Nikhil Udupa, Founder & Partner, 4/4 Entertainment & Control ALT Delete

EARS on Mumbai speaker Nikhil Udupa is a marine engineer by education, a music fan by profession, and a lifelong supporter of the independent music scene.

He is the founder-partner of subculture thinktank 4/4 Entertainment, and the non-profit Control ALT Delete.

With stints in marketing and programming at Only Much Louder (OML) and MTV, Nikhil brings in 8+ years of experience and expertise in content, programming, and brand integration.

He brings a fan-first approach to emerging subcultures, and believes in creating media agnostic experiences for the consumer. 4/4 Entertainment is a consultancy firm focused on designing, execution and monetisation of brand-led IPs in today’s ever evolving content and experience landscape.

About Control ALT Delete

Control ALT Delete aims to bring back the live movement to where it belongs – to the artist and the fan. An increasing dependence on promoters and sponsors has left everyone involved in the independent artist scenario either complacent or cynical. The whole DIY ethos has gone for a toss and has been replaced by armchair activism and a misplaced sense of entitlement. 

With Control ALT Delete, we aim to empower the artist and the fan to get a live experience that they want and deserve. 

Control ALT Delete is a crowd funded movement which involves the whole ecosystem of the independent music scenario in the country to deliver a gig utilizing everyone’s strengths and contributions. It aims to make everyone right from the fan to the artist to the merch retailer, a stakeholder in the gig. It’s presently the country’s largest and longest running crowdfunded, sponsor free, transparent model for live gigs 

We are 6 years and 10 gigs old. We’ve been across 3 cities, we’ve programmed 70+ unique Indian independent acts, and raised over Rs 30 lakh on a pay what you want model. We are genre agnostic and we experiment with musical spaces we understand, enjoy and believe in.