LIFESTYLE - A Richard's Bay DJ is maximising on the digital arena to advance his career.
Nivaadh Singh recently released his latest single on digital platforms, but also used social media to do more live-streams and grow his fan base.
“People have already adapted to enjoying entertainment from their social media.
“I have seen this progress on my live-streams, where my audience has almost quadrupled since the lockdown,” Singh said.
“Now that the playing field is levelled, up-and-coming artists should take to social media to grow their fan base and get noticed.”
Singh’s first collaboration with Gabriel Gerhard, Say Goodbye, was released last December. It was playlisted on East Coast Radio and featured on Lotus FM, Glow TV and SABC 3.
This time, the duo has released their newest collaboration, Please Understand, on Apple Music, Google Play and Spotify.
“The song is written and composed by Gabriel and captures the struggle of life’s pressures. It also highlights the topic of mental health awareness, which is more prevalent in modern youth society.
“I produced the music against the backdrop of an alternative or indie-pop sound.
“I produce all genres of music and never limit creativity because I am diverse in both my music selection and performances.
“Some of the genres produced include pop, hip hop, trap, electronic or deep house and love songs.
“I have also collaborated with artists Leote Taylor, Phaksy Mngomezulu (SA Idols Top 8) and Vinesa Naidoo (Umfolozi Idols Winner).”
The 33-year-old mechanical engineer has been DJing for 13 years.
He said his passion for entertaining started from as young as 10.
“My parents introduced me to live shows. Seeing how much joy music brought them, captivated me.”
In 2006, at the age of 19, he started experimenting with a makeshift drum set made out of cardboard boxes, and he used pencils as drumsticks.
He moved on to using two DVD players and a second-hand mixer he bought for R40.
“DJing and drumming were not enough to satisfy my music career, so I began learning music production and recording engineering.
“I started my recording studio in 2008, now called Destination 4:13 Records, based on the biblical verse Philippians 4:13 - ‘For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’.”
Singh said artists should maximise on levelling the playing fields that come with the lockdown limitations.
“Artists should adapt and invest accordingly. This will create more opportunities if artists can work remotely.
“My recording studio is state of the art and can process musicians to work from anywhere in the world. We are grateful to be in such a technological era.
“As much as entertainment is important, the health and well-being of our families are more important.”
Singh and Gerhard are working on a catalogue of music to release.
“Due to the pandemic, all the video production and recording sessions have been postponed until it is safe to resume these activities.
“Fortunately, the wheels of progress need to turn. Gabriel and I continue our studio sessions remotely via WhatsApp video calls, so we are ready once the lockdown restrictions have been lifted.”