VYOMA SHAH
113 speakers across two days addressed several pressing topics,
which affect all the stakeholders of the music industry. Besides
keynotes and discussion panels, workshops and master classes
were a part of the conference as well. The convention was attended
by almost all the different members of our ecosystem – students,
artists (both – upcoming and established), record labels, event
organizers, lawyers, media, ticketing companies, festival organizers
and distribution and streaming service providers, to name a few.
We attended many seminars over the two days and gathered some
vital information about the industry. Here are some key takeaways:
•With a current size of 850 crores, India is now the nineteenth
largest music market, as per IMI’s annual report.
All About
Music 2018
•Streaming has become the primary source of revenue for our industry.
About 78% of the revenue is generated from digital consumption
of music. Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of the people
that use streaming services are paid subscribers, which explains
why YouTube is the most used streaming platform in our country.
•Since YouTube is not a music streaming service like Apple
music or Saavn, artists stand to make only about 1 to 1.5
paisa per stream, as opposed to 7-10 paisa per stream on
other platforms, which is also still only one-seventh of what
international artists make per stream on Spotify.
•According to the 2018 Nielsen Music Report, Bollywood is still the
most preferred genre of music in India, followed by other Indian
film music, Indian pop, Indian regional folk and then western pop.
Fortunately though, the curve for indie music is on the rise.
•As far as music festivals are concerned, according to organizers of
some large festivals, the Indian audience is still largely hesitant to
pay for the value being provided by these festivals and this in turn is
affecting ticket sales. As opposed to most other countries where the
inflow of revenue for from ticket sales is much more than that from
sponsorships, in India, 70-80% of the revenue comes from sponsorships
and the remaining comes from ticketing, merchandising etc.
•A&R specialists from across the world believe that great
songs can come from any language, especially from a
diverse country like ours. Hence, it is not essential for
Indian artists to always compose in English. If the song has
that emotional connection, language isn’t relevant.
•Seymour Stein, cofounder of Sire Records also said that while
performance is important, songs of the artists have to be good from
the get go. Some A&R specialists still rely heavily on personal
relationships to discover new artists, while some scout the web
intensively to find new talent. I guess in today’s age, artists need
to cover all grounds in order to stand out – they need to write good
songs, hone their skill, create a strong social media presence and also
network regularly to build and maintain personal relationships.
•With the rise of OTT platforms and with Alokananda Dasgupta
receiving genuine appreciation and recognition for her work on
the music for Sacred Games, music opportunities in the digital
space are only surging. Gradually, prospects for composing
non-film music yet creating at the same scale as film music and
being recognized for those efforts are seeming optimistic.
While most crucial topics were touched upon and the attendees went
home a lot more aware, informed and determined, we personally
felt like one major aspect of the industry maybe got left out – the
business of music education and would have loved to hear some
thoughts on how music schools are contributing to the growth of
the industry or on how digitization might affect the relevance of
physical music institutions. All in all, kudos to Tarsame Mittal
and the team at Truly Musical for putting together this seamlessly
well planned and genuinely enlightening music conference.
The
Score Magazine
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