An unwavering passion for music, made the Musicfellas team leave their lucrative jobs and follow the symphony of their hearts. Founded by Gaurav Shahlot, Mayank Jain and Shubhranshu Jain, Musicfellas is a social independent music discovery platform where fans can explore, talk and buy music they love.

Gaurav shared some fascinating information about his entrepreneurial journey with Musicfellas, here it is for you:

Gaurav Shahlot

What motivated this startup?

At Musicfellas, we’ve all been ardent fans of music in general. We recognized a gap in the independent music scene in India & quickly realized the massive fragmentation in the market. Artists had no good targeted way of reaching out to a wider audience & users did not have a platform to discover and explore new music from the artists in India. This is what led us to the idea of Musicfellas which has constantly evolved since then.

Who do you see as your target audience?

Anyone who loves listening to music and is always looking out to discover more.

Has MusicFellas got the feedback and growth you expected since launch?

The reaction has been phenomenal. We are the top choice in the country for artists to sell & distribute their music. We are trying to replicate the same in other geographies now.

How involved are you with fundraising?

We were incubated at Tlabs & got the initial seed fund of Rs. 10 Lakhs from them. Other than that, we’ve put in funds from our own savings.

How do you plan to monetize MusicFellas?

We keep things simple. We don’t charge our artists or users for the music discovery service we offer. We make money off digital downloads through a 30% cut.

What is the biggest hurdle you have faced or are still facing?

The main challenge was to get artists on board. As we reached out and spoke to more & more artists, we realized that they’ve had bad experiences in the past with people trying to promise them wider audience & recognition through their platforms. However once they had a look at our platform, they really warmed up to our idea & signed up with us. In fact as Musicfellas became a popular name in the independent scene in India, the artists themselves started reaching out to us instead of the other way round.

Which entrepreneurs do you admire the most?

Steve jobs. Richard Branson.

What are you most excited about at the moment?

International launch. We’ve had more and more artists approaching us from around the world. The kind of music we’ve been getting is just awesome!

Where do you see MusicFellas after 5 years?

A one stop platform to discover & buy independent music around the world.

How important is the role of Social Media for success of any startup?

It’s very important. I feel it is important to build an audience right when you start building the product & not wait till you launch. So when you launch, people already know about you & become your early adopters. Most startups fail because they launch to an empty playground & the motivation just goes downhill from there.

What one piece of advice would you give to soon to be startup founders?

1. Engage & build an audience on social media the moment you start pursuing your idea. Don’t wait for the product to launch.
2. Sell an experience not a product. User experience is all that matters. Nothing less, nothing more. Figure out ‘the one’ thing you are trying to solve.
3. Keep experimenting and fail fast.
4. Be honest & Wow your customers!
5. Statistically your startup will fail, so will mine. But you might as well have fun doing it.

We hope the rest of their journey is as melodious as the songs on their site! Leave your feedbacks and tell us what you think about Musicfellas.

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