By Mannu Shahi, Kathmandu, July 4: Noodle is an online music streaming platform designed by targeting the Nepali music scene exclusively, at the moment, easily downloadable for free under the banner “Noodle Rex” in Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

Just as the global streaming portals like Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, Amazon, Apple Music and more, Noodle desires to create this space for selling, appreciating, disturbing and supporting music makers and construct this direct artist to audience relationship -- never before imagined in a trifling market like ours.

Legally registered as “Noodle Rex Pvt. Ltd.” on November 6, 2020, the application was virtually launched a year later on 10th April 2021. Created by a group of top-notch musicians comprising of Ritavrat Joshi (bass player of Kamero/Space) as the Acquisition, Content and Finance Head; Sushant Roy (drummer of Kamero/Over and Out) in the Designs and Logistics, and PR representative; Bartika Eam Rai on Strategies and Operation management duties; Avishek KC (vocalist of Underside) in Development and Partnership role; and Suzeena Shrestha (vocalist of The Act) as the PR and partnership advocate.

All five names from the star cast are equally labelled as the co-founders of this firm. A much-needed uplift for the music community, this medium is by far one of the most inclusive communal efforts seen by the musicians of Nepal.

Starting by pointing out the obvious, a wide range of artists getting a chance to upload their music is the most convincing move for me. In the sector of Nepali music, there has always been a class hierarchy of sorts when it comes to appreciating any artists’ music, bands making mainstream content are always seen as this more dominant force than local bands writing rather self-convincing material.

Cover artists have long been hailed way more for their efforts than people creating music from scratch. Even in the compositional process, it’s much cooler for the audience if an artist sounds similar to a certain well-established international outfit than waste their time trying to sound original. And on top of it all, the music consuming culture is the worst, as it’s a well-known fact that being a musician is not even perceived as a legit career in Nepal. There seems to be no interest of the society in developing any genres of art, especially music.

Even the big names of the music fraternity are considered exceptional only when they impressively imitate or much eviler cover Bollywood music for drunken parties or YouTube uploads. Thus, acknowledging facts like such Joshi shares his experiences on building the app as, “The sense that ‘music will always have support as long as it is free’ runs deep in our scene in so many aspects.”

“As avid music listeners and musicians, this was an idea that we had been playing around within our heads for a long time. Observing the music consumption culture played a big role in us deciding that this is a matter that musicians themselves must take into their own hands.” Thus, he brainstormed these ideas with his peers and successfully managed to create this portal.

It is a first of its kind movement in the history of Nepali music which is paying musicians directly for just creating art i.e. not for playing concerts, not for performing in private parties, not even just through merchandise sales. Artists can actually just write their original music and sell it online for real cash in exchange. From massive figures like Bipul Chettri, Astha Tamang Maskey, Cobweb, Diwas Gurung, Jindabaad to more brewing groups like Revenge Of The Invisibles, Manasik Karagar, On Acid, Harip Tatwo, Jooni and more, easy access to a variety of the soundscape of Kathmandu is well-represented in this site.

Furthermore, the audience has the privilege of buying a single or the entire album from online payment avenues like eSewa, Khalti and Fonepayfor Nepali consumers. Similarly, the portal also accepts buying from PayPal, VISA and MasterCard for consumers based overseas.

A single is priced Rs.99 per track while an album or EP is relatively priced as per the number of songs included in the compilation and all of the payment is done in a 70:30 ratio (70% of the sales going to the artists directly).

The firm further helps artists by creating merchandise for the signed-in groups, raising funds for video production or audio recording and before the initial lockdown organized Kathmandu oriented tours for two bands -- Retro Rockets from Itahari and Zero Brains from Dharan as well as managed the launch of ASM’s debut album ASM – I at Beers and Cheers, Jhamsikhel. So without any further hesitation please download the app and support this genuine initiative, don’t just claim to be a Nepali music fan, rather bring your appreciation to action and buy some original music for a change.