Aditya Veera Venkatesh: From podcasting to Grammy membership

Aditya Veera Venkatesh | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Life has come full circle for Aditya Veera Venkatesh. While growing up, the young boy was introduced to the soulful tunes of Harry Belafonte by his grandfather who walked the hallowed halls of Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Little did Aditya know then that this musical seed sown by his grandfather would one day blossom into a role where he could influence the pinnacle of musical recognition.

Coming to the present, Aditya finds himself as the newest member of the Recording Academy, which hands out the Grammy Awards. The position comes with a lot of prestige and responsibility and is particularly poignant for him. The organization recently established the Best Song for Social Change award as a tribute to the great Harry Belafonte. Having grown up on Belafonte’s music, Aditya now has a front row seat in shaping the future of this prestigious award named after him.

Aditya is one of 3,900 diverse music professionals invited to join the Recording Academy, home of the Grammy Awards. The new members are predominantly women, people of color and people under the age of 40, reflecting the organization’s commitment to diversity.

His becoming a Grammy member was unconventional compared to other professionals in the music industry. Generally, Grammy members are full-time artists, recording engineers or producers. He is one of the few music podcasters from India who have managed to gain Grammy membership. “I have spoken to a wide variety of artistes in my podcast, including Grammy winners, nominees and those aspiring to win, With music legend Aditya Veera, “It will be launched in 2021,” says Aditya from Bangalore. “Each academy member can recommend two deserving candidates every year. Two members who guested on my podcast recommended me last year after seeing my work.”

As a member, he gets exclusive benefits like attending virtual showcases featuring artists like Jacob Collier and Green Day. However, his main role is to advance Indian artists by guiding them through the Grammy submission process.

One of the challenges Aditya has identified is the gap between Indian music and the Grammy categories. “Musicians often release music that doesn’t fit neatly into these categories,” he explains. “I believe this is mainly due to the lack of awareness in India, where we have very few members of the Recording Academy.”

Aditya Veera Venkatesh | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

He underlines the importance of understanding the Grammy guidelines to bridge this gap. “For example, a musician from Bangalore approached me and said he had something in the synth-wave category, but he was not sure how to fit it into the Grammy framework. This highlights the need for Indian musicians to fit their work into existing Grammy categories or potentially create new ones. So, since my joining, I have focused on guiding deserving candidates in the music industry about the Grammy process.”

Aditya is particularly influenced by several Indian artists. These include Sheetalchandra Kulkarni, a guitar maestro who draws comparisons to Joe Satriani, and Sai Abhyankar, whose catchy ‘Aasa Kooda’ became a chartbuster. He also highlights the social impact of artists like Arivu, TM Krishna, Sanjay Subramaniam and Sushin Shyam, whose music brings about positive change.

Despite the abundance of talent, Aditya feels there is resistance among Indian artistes to giving themselves a chance at the biggest music stage. “They think, ‘Oh, wow, Grammys? That’s impossible for me,’ but they don’t realise that their music is strong enough to compete with global superstars,” he says.

Aditya’s journey from podcaster to Grammy member is a testament to the power of perseverance. Once a young man who would send out emails to artists and publicists for his podcast, he now has some influence at the biggest music awards. “Musicians should never hesitate to put in the effort, whether it’s submitting Grammy entries or anything else,” he says. “If people work hard for hours on an idea but don’t have a vision to take it forward, I believe they’re not doing enough.”