The Inventory is one of India’s leading distributors of pro audio / music – tech hardware and software in India. The company was established in the early 2000’s and are based out of Chennai, India. Over the years they’ve grown in terms of range and reputation, handling product distribution and service for some of the biggest names in audio/music technology including the likes of Ableton, Arturia, Presonus, Audient, Moog, Nectar, Rupert Neve Designs and so on. The Inventory team comprises of music and technology enthusiasts who are also DJs, Producers and Audio Engineers. They also conduct workshops and demos at various education institutions & tech fairs furthering the awareness of sound and music production technology products and educating participants regarding the applications. Very recently they’ve partnered with Ableton in their pilot education partnership program for Indian institutions focused on music production. DJP Media is also an Ableton India Education Partner, more about that is found in our previous blog feature. (insert programs blog link)
The Inventory
The Inventory was founded with the idea to offer products and support that was pretty scarce at the time. A lack of genuine knowledge and passion for music technology among dealers and distributors was prevalent across India. The Inventory was born out of the necessity to remedy this situation by offering customers a chance to interact and buy products from true product specialists. With the kind of fascination they have for the music and audio related gear they work with, it is not surprising, that they stand firmly behind the products and brands they bring into the market and extend valuable insights regarding them to their customers.
Why they love Ableton Live
Although, Inventory today handles distribution for Ableton in India, the founding member of The Inventory, Tanseer Jabbar says his bond with Ableton goes way back to the early 2000’s. He has been an Ableton Live user since version 2 and has been tracking the company’s growth ever since and firmly believes Live was and still is the only robust platform to perform electronic music. He loves the way Ableton seamlessly bridges the gap between a sequencer and a DJ/remixer. The non-linear approach personally provides him with a completely fluid approach to music making and creativity unlike any other program on the market. It’s for that reason he was instantly hooked on to it. He was the first Dj in India to take Ableton Live on stage and perform with it, at a time when putting a laptop in a DJ booth was a huge taboo. But with some foresight and persistence he, along with with his team at The Inventory started doing training and development for Ableton in India and got to interact with the company directly. Subsequently, The Inventory managed them exclusively in India.
Working with Ableton
The Inventory has been working with Ableton to make the product a lot more accessible to the Indian market knowing all the financial challenges they have to deal with here. So their goal has consistently been to try and work out great deals and education to enable more and more customers, awareness and access to Ableton Live and other products to better use it to achieve their musical dreams. As Tanseer says “Ableton is a great company to work with and the team there is very down to earth, passionate and personal for a company of its size and impact.”
Co-ordinating Ableton’s first Trainer Certification Selection Process in India – 2016
Tanseer and The Inventory have been working very closely with various educators in India who have been doing amazing things and felt that getting them officially certified would give them the opportunity and tools needed to further their efforts. Working with the team from Ableton and then helping them filter down the candidates was a real task as there were so many great applications. Tanseer acknowledges he was really happy with the final 8 that got certified and seeing them evolve through the certification process made him an even stronger believer in them and the training programs Ableton executed. DJP Media’s very own Dawn Philip was one of the first trainers from India to be certified through this programme.
Ableton Live 10 Launch – 2018
The Inventory organised the Official Ableton Live 10 India Tour in the month of march, 2018 covering multiple cities across India. DJP Media had the pleasure of being a part of the India tours bangalore leg. The event also featured Christian Schwanz aka CEE, Ableton certified trainer from Germany/Malaysia. The Launch involved a brief demo of all the advancements that came with the upgrade. The turnout exceeded the expectations and this is just one of the instances where The Inventory has been actively engaging a music community to keep up with the world of music production and technology, and build a culture around it.
Ableton India Education Partner Program – 2018
The Ableton supported Education Partner program was initiated in India to bring authenticity, credibility and a commitment of quality from the Ableton training provided. The goal for The Inventory was to support schools that they believed offer a very high standard of Ableton training combined with authentic software and official support to the students. They hope this program will help students identify credible institutions from where they can get their training from.
Indian Music Production Community – Current Climate & Future Prospects
According to Tanseer “there has never been a better time than now to make music and that is reflected in India as well. From a very young age, we see kids having access to an iPad/Laptop making music and exploring new ways to produce and perform. It’s only going to get easier and better for everyone to make music”
It is a good thing that the supply chain is in the hands of people who are passionate and well versed in the products and service they facilitate. This goes a long way in ensuring that budding talents get the right kind of quality tools and support they need to do what they love to do, the best possible way. Providing an equal chance platform for the Indian electronic music scene to mark its place in the global map seems to be in line with the core of The Inventory’s philosophy. We at DJP Media appreciate their passion and continued support and wish them the best in what they do!