BackPlaying the money-spinning track
Playing the money-spinning track
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Chennai: Nikhil Khedekar doesn’t mind mixing business with pleasure: after all, it can sometimes earn him more than ₹ 1 lakh a night.
The 25-year-old went to a Navi Mumbai college in 2003 to become an electronics engineer, but it was what he did on the side—disc jockeying (DJing)— that now earns him his living.
“My parents didn’t know the full form of DJ," he says. “Besides being lectured at home, I would get a barrage of calls from relatives asking me to stick to my ₹ 3.5 lakh-a-year job as a software professional."
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“Buttoned-up office goers prefer racy numbers or item songs and college kids prefer to hear more English tracks," he says. “But in both cases, playing an old song gets a better response than playing something absolutely fresh. When people dance they want to sing along. It’s as if they are seeing themselves in the reel."
Khedekar has now also started creating his own remixes to be aired by radio stations and played at parties. One of his first remixes is Boom Boom, a hit song by the late Pakistani pop singer Nazia Hasan, that he says is going to be aired by a radio station in the UK. He created the remix in his hostel room at the Great Lakes Institute of Management on the outskirts of Chennai, where Khedekar is doing a one-year management course to polish his business skills.
Events will continue to be the main source of income for his company, but remixes and record launches through a new label may help him increase his annual revenue to ₹ 40 lakh in 2014 from ₹ lakh in 2010. And he may not find it too tough to persuade investors to help his business grow.
“One category that we see a lot of potential through student start-ups is gaming and entertainment," says Rajesh Srivathsa of Ojas Ventures, a $35 million India-focused early-stage venture fund. “DJing will fall in the same category."
QUICK FACTS
COMPANY NAME
DJ Reverb’s Groove
Chose the name because it sounded cool
FOUNDER
Nikhil Khedekar
INDUSTRY
Music and entertainment
PRODUCT COMPANY OR SERVICES OR BOTH
Both
Founded
December 2006
The founder is 25 years old
NUMBER OF FOUNDERS
1
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
2
CITY
Navi Mumbai
INVESTMENT TO DATE
Rs 4 lakh, mostly self funded and some from family
THE NEXT CLOSEST MILESTONE
Reach a revenue target of ₹ 30 lakh by starting a record label and making remixes for Bollywood songs in 2012
anupama.c@livemint.com
DJ Reverb’s Groove was among the finalists of the NEN First Dot Student Startup Showcase
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