February 2023, Mumbai: Mumbai-based music licensing platform Hoopr has released a new song titled “Cozy,” to great fanfare. Written by singer-songwriter Rupinn Pahwa, this hip, radio-friendly track release is yet another in a line of original songs that Hoopr has put out since commencing commercial operations in July 2022. Within a few days of its release, the music video for the song garnered over 1,00,000 views on YouTube.
Known for his soulful renditions, Rupinn Pahwa is a singer and songwriter in the Bollywood industry. He has previously released songs such as Tareefan from the film ‘Veere di Wedding’. Soneya, Koi Nahi, Read your Mind, Aasman, and On My Own. He won the best lyricist award for his work on Tareefan, was the 2014 Karaoke champion, and was a finalist on the TV reality series – The Stage.
Ecstatic about the release and the fanfare the song has received, Rupinn said, “I’ve been wanting people to hear Cozy for some time now. It’s divine intervention when you hear something, and instantly the melody and words come to you like magic. Cozy was just that. Blame it on my mood. Blame the excitement of working with new people. Blame the energy in the room, but Cozy revealed itself in the most beautiful way. Whoever has heard it can’t get it out of their head. It lives rent-free and owns your mind. A lot of the songs that I write are about being a confident, metrosexual man who knows how to express what he wants honestly, without being pretentious or disrespectful. This song encapsulated that spirit. I also want women to feel appreciated and desired artfully. The viewers of the music video see just that – a classy video with a healthy dose of flamboyance.”
Since its launch in July 2022, Hoopr has released numerous original songs, including “Cozy.” The Mumbai-based music licensing company “Hoopr” not only provides its customers with thousands of songs, SFX, and soundtracks but is also actively working to promote up-and-coming artists. The release of original songs written and sung by a wide range of Indian artists and songwriters is a huge part of this. Many of these songs have found appeal with creators and listeners across India. Talking about the reception towards Cozy, Rupinn commented, “I’m not too big on numbers but am eternally grateful for the support I’ve seen. What’s been really gratifying is to hear comments from people about how good both the song and the video are.”
Gaurav Dagaonkar, CEO and Co-founder, of Hoopr, said, “Our platform, Hoopr Originals is enabling emerging artists who are producing music for Hoopr to gain recognition in the business. ‘Cozy’ is a superb example of Rupinn’s talent as a singer and lyricist.”
Apart from promoting and releasing original music, the Hoopr as a platform is also helping artists on the financial front. The Hoopr Originals artists have the chance to make money through sync. Original songs such as this and Shriya Pareek’s – Mehendi Te Vavi, Rishi Pathak’s – Mera Chanda, Abhinav Singh’s Kyun Main Kahoon on Hoopr are available for subscribers to purchase the rights and use these songs in their vlogs, videos, and other content. In addition to helping the spread of music of artists globally, the platform will also help new artists get discovered.
Interestingly, the majority of the artists don’t always come from typical performing music backgrounds. Take Rupinn’s journey, for instance. He worked previously at Google and prior to enrolling at Prayag Mahavidyalaya to study Indian classical music, he had never had official music training. Notably, he has won the Karaoke world championship and was a finalist on the English singing reality show ‘The Stage’ that brought the best talents from all over India. Here, he learned nuances of Western music. Then he learned about the voice as an instrument from the Broadway production of the Bollywood musical “Balle Balle” which encapsulated vocal projection, emotion, dynamics, etc.
Hoopr provides music that has all the appropriate licenses so anyone who uses it doesn’t have to worry about royalties, copyright issues, etc. Crucially, this means that using music from Hoopr helps users avoid takedowns and lawsuits. Subscribers to Hoopr can access thousands of music tracks and sound effects from artists all over India. The music on Hoopr is also completely exclusive to the platform.
Gaurav Dagaonkar, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, and Meghna Mittal, formerly of Hubilo and Yessworks, launched the company in 2021, which raised $1.5 million in its seed round in December 2021.
Hoopr has seen over 70,000+ users signing up on the platform since its launch to the public in July 2022 and these users include content creators, filmmakers, enterprises, and brands across India.