Getting a SKOWT shoutout

IT WAS three years ago when then London-based Jheeva Subramaniam came up with the idea to start an online music streaming service exclusively for independent artistes with no record deals.
It all started with his niece who had aspired to be an artiste, but complained that YouTube could not make her famous.
“Nobody is going to know who you are unless you spend a lot of money on marketing and go viral,” Jheeva recalled telling his niece.
He then advised her to have her own website, saying that while traffic to the site may be low, it would at least be focused on her.
His niece eventually lost interest in the site, but Jheeva was approached by other artistes who asked if they could upload their music on it. He agreed, leading to more artistes asking to join in.
At the time, Jheevan said: “I was developing a retail business. In January of 2015, I sold my business and moved back to Malaysia.”

Before leaving London, Jheevan noted that the site was hosting 10 artistes. He realised that there was something to it, and decided to develop the site further.
The revamped site, SKOWT, was officially launched in March 2017, and through word of mouth, it started attracting more independent artistes.
Right now, SKOWT has around 370 artistes from all over the world.
To join, artistes need to register with SKOWT, then upload their profile and music.
They must also agree to the site’s terms and conditions, which include the requirement that they are not signed up with any record label.
“If you are backed by a label, you don’t need our help anyway,” Jheeva reasoned.
He also didn’t want the hassle of paying royalties from using signed artistes.
SKOWT is open to any genre, although the majority of them are rock and pop. Most of their artistes are from the UK, followed by Malaysia, and then the US.
“For now, we are still small enough, so we get to listen to each and every one of them,” said Jheeva.
SKOWT will also help artistes who are really good to get distribution deals with record labels.
Streaming online from the site is free, but Jheeva said they will be releasing an app in the near future where listeners can enjoy the music offline for a small download fee.
“Our main objective is to grow the business, and get a good database. That is worth a lot of money in the future.”
Jheeva has a partner in London, his co-founder Janet Inglis who has one helper; while here in Malaysia, he has four people helping him to run the site.
“What we need is partners to help us. We are not generating any money. We will, sooner or later, but our main focus now is to get the brand up and running.”
As to how his site will make money, Jheeva only stressed that the site wouldn’t take money from the artistes.
“Independent artistes need money but, more importantly, they need a fan base. So that is what we are doing.
“We are supporting, discovering them, and getting them out there and promoting them.”
Last year, SKOWT launched a fund to help artistes record their material. The site settled on three acts – Greshom Moses, Oyent Hazryl, and Shadow Puppet Theatre.
Gershom, who is making waves with his single Bacardi by the Shore, has since signed a distribution deal with Warner Music Malaysia.
“That was our first success story,” Jheeva said.
Oyent, who recorded a Malay song Ini Bukti Untukmu (IBU), which also has a Spanish version, has also landed a distribution deal with another record company.
Meanwhile, Shadow Puppet Theatre is in the midst of finishing a 10-track album.
“What we tell [Shadow Puppet Theatre] is that any money it makes from this album, 10% goes back to the fund to help other artistes,” said Jheeva, adding that they want to build a community where artistes who received help go on to help someone else.
SKOWT has more projects in the pipeline, and Jheeva hopes that in their own way, they will help electrify the local music scene.