Want a singer to croon on your birthday? Get one vetted by singer Shaan’s start-up, Happydemic

Singer Shaan and his wife, Radhika Mukherjee along with wealth advisor Amar Pandit have launched Happydemic, an entertainment platform that connects music lovers and musicians. The platform will go live on April 17. [caption id=“attachment_2727150” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Screengrab[/caption] “I often wonder what happened to the scores of singers who take part in competition, lose out narrowly and have no career in singing to look forward to. Even the winners are remembered for a short period of one season until the next season throws up a new winner,” says Radhika Mukherjee, Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Happydemic, talking about the reasons for entering the start-up sector. The Mukherjees and Pandit brainstormed and decided to come out with something `different’ in the online space. Pandit, Founder and CEO of My Financial Advisor, a private wealth management firm, has a production house too. He has produced a Marathi film and works closely with artistes, he says. Happydemic, so-called because it aims to spread happiness like an epidemic to both – musicians/singers and, the audience – was started with seed money of Rs 5.5 crores (Rs two crore from the founders) from friends and family. How it works An artist, has to register online and send a track of his/her work to the site. This is vetted by a team of six experts at Happydemic. Once selected, the artist details are uploaded on the site which state the genres he sings and also the performance fees. The fee is decided by the artist, clarifies Mukherjee. No negotiations are allowed from the customer on the fees stated by the artist. The consumer has to register online, select the city he/she wants the performance, and the site will show the various categories: singers, band, stand-up comedians, emcees, motivation speaker and genres (ranging between 10-12) to choose from. The consumer then has to place a request and in 48 hours time, the artist will confirm his/her availability. Another category to be added is International  Acts where artists and musicians from abroad who have licenses and permissions to perform in India will be available for private performances, too. The fees for this section will start from Rs six lakh plus. The artist fees on the site start from Rs 12,000 and goes up to Rs eight lakhs. Revenue model Happydemic charges 10-20 percent as commission on top of the artists fee. The commission differs based on the popularity of the artist. It also has two other revenue models: Premium services and Elite managed services. In the premium managed services, an artist has to pay Rs 25,000 per annum and in Elite managed services, the artist is charged Rs 15,000 per annum for mentoring, grooming, etc. The site has an exclusive tie-up with a radio channel and the artist on the site can perform three days a week on the channel. Besides, singers who are very good and perform well will get an opportunity to cut a disc and also an opportunity to sing with Shaan. The management is now in the process of discovering customers.  Pandit, Co-Founder and CFO, says that the company is hopeful of becoming profitable in 18-24 months time of its launch. There are a host of start-ups that offer similar services like A R Rehman-Shekhar Kapur’s digital venture Quiki, Gigstart, besides hyperlocal services like Urban Clap.