Music conferences often fall into the same space as any other ‘business event’; panels, networking, buffet. While there are use cases for this format in other fields, it never ends up working in the world of independent music, turning what is supposed to be a fun and enriching experience into a mindless slog that always ends up in exchanging contact information with people you probably won’t work with anyway. The Deccan Alternative Music Conference being held in Bengaluru this week is trying to change that by actually understanding the Indian indie scene. Finally!

The conference is presented by Neon Culture, a consultancy run by Prarthana Sen and Vishruti Bindal, two people who have been in the scene for years and understand how the people involved in it work. Therefore, it’s no surprise that this event does not look anything like your run-of-the-mill music industry hobnobbing session.

It’s being held at Bangalore Creative Circus, which, shockingly, is not a glass-clad hotel with a banquet hall. The music performances are - and you’re not going to believe this - being held at actual venues in town! Joking aside, The event takes note of the city it’s being held in (which will change every year) and its vernacular, so there are workshops and performances in the local language. All of this is exactly what a growing indie scene with musicians who also have to be business professionals on some level needs. And there’s more.

We had an informal conversation with Vishruti and Prarthana a few weeks back where they were outlining their general plans for the event as well as the thinking behind it, and there were many interesting things they mentioned. Panels don’t really work in this space, so there are instead workshops and masterclasses - a speaker with a singular point of view is usually easier to understand and learn from (side note: this is probably why we don’t have six teachers in a school classroom). Each city’s scene is unique, so traveling from place to place and learning incrementally seems like a good way to go. Networking is still important, so there is a bit of that scheduled. Finances and careers are important too, so there are artist showcases and opportunities to pitch your art and yourself.

We can go on and on, but then you wouldn’t have time to prepare to attend this thing. Which you should, by the way. DAMC is far from a half-hearted attempt at doing an industry event; it’s planned to include everything required for independent musicians, and most importantly, it is extremely aware of the scene it is in. So, therefore, it actually might just work.

And yes, there’s food too. Some of you might have wanted to know that.

Find all the information you need about tickets, venues, performances, speakers and all planned events on DAMC's IG page.