since the album is short, I want to try and make a piece of content for each song. I really want to get a strong story in place. I really would like for the world to know, that there’s a dude in India spanking his guitar, and that it’s pretty cool to watch!

If this doesn’t sound intriguing, I don’t know what does. Dhruv Visvanath has cemented himself firmly in the Independent Scene in India and this seems like the perfect way to expand and reach more people in a more personalized way. Make sure you go and help him out on his Crowd Funding Campaign here: https://www.wishberry.in/campaign/the-lost-cause/