NEW DELHI (India): The Indian government’s Ministry of Culture has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with video-sharing platform YouTube to promote and amplify the country’s folk and tribal music on the global stage.
The MoU was signed in New Delhi on Wednesday in the presence of Minister for Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, along with Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Gunjan Soni, Managing Director – India, YouTube, according to an official press release.
Under the MoU, the Ministry of Culture will provide strategic leadership and overall guidance for the program, focusing on the folk and tribal music creative economy. It will also form a task force to guide execution and assess impact. Facilities like recording equipment and regional connections will be provided through the ministry’s autonomous institutions. The ministry will also jointly develop educational material and identify mentors for the initiative.
YouTube will complement these efforts by assisting the Ministry and its affiliated bodies to facilitate training folk, tribal and traditional artistes on digital content creation best practices, channel management, monetization strategies, copyrights management and understanding audience insights through YouTube analytics.
Shekhawat said that preserving and promoting India’s diverse traditions was a core mission for his ministry. The collaboration with YouTube represented a significant step in nurturing the country’s creative economy and empowering the artists, he said.
Aggarwal said that the focus was on democratizing access so that artistes from all corners of the country could uphold their culture and traditions while growing into independent creative entrepreneurs.
Soni said that YouTube would help artistes and creators from every corner of India to share their talent with the world. The goal was to empower talented artistes not just with digital skills, but with sustainable pathways to connect with new audiences worldwide, build thriving careers online, and ensure their invaluable art form resonates for generations to come, she also said.
India’s tribal music heritage is diverse and vibrant, but often faces challenges of global visibility, digital distribution and awareness of rights. This initiative seeks to bridge these gaps by facilitating structured training programs, access to infrastructure and continuous institutional support, the press release added.
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