Urumee: Where the sound of creativity connects artistes

CHENNAI: Ever wondered how the beats of an instrument of yore would sound in a new and modern world? Just like the traditional urumee drum that was used to convey messages and connect people with information, a Chennai-based project manager designs an app that helps artistes collaborate and create art together.

Speaking to DT Next about the app, the brainchild of UruMEE, Ponavinaash Sivasubramanian says, “During the pandemic, I noticed how content creation became the real deal. People began putting out digital content and the rest consumed more of it. In this process, traditional artistes still learning their way around technology and how it works, are being left behind.”

He says with the boom of micro-bloggers and bloggers in social media, traditional artistes like writers who would write on a pen and paper and post that picture on social networking sites or even simple text-based writers are now finding it difficult to get their followers to interact with their posts.

“Everything is visual now. With the introduction of reels and other video formats on social media, people don’t really spend time on simple-looking posts. It should appeal to them and get their attention. The same goes for musicians, dancers, actors and other artists,” says the 26-year-old.

He also says that local artists are having issues trying to understand what their followers would like to see on their page. “There are times when artistes who run out of ideas put up Instagram stories asking their followers what sort of content they would like to see. Often, the ideas that the followers give are so good that they obviously use those ideas but do not give credit to the person who came up with it.”

He adds, “The app aims to connect creators with each other to collaborate, inspire and come up with quality content together and to ensure that ideas get their due credit from their original creators.”Avinaash says the app aims to be inclusive and people can create content in regional languages and is not limited to English alone. “To give you a clear idea of how this is going to work, a songwriter may write lyrics and post it on the platform; by clicking on the ‘collaborate’ option, a singer can belt out a tune for it, a musician can compose a piece of music, a director can come up with a concept for a video, an actor can feature in it.

Talking about what users can expect, he says, “Find ideas and inspirations. Collaborate with content that inspires you to create. Earn UruMEE Dubs with your in-app interactions such as following users, liking posts. Post content for campaigns and earn popularity, more UruMEE Dubs and rewards.

“Keep track of how your contents get inspired and reinvented, and take credits for inspiring new content and collaborations. Access ‘Binge corner’ page to explore contents filtered as text, audio and video only experience based on your preference.”

“All of this happens and each of them gets credit for their work. It is very important to create a sustainable and transparent platform where creators get due credit and recognition for their ideas. We are hoping that through UruMEE, different art forms find a space to coexist, where people can explore creativity and play with it as they like,” he says.For more details check out http://urumee.com