Artist Vineet Singh Hukmani talks about his journey and creating the world's first music multi-verse

What inspired this concept of a music multi-verse?

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In my search for creating a song that covers the immersive spectrum from sound to visual, I decided to compose a song, direct a 3D animation-based music film, and author a superhero comic book all together, which led to the world’s first music multi-verse. My inspiration comes from an audience that enjoys multi-versal entertainment from international superhero films, comics and games.

Did the success of your first multi-format project give you the confidence to work on something so different?

Creating immersion is no longer an experiment but a prerequisite. The technology now needed for audio-visual delight for this young, global, digitally enabled audience is accessible to all creators. My book Nine helped me use the power of the written word in the form of nine different thrilling action stories that connected as QR codes to a large audio album of multi-genre songs.

What motivates you to work around disruption-based concepts?

I cannot dwell on my past achievements and be satisfied just with that. Disruption for me is not path-breaking but path-creating, and for an independent musician like me, it is highly motivating as it pushes me to try new things. In a clutter-filled entertainment space, disruption in the creative process, coupled with how it creates new opportunities to make money, is now a necessity and not a luxury.

Tell us about your journey so far.

Armed with a degree in electronic engineering and being a Harvard Business School alumnus, I worked in MNCs and became a musician after work hours. After years of working for others, I got a chance to launch Radio One India as founder, MD, and CEO. It taught me two priceless lessons for the next chapter of my musical journey. The first is that radio is still the king of discovery of new music globally, and the second is that independent musicians have to constantly reinvent and disrupt to keep their audiences excited.

What, in your opinion, are the challenges surrounding independent artistes in India today?

In English, independent music has a smaller audience than its global counterpart, but it’s growing fast. So as a musician, you need to decide where to target your music and then the age group you’d like to appeal to.

Worldwide, musicians, radio or streaming do not depend on the film industry for their success, and I am sure the power of Indian independent music will soon get its due in India, and young audiences will make that change happen sooner rather than later.

In the era of short-format content and low attention spans, what is the scope of multi-layered projects?

It is precisely because of the low attention spans of ‘unidimensional’ content that content creators globally are focusing on more immersive, multi-dimensional storytelling.