Possible Muckwork Logo

Its the most fun I have had working in a LONG LONG time and the learning curve is tremendous but then, its only getting better every day. We are currently in the process of setting up various backend systems required to get this up and going and also have been talking with various people for partnerships and collaborations for when we start. And we should start soon!

Like it has been mentioned before, and I love this way of explaining it, when the music industry started becoming an industry a little earlier in this century, the musician just made music and played gigs. The people around the musician took care of everything else that was to be done. We then in the last 10 years or so moved into the phase of the DIY musician who started doing things himself / herself.

The DIY musician eventually ended up spending more time doing the things around the music than the music itself! So now we are at a phase where, technology has made it so easy for many things to be done which previously required a LOT of people doing a LOT of work and as a company we feel that a musician should concentrate on doing the music side of things while they smartly use a lot of resources around them for the rest of the work.

This is where Muckwork comes in. We plan to be the people to go to for the rest of it! The dream is to be able to become a company where a musician comes with whatever vague requests for work, right from “create my press kit” to “make me famous” and we have some way to do that! Though “make me famous” will depend a LOT on your music and many other things

So we start small and start sometime soon and then take it as it comes! its going to be a brilliant new year! so watch this space ..

For as long as I have known myself as a kid, I wanted to become this jetsetting, corporate suit type person who would have a swanky office, a fancy car and a beach house! I din’t really know what my profession would be and how I would go about things, but everytime someone asked me what I wanted to become when I grew up, the answers varied, but the image in my mind remained!

All this came to a grinding halt and my life took a completely new turn and path when I joined engineering college. While to many, the college I studied in was stifling and non-encouraging (it was in a way!), for me it was a whole new world that had opened up! And as the icing on the cake, I joined a band! a good one at that

From here on, I wanted to be a musician and a person on the field and not at a desk, I din’t want that office anymore, I would love the car and the beach house, but I could not wear a suit to save my life! and I din’t want there to be a day when I would be forced to (I know *EXACTLY* what you are thinking!). Infact, I completely subscribed to the “Success is never having to wear a suit!” philosophy.

But when you graduate with a degree that reads, Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Science, the most logical thing to do is to get a job that uses what they teach you and hope you will figure out life from there on somehow. And I did get that job, but I could never really figure life out!

I continued to do my music, started getting active online, and slowly, things outside my work life started to get a LOT more interesting! Even at work, I was probably the only person who joined as a software developer and then transitioned out of it! Everyone else was trying to do the reverse!

When I started playing with Raghu, a whole new world opened up to me and for the first time, I saw the possiblity to make a living with music and the music biz! It was through Raghu, that I met Vijay Nair, to whom I owe a large part of what is happening with my career today.

On a whim one day, I called Vijay and told him that I had enough with the IT industry, and that I would quit in a month and see what I can do, and if I did not do this now, there would be chance for me to try and I must give it my best shot atleast once! It was then that Vijay introduced me to Derek Sivers who was looking at that time for someone to head a company that he was looking to start called ‘Muckwork‘.

Well, Derek was travelling at that time and we just started a prelimnary set of email discussions about what each of us was looking to do and I got busy with a tour of South Asia with the band and perhaps as a sign of how international this company was supposed to get, my first real phone call with Derek happened at 2 AM in a hotel in Vladivostok, Russia when he was calling me from the US of A! And it was partly on my hotel phone and partly on Skype .. Perfect

Well, that call went on for 2 hours and was followed by over a month and a half of emails and ideas bouncing around and finally led to both of us feeling like it was a perfect fit that I work for Muckwork.

The rest of it was just procedure with the paperwork getting done and me finally getting out of IT and on December 1st, 2008, started work as the Vice President of Muckwork.

This is the basic gist, in a very random and rambly way, the story of how this twist in my career came to be.

The job itself is a learning curve like no other, but I have never loved the concept of ‘working’ as much as now! so it looks like a fun exciting time ahead from here. Wish me luck