TempoStand is a blast of a website from a bunch of techies in Ahmedabad. No, its not a portal for the auto rickshaw guys. It’s a music portal for promoting independent artists, musicians & bands in India. All the music parked on TempoStand is Creative Commons BY-SA license. People can listen to the music online or download some of the albums for free (in the works). They can also buy their own CD albums by paying for it, mix it and then share it further on with one condition – the original work has to be attributed. TempoStand must the first Indian website offering music on Creative Commons (though I’m not completely sure), and if successful, this could unleash a new paradigm of creative expression in music, backed by a legalized mass distribution framework, while providing a platform for popularizing non label Indian music.
TempoStand is the endeavor of three engg grads from DAIICT, Ahmedabad– Gaurav, Naman & Ujjwal. After graduating, they decided to spurn job offers with some of the big Indian software companies and pursue their idea full time. Needless to say, what binds them together is the love for music. They have organized SPICMACAY events in college; they have contacts with local independent musicians and Ujjwal has worked as a sound engineer with several bands. And if are wondering what prompted them to name their site “TempoStand”- well, they just wanted a name that evoked intrigue.
So how does this work and what is their business model? TempoStand tracks down local artists who are creating original music, records their stuff and tries to market it. The musicians come from their own contacts ; people can also write in themselves using this website form. 
The recordings are done in a professional studio. Users can listen to these compositions, which are offered as free podcasts on the website. Some of these will be allowed for free downloading. Once their online store gets going, all the music will be available for sale by paying online. TempoStand plans to release albums (their first album, Lights just went up) which can be ordered via post. Users can also create their own custom CDs by selecting 8 tracks/albums, which will be delivered to them. All the music can be used in your own compositions under the Creative Commons license stipulations. And the music could be of any genre- jazz, Hindi rock, traditional rock, fusion, folk music, instrumental et al. TempoStand’s revenue model is oriented towards proceeds from the sale of music and musical merchandise on the website. The team plan to offers music streaming on the mobile as well.
TempoStand (I actually get a jerk every time I write the name) is a great idea because it is trying to leverage on the long tail of Indian music and enhance its discoverability on the internet. There is another factor that could help them in the current Indian media & entertainment scenario- content is getting so predictable as well as polarized. Look at Bollywood movies- they all look alike now, they all seem to be made for the same audiences (mostly the multiplex type). Huge swatches of Hindi film audiences are completely being ignored by Bollywood filmmakers in their attempt to cash in on the multiplex culture. Though I am no expert on music/entertainment, I think a similar situation may be emerging in the music industry with the big record labels catering to established genres. The time is ripe for the long tail effect to kick in and become a catalyst in the nucleation of entirely new genres of entertainment – whether in music, movies etc.
Its imperative for TempoStand to go out and make efforts towards increasing awareness about Creative Commons and how it works. And on a different note, something I liked about the TempoStand guys is their direct, levelheaded (somewhat humorous) approach. Check out this Q&A from their FAQ section.
Q- Are you like rock people?
A- No we are Hindustani, Sufi, Fusion, Jazz, Carnatic, Folk, Rock and all other genres people.
Overall TempoStand looks very promising to me. I am aware of a few other Indian independant music sites (RadioVerve, JhankarBeats) but I am not sure if they are being pursued as serious online business ventures.
RouteGuru’s direction generation algorithm relies heavily on features that are conceived and implemented for the Indian scenario e.g. use of landmarks like overhead tanks, important buildings, institutes, flyovers ; use of ‘Nth turn at the roundabout’ in combination with the road name etc. The route directions are displayed in a tabular form and they can be printed or forwarded via email/SMS. The service is planned to be free to consumers, with the revenue model oriented towards serving businesses. Having started with road directions, RouteGuru plans to introduce online maps and allow access through mobile. The service is presently available only in Delhi-NCR. I tried out a few sample queries for Delhi routes and the results seemed quite accurate and reliable.