fellowship 2024

reach your full potential

the RRA Fellowship is a 501(c)(3) sponsored program that provides funding, resources, and mentorship to South Asian-American recording artists for the creation, release, and marketing of their original music.

 
 
 
 

in partnership with:

 
applications closed

for updates, follow @rrafellowship or sign up for our monthly newsletter

 

  • To create, release and market one original song:

    • 2 AWARDS THIS YEAR ($1,000+ value / each)

      🎵 Music Production
      🎛 Mixing
      💿 Mastering
      📱 Social Media Consulting
      🎥 Studio & Visuals Stipend
      💡 5x Mentorship Sessions
      🎤 Performance Opportunity in NYC

  • The applicant must be:

    • Between the ages of 18 and 35, inclusive.

    • A resident of the domestic United States.

    • Identify as South Asian-American.

    • If you have released music before, have a catalog of no more than 10 original songs.

  • The applicant must provide:

    • Application Form (link above).

    • Song Demo (up to 75-seconds, see FAQ below for more details).

  • In addition to the application form and song demo, the following will be considered:

    • This is not a lump sum award but rather a full-fledged program that will both fund and guide you through your song release. You must be able to see through the commitments of this project (1-5 hrs/week depending) from SEP '24 - JAN '25.

    • The ideal candidate is self-motivated and will drive their project forward.

    • If selected as a winner, you will need to:

      • Record and provide final vocals (no iPhone audio).

      • Film, edit and post social media content (in-app like TikTok is okay).

      • Prep for and attend Zoom meetings with the project team + mentors.

      • Find and hire folks to help you with visuals (funded by this award).

    • Finalists may be asked to participate in a short online interview.

  • This is the anticipated timeline:

    JULY 2024

    • July 1st, 2024 — applications open.

    • July 31st, 2024 — applications close.

    AUGUST 2024

    • August 16th, 2024 — winner is announced.

    SEPTEMBER 2024

    • Work with the music producer to create the song.

    • Record your final vocals if needed (studio stipend provided).

    OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2024

    • Song is delivered to post-production. During this time, you will:

      • Work with the social media consultant to build a marketing campaign.

      • Find and work with photographers, videographers, graphic designers, etc to generate any visuals you’d like for your release.

      • Meet with the artist mentors.

    JANUARY 2025

    • Release the song.

    • Support the song with your marketing content and ads throughout the release.

your project team

  • Ravi Ray

    CREATOR / MIX ENGINEER

    Ravi is an award-winning mix engineer specializing in audio post-production for music and visual media. Now freelance, he got his start as an assistant / in-house engineer at Manhattan Beach Recording in NYC where he recorded and mixed music for major-label artists including NLE Choppa, Dead Prez, Kaliii and more.

  • Arun Ganapathy

    MUSIC EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

    Arun is a Los Angeles-based creative executive, entrepreneur, and composer. Currently he works at Netflix, supporting all parts of the Music Production process for Animation Series. Prior to Netflix, Arun contributed music support to films, documentaries, and games - notably, DC’s Aquaman, BBC’s The Planets, and Bayonetta 3.

  • Elaine Rasnake

    MASTERING ENGINEER

    Elaine is a Philadelphia-based mastering engineer focused on providing post-production services, educating others on the art of mastering, and helping lift the voices of women and LGBTQIA+ members of the music community. She has proven herself an invaluable resource in this space having spoken at the AES Mastering Academy in both 2021 and 2022.

  • Jai Wolf

    CELEBRITY JUDGE

    Jai Wolf, born Sajeeb Saha, is a Bangladeshi-American electronic music producer and DJ known for his emotive, genre-blending soundscapes. He gained widespread recognition with his 2015 hit single Indian Summer. Jai Wolf continues to captivate audiences worldwide with his dynamic performances and innovative approach to electronic music.

  • Sonali Mehta

    SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT

    Sonali is the Senior Director of Digital Marketing at Arista Records, a label under Sony Music Entertainment. Prior to this, she worked on the Artist Development team at YouTube where she oversaw a roster of artists including Raveena, Conan Gray, Tesher, Raja Kumari, Joji, and Remi Wolf to support their new music releases and grow their audiences.

  • Ashley Mehta

    ARTIST MENTOR

    Ashley is a Bay Area raised Pop / R&B independent artist. She has been featured in Nike campaigns, supported North American tours, worked with brands including Sennheiser and Toyota, and has over 2M video creations to her songs When I Ride and Weekend on Tik Tok. Ashley’s goals continue to lie in representing her Asian culture & community.

  • Dhruv Goel

    ARTIST MENTOR

    Dhruv is an LA-based composer and music producer, most notably featured on the 2023 Grammy-nominated album Shuruaat. Dhruv has composed for award-winning films and TV shows such as The Sharp Edge of Peace (MIRA), has written songs for Meta’s Music Initiative, and is a label consultant and artist curator for Splice’s first South Asian label Aaroh.

