ravi ray audio Fellowship 2022

reach your full potential

 

sign up to get notified for fellowship 2023 here

 

2022 fellowship winners

  • Priya Mani

    1ST PLACE

    Priya is an Indian singer-songwriter who aims to express stories and a range of emotional experiences through her music. Drawing influences from music of different cultures and genres, she creates an emotional and sonically unique experience for her listeners.

  • Janaki Narayanan

    2ND PLACE

    Janaki is an Indian-American singer-songwriter based in NYC. Her original music can be characterized as primarily R&B, with some Carnatic (traditional South Indian) influence. She released her debut single Tunnelin’ in 2022 with collaborators Woodah Three Times and Zco.

  • Sowbarnika Kannan

    3RD PLACE

    Sowbarnika is an independent artist based in the Bay area. Playful yet introspective, her melodic style reflects her love of modern Pop and R&B. She loves to connect with her audience through her raw storytelling style, and hopes to open up a space where listeners can resonate with her music.

  • The fellowship award includes:

    • $2,000 to create, release, and market one original song. This includes:

      • Music production, mixing, mastering, social media consulting, cover art, + budget for advertising and photography.

    • 4x one-on-one mentorship conversations with demonstrated leaders in the music industry.

    • 2 runner-ups will be selected to receive a free mix/master through ravi ray audio.

  • The applicant must be:

    • Between the ages of 18 and 35, inclusive.

    • A resident of the domestic United States.

    • Identify as South Asian American.

    • If you have published music before, have a catalog of no more than 5 original songs.

  • The applicant must provide:

    • Application Form (link below).

    • Song Demo (up to 75-seconds, see FAQ below for more details).

  • The following items will be considered:

    • You must be able to see through the commitments of this project (1-5 hrs/week depending). The ideal candidate is self-motivated and will drive their project forward.

      • You must record and provide vocals (no iPhone audio please).

      • You must film and edit social media content (in-app like TikTok is okay).

      • You will have Zoom meetings with the project partners.

      • The opportunity is fully-remote, but you will need to find and work with a local photographer.

    • Financial Need will be considered, but is NOT a requirement.

    • The ravi ray audio team will review, select, and announce a winner on August 26th, 2022.

      • “Celebrity Judge” Abhi the Nomad will join us in reviewing your submissions!

      • Finalists may be asked to participate in a short online interview.

  • This is the anticipated timeline:

    JULY 2022

    • July 1st, 2022 — applications open.

    • July 31st, 2022 — applications close.

    AUGUST 2022

    • August 26th, 2022 — winner is announced.

    SEPTEMBER 2022

    • Work with the music producer to create the song.

    OCTOBER 2022

    • Song is delivered to post-production. During this time, you will:

    • Work with the cover artist to create the album artwork.

    • Work with the social media consultant to build a marketing campaign + film/edit content.

    NOVEMBER 2022

    • Post-production is complete. Final masters are submitted for distribution, song is submitted to playlists.

    • Continue filming/editing content and preparing for the release.

    DECEMBER 2022 - JANUARY 2023

    • Release the song.

    • Support the song with your marketing content and ads prior to, during and after the release.

your project team

  • Bak n 4th

    MUSIC PRODUCER

    Shyam and Erwin are a couple of island-born, musicians-turned-producers based out of Vancouver, Canada. Through collaborations with artists including Yanchan and Ary Roberto, the duo has developed a love for blending musical styles and supporting artists from around the world in developing their sound.

  • Ravi Ray

    MIXING ENGINEER

    Ravi is an award-winning mix engineer specializing in audio post-production for music, dialogue, and visual media. He has mixed audio for Rianjali and South Asian Trailblazers + brands including Kulture Khazana and InnovatorsBox, and currently works as a recording engineering intern at Manhattan Beach Recording in NYC.

  • Elaine Rasnake

    MASTERING ENGINEER

    Elaine is a Philadelphia-based mastering engineer focused on providing post-production services, educating others on the art of mastering, and helping lift the voices of women and LGBTQIA+ members of the music community. She has proven herself an invaluable resource in this space having spoken at the AES Mastering Academy in both 2021 and 2022.

