NAFIS AHMED

Photo: Prabir Das

He loves music, he studied business.
So he merged his passion with his education and “LiveSquare” was born.
Meet Nafis Ahmed, the mastermind behind the successful music management firm.
LiveSquare Ltd. is a music and entertainment company that aims to create and exchange new ideas and experiences in terms of music. Since its inception, Nafis along with his team have contributed a lot to our music scene in multiple ways.
“Given that our music industry is quite unstructured, you'll see that we don't have space for many music related professions for our music industry to work efficiently,” Nafis comments.
“We have many up and coming talented musicians who don't get enough shows and exposure. The idea of having a music management firm is pretty new in our country, but we can't expect music artists to do everything by themselves. That's why we need such organizations to support their artworks.”
Growing up, Nafis was always surrounded by music as his mother has always been a music enthusiast. By the age of 18, he had already formed his own band and also actively participated in organizing a number of concerts. Having a profession in music, therefore, was the ideal rite of passage for this young music buff.
As a university student, he along with his friend introduced the idea of unplugged musical sessions in cafés in Bangladesh which was the stepping stone of LiveSquare as a company.
After completing his graduation from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), when it was time for him to map out the next chapter in his life, he decided to focus on a career in music by starting his own music management firm.  

Nafis Ahmed, Photo: Prabir Das

“I never wanted to indulge myself in a mad rat race that aimed at better living conditions and financial security,” says Nafis. “But no one in my family was happy with my decision, as they were not even willing to acknowledge that music could be my primary source of income.”
“When I started I was only 23 years old, and did not have enough financial support. But nothing could hold me back from fulfilling my dream.”
So what does LiveSquare do?
Simply put: it creates platforms for good music in various ways.
They arrange gigs. They promote new artists. They distribute the musicians' music in the global portals. They work for musicians' image management by handling their facebook pages and what not.
“LiveSquare works as a music and entertainment ecosystem given that we aim to provide an all-round music related solution.” Nafis explains.
“For example, the musicians who don't want to go to the major distributors can come to us and we can do the promotion for their music, make contacts for them and create hype regarding their songs. While the rest of the world has countless great indie record labels, in Bangladesh we hardly have one, and LiveSquare has already taken various alternative approaches to fill that gap.”
Apart from the above mentioned list, Nafis has represented the Bangladeshi music scene in different countries around the world and has done a couple of international exchanges in the world of music.
“In the beginning of 2012, Live Square signed a three-year long Music Cooperation deal with Rikskonsertene (Concerts Norway), Norway's largest communicator of live music,” Nafis adds.
“The purpose of the cooperation is to facilitate the exchange of live musical expressions, network building, and exchange of knowledge and culture between Norway and Bangladesh. Some key projects undertaken under this cooperation are The Kohinoor Homecoming Tour, The Casa Murillo – Chirkutt Wireless Tour and different Bangladeshi bands' tour to countries like Norway and Sri Lanka,” says Nafis.
Through his firm, Nafis has created job opportunities for many other young music buffs coming from different educational backgrounds. Their love and passion for music help them align with LiveSquare's mission statement: to work as a powerhouse of good music.