New digital music sensation

Singer-songwriter Sona Mohapatra gets own YouTube channel, also profiled as upcoming artiste on international website.

To hold her own in Bollywood pop, singer-songwriter Sona Mohapatra is charting a different path. The artiste is taking her music to an international audience via the digital medium.

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Mohapatra recently released a new single, Meera, from her currently untitled album. The song’s music video earned her a big online deal. YouTube partnered with Mohapatra and made her their international talent to watch out for by promoting her videos on their international homepage.

Mohapatra is the first Indian artiste to have a YouTube licensed channel in her name, one that is designed by YouTube itself. It was released on March 8. "It’s a great outreach programme," says Mohapatra, adding that global audiences will now be able to tap into talent with the click of a mouse. "I spent four years producing my new album and I want to make sure many people get access to it. I’d rather not give it a single record release in India when no one is buying CDs anymore," reasons Mohapatra.

The YouTube video of Meera, which is a preview to her album, is a recording of the song from her performance in Rajasthan recently. She also plans to update her channel as often as she can. “I will upload videos from my travels, from my studio, backstage and also from my day-to-day routines. I want my fans to understand me. It will tell them what to expect from me musically,” describes Mohapatra. Currently, the singer is wrapping up the playback of few Bollywood projects, after which she will release her album. “I want the timing to be perfect and not clash with the movies,” she says.