Meet Shauvik Sharan

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shauvik Sharan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shauvik , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

Over a decade of being a music artist and navigating the music industry has taught me that a lot of confidence and self esteem does in fact stem from external validation (as petty as that sounds). I believe confidence is built when you put forth your work, art or something you strongly believe in (In my case, that would be my music) in front of people , especially strangers, receive praises and positive responses, and then remember and carry that experience within yourself as you go through everyday life.

Having a healthy level of ego and arrogance is important in the entertainment industry as you can’t expect people to invest time or money on you or your art unless you show extensive belief in yourself and your work first. But yeah, have utmost faith in yourself and then have those beliefs validated externally whether in person or through social media and carry yourself well and proud.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Well I’m a music artist, singer, songwriter, producer, audio engineer, guitarist and now a TikToker too I guess….

Essentially I consider myself to be the ultimate independent musician. I pretty much run everything myself when it comes to the project. From writing the songs, producing them, playing all the instruments, mixing and mastering them, releasing them, filming videos, making social media content as well as handling all the marketing and PR, I’ve learnt to get it all done effectively on my own. As much as that sounds like a flex, it’s just something that came to be once I accepted that finding success in music is a game of persistence, consistency and mostly luck. I found that If I were to keep creating, releasing and marketing music, I’d have to figure out a way to use my money on things that weren’t in my control (such as social media ads to expose my music and content to more people) and optimize things that were in my control and do it myself which kind of led to the DIY approach towards my music. So I guess that’s interesting…

I was born in Pune, India and lived there for 17 years before moving to Los Angeles in 2016 to pursue my music career. I’m now 26 and have gone through quite a journey in the last 9 years. I started off as a singer songwriter pop artist initially, gave Hip Hop a shot (back when people would go crazy for any song that had an 808 and trap drums in 2018), moved on to electronic music, making DnB, House, Techno and Dj’d around town in clubs and then recently decided to go back to my roots as a guitarist and making some Alt Pop/ Blues Rock style music. So I guess musically I have sort of come a full circle.

If you go through my discography on any of the platforms, you’ll see how schizophrenic it is hhaha but you’ll have fun I’m sure.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1. Keeping an open mind and accepting that change in how things are run in the music industry is inevitable. It’s always better to get on board with all the new technology and trends and figure out creative ways to use it to your advantage and market yourself.

2. When it comes to the music industry as it exists today, you are the product and your music is just a medium of exchange and a method to monetize. But at the core YOU are the product. Focus on showcasing your brand, your personality, who you are and what sets you apart from everyone else. Nobody wants your music, no matter how good it is. You need to make people connect with you and eventually want your music.

3. Success and being great at something are two completely different things and are not related. Being successful doesn’t necessarily mean the artist or their art is great and being great doesn’t mean the artist or the art will be successful. A lot of success is all LUCK and you don’t have control over the outcome. But you do have control over your actions which could lead to you being great at whatever you’re pursuing if you put the work in. So just focus on what’s in your control. Practice, create, release and market yourself consistently, with as much passion and conviction as you can put behind it and keep doing it for however long it takes. If you don’t give up, your luck will eventually shine and all the hard work you’ve put in will be worth it.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

I’ve learnt to trust the universe and accept that worrying about things that aren’t in my control isn’t gonna do me any good. I still struggle with a lot of anxiety as I am a control freak but I’ve learnt to accept that most things in life don’t go as planned and one must trust their destiny (I know that sounds like some hippie mumbo jumbo) and learn to take life by the day and focus on the present. Life has a mystic way of working things out as long as you keep faith and hope instilled within you.

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