In this interview spotlight, I chat with Phalgunn Maharishi about the music, the challenges, technology and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

I was born in Mysore, but brought up in both Mysore and Bengaluru, neighbouring cities in the state of Karnataka in Southern part of India. I have always believed that I should not be limited by any one style of music. I have composed and produced rock songs, pop songs, fusion tracks, experimental numbers with influences from various genres from around the globe, and I have done even classical music. I love the idea of combining various genres and cultures and create music that represent something different rather than creating for the heck of it! Apart from singles, majority of my projects have been royalty-free music. I have so far created 100+ stock music and 10 singles.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

I am born in a family full of musicians, but I never showed interest in music until I was in my early teens! As a young kid, I was known in my family to run away from music, but decades later, here I am, as a music composer and producer with a deep passion for what I do. As a teenage boy, I started developing keen interest in understanding how Backstreet Boys, Venga Boys, and other pop artists of the time made music. And that interest led me down this path of music.

With the advent of internet, I was in a position to explore my interests and over the years, I got many chances to talk to and meet many musicians online who have acted as my teachers in my music journey. Not one, not two, but many of the musicians were kind enough to teach me their secrets, and answer my queries as I started exploring music production. My early projects were student short films, local ad jingles, documentaries, and then I slowly ventured into singles and royalty-free music production.

Honestly speaking, the idea of being able to create emotions and collaborate with musicians from different cultures motivates me to keep going. And hence, most of my songs might not follow a so-called ‘industry standard’ sometimes, simply because I am looking at doing some or the other type of experiment in the track. That motivates me to compose and produce more music.

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

My latest release ‘One World’ is inspired by various events taking place across the globe lately. Penned by myself and Shannon Bannister from New Mexico, the song is a salute to everyone fighting the pandemic and a prayer for a better tomorrow. It is built on the concept that we all live in a ‘one world’ which is possible only by staying united.

During the production of this track, I joined hands with many indie musicians like myself from across the globe. They all performed the instrument recordings for the song at the comfort of their home studios as they quarantined during the pandemic.

While I composed, produced, and sung the song, it features Guitars performed by J. Sanders from USA, Drums by David McNair from USA, Bass and Electric Guitar Solo by Al Hughson from Scotland. The song is mastered by Tom Hellsten, an audio engineer from Thailand.

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this over saturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

I feel that this age of digital music is both like a boon and a bane! It’s a boon because music production is so affordable and the ways through which we can connect and collaborate is simply mind blowing. For example, most of my songs feature indie musicians from across the globe. If at all I had to do that a few decades back, either I would have had to fly to their country or they had to fly here. But now, we just discuss over Skype and I stay online as they record (sometimes) or mix. And we work together remotely. Almost all serious indie musicians have a home studio these days, especially in countries like US, UK, Canada, etc.  So, the quality has never been a challenge. On the other hand, it’s also a bane because music production is so affordable, almost every one is a music producer these days, making it completely overcrowded. While I am happy to see more people coming into music industry, let’s be honest, it does bring in a little competition. But, I do feel we can actually take it to our advantage by collaborating and not competing!

I have to give complete credits to technology for making it possible for me to produce songs in such a pocket friendly budget! If not for technology, I wouldn’t even dream of owning a home studio and connect with fans and listeners online! Technology is there in almost every step of my music journey.

What was the last song you listened to?

I listen to music from a lot of independent artists and I am in fact a member of many such indie music groups and forums. Of late, I have been listening to a couple of tracks by my musician friends from across the globe. Apart from that, I was listening to ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles just before I started answering these questions. I recently discovered ‘Shine A Light’ and ‘Got It In You’ by Banners, and ‘Welcome Home, Son’ by Radical Face, and have been in love with them ever since!

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

I never had a chance to collect a Vinyl in my life! But I have had a lot of CDs and Cassettes. But, I think, music streaming has definitely changed consumption of music for good. So, to be honest, it’s not even actual MP3. It’s online streaming that I prefer!

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

I personally use Spotify to listen to music, and ReverbNation, sometimes, to discover new music! I also use BandLab once in a while and ProCollabs to network among other musicians, and to help me out with all my collaboration related legal documents.

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

Instagram is the best place you can connect with me online. To discover more of my music, I would recommend to follow me on Spotify, or subscribe to me on YouTube. I can also be reached on my website www.phalmusic.com where I have a lot of music work published!

Anything else before we sign off?

Thanks for this opportunity. It has been really nice sharing my story and my music with people who actually love independent music. I would really like to ask new musicians who are really trying hard to stay original to their melodies and production. I feel indie music is more like a platform where musicians like me can pretty much open up their heart and actually connect directly to the hearts of listeners. At the same time, indie musicians like me need a lot of support from people. So, even if the person who reads such interviews, just shares the link to few more people, it can come a long way to an indie musician like me!

As I always say, an indie musician spends months to produce and release a track, but a listener has to just spend 10 seconds to actually click on the ‘SHARE’ button so the word can spread and in-turn help the indie musician in his journey! Keep that in mind, everyone! Stay Safe and Stay Musical!