BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC
Culminating Experience – Reflective Paper
ROHIN BACHWANI

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Summary
While training towards being a Crossfit athlete in 2015, I understood the power of music and
how it could enhance my workouts, I could truly feel the pulse of music. I started creating
playlists for the gym goers and that’s how my music journey began. I learned how to disc
jockey and started playing to my bedroom curtains. I was inspired by the passion of playing
music and the love of entertaining the crowds. In the Indian culture to be a disc jockey was
not a kind of a career parents would let their children get into, my parents had a condition if I
wanted to continue being a disc jockey I will have to get a full-time job. The only job I
managed to like was at an artist & tour management agency. I started being a tour manager,
so I could spend time with successful and bigger artists on the road and understand how they
would prepare for shows and understanding their day to day life. Soon, I was promoted to
being an assistant artist manger where I worked towards managing artists and learning the
business aspect of music. In 2016, I attended my first international music conference in
Amsterdam called Amsterdam Dance Event. At the conference, I joined several panels where
I had no clue what they were talking about, but I still wanted to understand as much as I
could due to my passion towards music. After the conference, I understood how big is the
global music industry and I wanted to get Indian artists to perform more shows outside India
and get their music to be played outside the country since they were incredibly talented. I
wanted to change music scene in India and revolutionize the Indian music Industry. I had no
idea how I am going to do this, but the first step was to understand the music industry in the
best possible way. So, I enrolled at Berklee school of music and I was thankfully granted the
opportunity to lay the foundation of that dream by getting accepted into the global
entertainment and music business master’s program.
My culminating experience is a business plan for my future company, ROBACH, a limited
liability company based in Mumbai, India. At ROBACH, we will provide musical artist with

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all the necessary tools like management, booking agency and a record label to successfully
penetrate the music market, specifically India. We aim to globalize the Indian music
community through cross collaborations between Indian and western artists. Unlike other
artist management agencies, we handpick artists who are open to the idea of collaborations.
We further aim to focus on the management and development of the Indian artists by
providing artists with all tools required to be successful. The ultimate goal is to export
talented musicians in India to the world and allow western producers to enter the rapidly
growing market through cross collaborations. ROBACH has the potential to grow not only
globally but also expand further into other management industries. Although the market is
competitive, we believe that ROBACH’s values and beliefs along with precision in data
analysis and finding right trends in both markets, which will allow it to compete and become
a threat to the already existing artist management companies and indie record labels.

The Process

After working in different aspects of the industry such as artists & tour manager, production
manager, logistics manager and club promoter. I understood the industry vaguely and the way
it worked, but that wasn’t enough. I always have wanted to be an entrepreneur and contribute
towards the music industry and bridge the gap between India and rest of the world. While I
started my masters, I took subjects such as Economics of creative industries and understood
terms like GDP and how an economy of a country is based on creative industries. I
understood contracts and the different agreements between the artists and their teams, such as
management agency, booking agency and entertainment attorneys. I understood intellectual
property and contracts, producer agreements. I wanted to gain knowledge about each and
every aspect of the music industry to be able to start my project. During the music business

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seminar in the first semester, I asked the same question to many speakers on how I could
export Indian artists and music outside India. I got different answers, such as there isn’t
enough cultural resemblance between the two nations, there is enough coal already in the
west only if the Indian artists produced something very different they would be a chance their
music would be accepted globally. I began to brainstorm on ideas that there could possibly be
a way on how I could bridge this gap. The answer was cross collaborations. When two artists
collaborate with each other, there is cross pollination of the audience which allows both the
artists to tap into each other’s fan base. The only ways Indian artists could make an impact in
the west was through collaborating because no big label or indie label was interested in
signing an artist from India. This was obviously an idea but I started to see a collaboration
pop up between Marshmallow and a singer from India. I thought this is it. When I returned
for the spring semester, the entrepreneurship practicum allowed me to develop my plan from
scratch, which was very helpful because making a business plan can be a bit intimidating.
The course structure broke up the business plan in to several steps which allowed me to think
and work consequently and linearly. I had time to think through all the steps critically, such
as the branding and value proposition. I also took the data analytics elective where I
understood how data could help forecasting trends and create marketing strategies based on
the data. Creating infographics and data visualization can help understand the growth in the
artists career and in which direction is the artists moving.
I feel I was very fortunate to have taken the entrepreneurship practicum and worked
with Alex Perrin on the business plan simultaneously being advised by my CE advisor Alf
Oloffson. This combination really helped me work on the structure in the classroom and gain
industry perspective during my monthly meetings with Alf . I started working on my business
plan from January to May where I transformed my ideas into a business plan with branding
concepts, financial projections, marketing strategies, contracts and licences agreements,

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marketing analysis and a realistic plan of action. I am very confident on starting my business
when I complete my internship in New York and move back to India.