  • REHMA

    ARTIST MENTOR

    REHMA is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter inspired by her culturally rich and diverse upbringing. With a deeply engaged international fanbase, REHMA has been featured in BBC Network, Rolling Stone India, NPR, and Spotify. Most recently she released Harkalay as part of Coke Studio, and is working on her forthcoming project, Anomaly.

  • Bainz

    ARTIST MENTOR

    Born in New Delhi, India, Bainz first set foot in the music industry in 2008. He has been responsible for engineering and mixing some of the most defining global hip-hop hits for artists including Young Thug, Gunna, Travis Scott, Chris Brown, M.I.A and more. He has been featured in Sound on Sound magazine and collaborated with brands including AVID.

  • Daivik

    ALUMNI MENTOR

    Daivik is a NorCal based singer-songwriter who uses his unique brand of pop songwriting to connect with his audience. He is a proud alumni of the desi acappella circuit and has been awarded for his vocal arrangements and solo interpretations with Jhankaar at UC Davis and at the ICCA with The Afterglow. He won the RRA Fellowship in 2023.

FAQ

    • Submit a demo that’s original (no covers), unreleased, and early in development.

    • Max length of 75-seconds.

    • Submit an MP3 demo, and a PDF lyric sheet.

    • Vocals and lyrics are not required, but they are preferred.

    • The production DOESN’T need to be complex! Just piano or guitar chords + vocals works.

    • We recommend including a verse and chorus.

    • You must have clearance for or ownership of any samples or beats used.

    • Non-English lyrics are welcome. Please include a translation with your application.

    • Yes, but not large groups (e.g. acapella teams, choirs, etc).

    • This is not a cash award but rather a guided program.

    • The program funds are directly used to pay for the services provided to you.

    • The song creation team is fixed and we will help match you with a music producer.

    • That said, you will choose your collaborators for the visuals (photographer, videographer, graphic designer, etc), as well as a recording studio to work at, for which a stipend is provided.

    • No, but you may elect to work with the project partners in person (subject to their willingness/availability).

    • You are responsible for any and all travel costs.

    • No, the goal of this fellowship is to help someone early in their music career.

    • An RRA team member (who is not on the judging panel) will blind the applications.

    • 4 members of the judging panel will review the blinded applications and assign a score for the written portion and the song demo. Each are weighted equally at 50%.

    • The top 10 applications will move to round 2. Here, we'll bring in two additional judges, one of whom is our celebrity judge.

    • The full panel will re-review the finalists together and select the winning Fellows.

    • All applicants will receive a customized email with feedback on their song demo.

    • Check out the previous winners and their demos here.

    • Follow all the song demo guidelines (see the first FAQ question).

    • Build your song demo around a strong concept (more important than the production).

    • It’s VERY important to us that the winner is self-motivated and will drive their project forward. The program will guide you, but not hold your hand.

    • In other words, the fellowship will give you the tools but we want to know that you’ll use them. "Bonus points" if you can express this in your written application.

community partners

  • Association of South Asian Acapella

  • Brown Girl Magazine

  • Chicago Kasam

  • Desi Dance Network

  • Golden Guide

  • Outer Voice

  • South Asian Americans For Change

  • South Asian Trailblazers

  • The Desi Condition

  • The Great Nepali Diaspora

  • Urban Asian

special thanks

SONIA VARGHESE・SOUTH ASIAN AMERICANS FOR CHANGE・RANJANI & DEEPAK・ALEX MORRISON・DHANYA JAMES

RAHUL DHIMAN・BEENA LAD・CHICAGO KASAM・DAIVIK DINESH・RAJ VISWAPRABAKARAM・SAI ADITYA・SHIVAM MISTRY ・SUPREYA MEHRA・CN & JYOTI LAD

SAROSH MAWANI・KRITI SWAMI・ADITHYA RAJAN・BECKY MATHAI・JANAKI NARAYANAN・NAVEED AHMED・RIANJALI・RITU TADINADA・SAMEER DESAI・YATISH CHANDRA・SUHANA JAGADESAN・SOWBARNIKA KANNAN・SUDHA MOKKAPATI・JIMMY POLLARD・NILAM MISTRY・SURAJ KANDUKURI・ARCHIT UPADHYAY・AVANI BHARGAVA・CHRIS CATANIA・MEERA TIKKU・SABEEN SHALWANI

  • Ravi Ray

    CREATOR / MIX ENGINEER

  • Tulsi Joshi

    FUNDRAISING CHAIR

  • Meera Tikku

    COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR

  • Suhana Jagadesan

    MARKETING CHAIR

  • Priya Mani

    ARTIST ADVISOR

 

Interested in donating or getting involved? Send us a message at fellowship@ravirayaudio.com