By Natalia Ningthoujam
New Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS): Delhi-based DJ Sartek, who has multiple releases on international music labels, including Hardwells Revealed Recordings, says the Dutch DJ is a perfectionist and made him understand the importance of being humble.
Sarthak Sardana aka Sartek saw it as a "great learning experience" when almost two years ago he collaborated with DJ Lucky Date on "Don't need love" for Hardwell's record label.
Recalling the moment, Sartek told IANS in an interview: "It was a dream come true to be the first person in India to release on Hardwell's record label Revealed Recordings. He is a pure perfectionist. When I sent him my track, his feedback was exquisitely detailed."
"It was a great learning experience for me. I met him for the first time when I opened for him at his world's biggest guestlist party in Mumbai. He's the most down to earth producer I've met. Really made me understand the importance of being humble."
Talking about his first big break in 2013, he said: "I was struggling to get my music out despite producing track after track. I sent a few projects to a bunch of labels and one Friday morning, I woke up to an email from (Dutch DJ) Tiesto's label at the time ‘Magik Muzik'."
"They said they loved my production style and wanted to sign one of my tracks. I was elated. The year 2017 has started with quite a bang. I signed my first track on a major label - Sony Music Worldwide's sub-label Discowax."
The track titled "Jump right after you" is set for release on February 10.
"I'm also working on a track with a legendary Dutch DJ which I'm really excited about," said the Indian artiste.
What's the difference between international and domestic labels?
"Since Bollywood is one of the biggest music industries in the world, Indian labels focus more on indie and Bollywood sounds, whereas international labels are open to a much wider set of genres and styles," said Sartek.
He believes that domestic labels expose artistes to just the Indian market while international labels get them worldwide exposure.
"Also, international labels focus more on streams and plays, as opposed to buys and downloads," he pointed out.
Does he think the electronic music scene in India has the support it needs?
"Electronic music came from Europe and is still budding in India. Again as I mentioned before, around here Bollywood still comes first and dominates the market. On the brighter side, the kind of growth the electronic music scene in India has seen in the last four to five years is hopeful."
"It gave me an incentive to begin my own radio-show called 'Back to the Future' where I showcase upcoming talent within the country to give them a platform to grow."
And now, he is pumped up about playing in Mumbai on Saturday as part of a new nightlife initiative - Baleno Wicked Weekends.
"The nightlife in India is exploding. The amount of clubs opening and initiatives being taken provide a lot of opportunities for musicians across the country, including myself. It's my first gig with Baleno Wicked Weekends and I'm sure it's going to be great," he said.