Results

My culminating experience is my business plan, which I worked in the
entrepreneurship practicum and is everything I need to start my company in India. When I
came to Berklee or even started my application process my main goal was to revolutionize
the music scene in India and I mentioned this in my statement of purpose during the
application process. I am happy to see after this amazing year. I not only gain the knowledge
on how to bridge the gap between Indian and the west but also have a full proof business plan
ready to start the company. India is still a developing market in terms of music and has a lot
of potential. The ideas and knowledge I have gained while working on my culminating
experience has helped me get an internship in New York at Mtheory. Mtheory offers artist
managers a platform to build their businesses and enhance their artists’ careers, which is in
line with my culminating experience.
The business plan I created during my culminating experience is the base from which all the
business plan will evolve in the future. ROBACH LLc represents the evolution of my
thinking over the year. The ultimate aim is to export talented musicians in India to the world
and allow western producers to enter the rapidly growing market through cross
collaborations. It has the potential to grow not only globally but also expand further into
other management industries. Although the market is competitive, we believe that
ROBACH’s values and beliefs along with precision in data analysis and finding right trends
in both markets, will allow it to compete and become a threat to the already existing artist
management companies and indie record labels.

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Next Steps
My future goals involve in completing my internship at Mtheory where I will get a
better understanding on how the cross collaborations are done in the practical world along
with creating artist marketing pitches, creating artist marketing one sheets, compile weekly
artist updates, tracking reports and artist research which help me execute my business plan
when I move back to India.
The umbrella name of the company is ROBACH. All brands will fall under this name
i.e., The Booking Agency, The Management Company, and The Record Label. The
management division will be launched first and once we have signed 2-3 artists. The Record
label will be formed to release collaborations with western producers which will eventually
lead to the formation of the booking agency when the artist is ready to begin touring.
The record label is going to be registered in Los Angeles in partnership with my
classmate at Berklee – Nicole Casino. Unlike other indie label our label is only featuring
collaborations between various artists around the world. We are in the process of shortlisting
artists who are open to collaborations before we start with our first project.
Once I move back to India the phase one will be signing 1-2 artist who are open to
idea of collaborations and trying to find the right match for their collaborations. In the
meanwhile work on the development of the artists and providing the artist with all the
necessary tools needed to be international and successful. Phase 2 will be getting the artists in
a studio and produce the track based on a strategies, we will provide the artists with all the
research about the current trends and taste in the market before they get inside the studio.
Phase 3 will be working on release strategies and working on a tour for the Indian artist.

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Once the three steps are perfectly executed we will see how we can further diversify by
signing new artists or work on further collaborations.
Contribution to the Profession
My culminating experience is a business plan which helps both Indian and Western
artists entre into the rapidly growing Indian market. The plan helps export Indian artist and
their music all around the world. I feel it’s the perfect time for western artist to entre the
Indian market as we see various Digital Service Providers entre the Indian market and music
has become more global than ever. With over 1.3 billon people a lot of money form
streaming is being generated from India. ROBACH will not only help the artists but also
create job opportunities in various sector of the industry such as management, booking
agents, label managers and data analysts.
The company helps upcoming and talented musicians to produce a record based on a strategy
which will helps them tap into both the markets. It also provides a platform for new talent to
be nurtured and developed. The company promotes cross collaboration of western and
regional music in India. It allows music producers around the world to enter into the biggest
and fastest growing market, and at the same time give an opportunity to Indian artist to
perform/play outside India. It provides Indian artists a medium for their music to be heard all
around the world. It would be correct to say it globalises the Indian dance music community.
Many talented artists cannot afford a marketing campaign, and also have no knowledge on
how they can distribute, licence and publish their recordings. My company can take care of
this and let the artists focus on the music.
The company has three divisions which helps the artist make his record based on a strategy,
licence and distribute his record, market and manage the artist and have a live event for the
artist to do his own album launch, one stop for everything.

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Now that I know how I will market and launch the company because of the
knowledge I have acquired at Berklee. I have a clear idea of what my business plan really
represents. With an idea of revolutionizing the music scene, I finally have a blueprint in place
which will help me execute my ideas and hopefully help the artists and the Indian music
Industry.
Personal Impact
My time at Berklee has been the best year of my life. I consider my acceptance in this
program a blessing and I have nothing but gratitude towards the program directors, faculty
and staff who gave me the opportunity to study and develop my thesis in the best possible
setting. This year has been life changing, to say the least. I was able to move forward in my
dream of revolutionising the Indian music industry with a full business plan. Also staying
halfway across the world, making new connections, learning a new language, making new
friends and experiencing a culture very different from mine has been nothing but a beautiful
journey that has led to a major personal development in me as a person. The amount of
knowledge I gained in this one year was intense and extremely challenging. However, I am
forever thankful and grateful for this opportunity.
Coming from an Indian family where music or music business has never been an easy
career path for children to pursue, I am thankful to my parents for giving me the opportunity
and financial support to pursue my dream and to Berklee for helping me bring this dream to
reality. My culminating experience and master’s program is a symbol of hope to other young
people who think their journey is unreachable. I am living proof that no matter where you
come from or what you think is too difficult, you can always rise above unfavourable
circumstances. This year has not been easy, from the initial visa process to keeping up in
class with assignments, I have been often thrown in the deep end to get the best possible

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results. All the sleepless nights and hard work are finally paying off, and now I am able to
prepare a business plan through the culminating experience as a strong base of my career.

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