  • Abhi the Nomad

    CELEBRITY JUDGE

    Born in India, Abhi has lived all over the world. Everywhere from Beijing, to Hong Kong, from Fiji, to California, from France, to his current hometown of Austin, Texas. Having this nomadic lifestyle, it’s no wonder his sound is so multifaceted and genre crossing. It’s only by necessity that he labels his music as ‘Alternative Hip-Hop’.

  • Manasi Arya

    COVER ARTWORK ARTIST

    Manasi is a kindergarten teacher, artist, and content creator. Her identity as a South Asian American woman heavily influences her art, and she has worked with brands including The Home Depot, Live Tinted, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Her goals are to increase South Asian representation and empower others to embrace their identities, loud and proud.

  • Sruthi Dhulipala

    SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT

    Sruthi is an entertainment publicist and a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. As a Rolling Stone India-featured artist herself, she helps top-tier musicians level up their brands and careers. She has worked with Rianjali, Vinod Krishnan, Janapriyan Levine, and titles including The Big Bang Theory.

  • Rianjali

    ARTIST MENTOR

    Rianjali is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter / composer with a mission to change South Asian independent musicians’ perspective in the diaspora. She has worked alongside A.R. Rahman, performed with U2, Bishop Briggs, and Shawn Mendes, and scored the award-winning documentary Seeing God.

  • Naveed Ahmed

    ARTIST MENTOR

    Naveed is a singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist born and raised in Queens, New York. A civil engineer by day, he has accumulated 3M+ streams, released music videos amassing 300K+ views on YouTube, and toured the country throughout his musical projects.

  • Luke Helder

    ARTIST MENTOR

    Luke is a composer and producer based in London. Trained in both pop music production and orchestral composition for film, TV & video games, Helder's diverse background gives him a unique perspective and a wide skill set, with which he helps storytellers bring their visions to life.

  • Becky Mathai

    ARTIST MENTOR

    Becky is a producer, engineer, and A&R from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a mission to bring the stories of brown and black musicians to the forefront through music. She currently leads A&R at Outer Voice Records and works Music Supervision for Racket Club Music in NYC.

community partners

  • Brown Girl Magazine

  • DDN

  • Dost

  • From the Intercom

  • Mild Mannered & Timid

  • NYC Wale Desi

  • Ode

  • Outer Voice Records

  • South Asian Stories

  • South Asian Trailblazers

  • That Desi Spark

  • The Desi Collaborative

  • Third Eye Collective

  • Urban Asian

  • Young Creative Indian Space

why I’m doing this

 

I wish there was some grandiose, fairy-tale-esque story to go behind this, but there’s not. I don’t want to just support the South Asian music community. I want to actually empower it, empower you, to reach your full potential— regardless of whether you have the resources today. Let’s make some music. Good luck!

 

FAQ

    • Max length of 75-seconds.

    • Submit an MP3 file.

    • We recommend including a verse and chorus.

    • The production DOES NOT need to be complex! Just piano or guitar chords + vocals works.

    • Lyrics are not required, but they are preferred.

    • Non-English lyrics are welcome. Please include a translation with your application.

    • Yes! The award amount, however, is fixed.

    • No. The commitments have been organized in advance.

    • You are welcome to supplement the project with your own funds.

    • You have full control over the creative direction.

    • We have control over the choice of project partners, as these commitments were organized in advance.

    • No, but you may elect to work with the project partners in person (subject to their willingness/availability).

    • You are responsible for any and all travel costs.

    • No! The goal of this fellowship is to help someone who might not have the knowledge or connections yet.

    • You don’t need to be planning to go into the music industry either. Hobbyists are welcome!

    • No, singing lessons will not be provided.

    • We encourage you to build your song demo around a strong concept. That is more important to us than fancy production.

    • It’s also very important to us that the winner is self-motivated and will drive their project forward. The fellowship will give you the tools, we want to know that you’ll use them.

    • No. We encourage you to submit an idea that’s early in development. This will give you and the producer more room to build and grow the idea.

    • The song demo must be of a new, unreleased, original song.

    • This will be the song that you develop with the project team.

    • No, cover songs are not allowed, in whole or in part (no mash-ups).

    • The song demo must be of a fully original piece.

    • No. Lyrics are not required, but they are preferred.

    • Yes, you may submit an acapella (no music, just vocals).

    • Be aware however that you should you win the award, you will work with the music producer to flesh out and potentially add music to your piece.

Don’t see your question answered here? Send us a message and we’ll reply + add it to the list!