The Score Magazine October 2019 | Page 29

HOW TO SELL MUSIC IN INDIA SUMIT SHARMA “Free”, It’s the most fascinating keyword people use while searching songs on internet and it’s not good for artists. There was a time when people used to buy cassettes and CDs of their favorite songs and artists; in 1994 Altaf Raja released the album Tum To Thehre Pardesi, which sold 4 million units. In 2000s, artists and bands like Sonu Nigam, Adnan Sami, Himesh Reshammiya, KK, Jal, Euphoria and many other Indie artists became popular and sold millions of units but after the digital revolution of music industry in 2010s, the only thing increased is Music Piracy. In 2010, famous Indie Rock Band Indian Ocean released their sixth album 16/330 Khajoor Road online for free. As of 2017, the number of smartphones in the country stood at 468 million, according to Kantar IMRB the number of internet users will reach 627 million by the end of 2019. So yes! This is the right time to release music online. But majority of listeners still don’t buy music online, so how to sell music? In May 2017, Saregama launched a retro device in the digital age, called Carvaan. Saregama sold 1 million units of this portable audio player in 16 months. The key reasons behind its success are curation of most played 5k songs of Saregama on various streaming platforms and emotions, it’s a box of nostalgia because of its classic design, content and TG. But what if you don’t have hundreds of songs in your catalogue ? And even if you have a huge catalogue but not the resources to sell or promote it? So here are some ways to sell your music in India (2019) - Music Streaming Platforms - Gaana has become the first music app in the country to cross 100 million monthly active users (MAU) in March 2019. Apps like JioSaavn, Wynk Music, Apple Music, Amazon Prime Music, Hungama Music with millions of MAU can give you the listeners you seek. The world’s most popular paid music streaming service Spotify also debuted in India with 2 million active users. Music streaming platforms can really help you earn money through royalty based on number of plays. These platforms are now expanding their businesses in regional markets, so you don’t need to worry about the language and genre of your music. IPRS – Indian Performing Right Society helps Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music to legitimize use of copyrighted Music by Music users by issuing them Licences and collect Royalties from Music Users(Public Performances, TV, Radio, OTT, Ringtone/CRBT), for and on behalf of Authors/ Composers. Events – It is difficult to sell CDs and merchandise at festivals and concerts but Delhi based music platform Songdew came up with the idea of selling music through QR codes and surprisingly it’s an effective way to encourage people to buy music. If you mention your social media handles after the performance, you can surely ask the audience to buy your songs by scanning the QR code. Just take a print out of the QR Code and put it in your event through standee, marketing collateral or A4 sheet. Sync-licensing - Music licensing is the most efficacious way to get your songs placed in TV shows, movies, radio, videos, commercials, etc. Companies like CD Baby and Tunecore help artists to place their music in films and TV shows through their licensing services. There are many ways to earn through licensing like Covers, Hospitality(hotels and restaurants), Retail (Malls and clothing stores), Radio and TV though cue sheets. Apart from these fruitful ways, you can also collaborate with some brands to sell your music by advertising their products, Imperial Blue cassettes & CDs is one of the most popular example of it. The Score Magazine highonscore.com 27