The 100 Indie Artists Project: #1 – Amutha Ravindran (Damn Fine Chai)

Welcome to The 100 Indie Artists Project.. A podcast brought to you by Sounds On The Couch.

This project is aimed to bring 100 independent artists together, one episode at a time, to get up close and personal, as we learn about their life of being an independent artist and their experience of music marketing and promotion.

For episode #1, we are joined by Amutha Ravindran of Damn Fine Chai.

Tell us about who you are as an artist and your background.

My name is Amutha, and I am a member of Damn Fine Chai

Who I am as an artist.. I don’t know.. I’m still trying to figure that out.

I’ve been doing this for about four years now.

I started off singing just to my parents at home and didn’t really understand that this could be a viable option for me and just worked weird, like jobs, corporate jobs, worked with kids, worked with people with disabilities, then finally realized that the thing that brought me that true happiness was to sing.

So I’ve been doing it ever since.

What musical projects are you working on right now?

At the moment, I’m kind of just living life and then making stuff like I’m going out into the world, becoming inspired by people that I’ve met or, like, events that I’ve been to, and I just sit down at home in front of Ableton and I Cook up a banger.

Where do you feel that you’re at in your musical journey right now, and where would you like to get to?

I have just started on my musical journey, so I am at the beginning.

Where would I like to get to?.. I would like to get to a point where each of my shows just isn’t complete flow.

The improvisation is on point, the Bance is on point, the storytelling is on point, and just people come there and they feel like they’ve had an experience.

They feel like they’ve transcended. That’s what I want.

I want to look into someone’s eyes while I’m performing and just like, I want them to just be like, yeah, I don’t know if that describes where I’m trying to get to, but I feel like you get it.

What do you love most about being an independent artist?

Not having to answer to anybody!

I like the fact that I can just write about whatever I want.. I can say whatever I want, I can do whatever I want.

I don’t need to answer to anybody, and I want it to stay that way.

I don’t want to be censored in my approach to creativity because that would suck.

What do you find the most challenging about being an independent artist?

No one cares about you.

No one gives – excuse my French – a shit about you.

You kind of have to just, like, pave your own path, but that kind of like, what’s the word?

Commitment really sets people apart.

It’s difficult to have the drive and the self motivation to pursue this line of work, but it’s definitely worth it, even though it can be quite challenging at times.

What has been your experience in marketing and promoting your music?

I don’t market or promote my music.

I suck at marketing and promotion.

My method so far has been if I feel that I have something sincere to add into the universe, and if it feels genuine, even if it’s a meme, like I’m just random banter or just I’m saying something meaningful, I want it to come from a genuine place, which means I don’t post very regularly.

So, yeah, I don’t really have any experience marketing and promoting my music.

I still feel like I’m trying to fine tune it before it needs to get packaged up and sent out into the world.

I want to cultivate it a bit more before I get to that step, I guess.

What has been your experience with building a fan base and what have you learnt along the way?

I don’t have much of a fan base at the moment, but what I have learnt is that if you give to your audience, like if you give them something meaningful, then you kind of move them and they feel compelled to follow your journey.

I’m not trying to subtly manipulate people into following me, but I feel that when I’m real with people and when I feel like I’ve connected to the audience and I’m present with what I’m doing, people generally vibe with that and they want to support me.

So, yeah, building a fan base, it’s about vibing and a little bit of networking, which is like after the show is going and talking to people, but that’s all part of it.

Earning an income within music can be very challenging and offer requires a diverse source of income streams. What are some of the streams of income you have relating to your music?

I don’t have any stream of income from my music.

I’ve probably made in the last four years, like from streaming services, like a couple hundred dollars.

I’ve made a lot more from gigging, but not enough to sustain myself.

So, yeah, I don’t have a steady form of income with music, which is unfortunate because I have literally left everything to pursue music.

I’m kind of just living off what I have saved, which means I’m stingy as hell. You can ask everybody I know.

I don’t drink.

My spending money is pretty much just like rent, food, bills, and other than that, I go out to my gigs, I PT home, I don’t Uber.

Yeah, been real frugal, but no source of income quite yet.

We’ll get there.

That’s a later on down the track thing.

I’m okay for now, but we’re counting numbers. The bank account is just dropping, but we’ll get there.

What advice would you give to an artist that’s watching or listening to this who is beginning to embark on their own independent musical journey?

It’s going to be corny, but, you know, that corny stuff is always the realest.

I think something important to remember and focus on is like don’t compare yourself to other people.

If you truly feel in your heart that you want to create, whether that’s music, whether that’s movies, whether that’s whatever it is, any kind of creative pursuit you have the two sets of eyes and the life experience to express in your own unique way.

Don’t try and copy somebody else, don’t try and fit into some trend like that doesn’t bring about any kind of longevity and you’re not acting from a space of integrity as well so just really trust in yourself and trust in your creative voice and just focus on that.

Don’t compare yourself to people the same age as you or younger than you because believe me, I did that. It’s just not worth it.

Like you have your own unique, beautiful expression and just focus all of your energy on bringing that to life and any mental or emotional energy that wants to use itself to compare to other people, just rein it back in and just be like how about instead you invest your time in focusing on this problem I’m trying to solve?

So yeah, that would be my advice.

Do you have fun, enjoy yourself.

It’s a beautiful thing that you’re doing going and exploring your creativity and it should be a really happy process.

It shouldn’t be stressful if you are stressed out, you ain’t doing it right.

Have fun.

That’s it.

You can find more of Damn Fine Chai at: