MUMBAI: In simple words, we can say â€?Bollywood’ rules the Indian music industry. Most of the Indian audiences enjoy soundtracks churned out by Bollywood Kingdom. After being lip-synced by popular filmstars, the track becomes an absolute super hit, may it be a romantic number or a bouncy, groovy item number. Apart from this every song receives boundless promotion through TV trailers and the country’s dozen-odd radio and video channels that play it a 100 times.
Over the last couple of years, independent artistes as well as the bands are constantly trying to come out of the closet and revamp the live music scene in India that is yet to receive its due appreciation. Live music venues are gradually forming a popular part of India’s nightlife, particularly in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore. These artistes not only play rock or heavy metal but also jazz, soul, electronic, Latin, or reggae but why is it that they are recognized only by the niche audience?
Who can answer this question better than the proficient people from the music industry itself.
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Panelists included International promoter Coleen Ironside, Paradigm Talent Agency’s Jonathen Adelman and VG Jairam from Orangejuice Entertainment, a company that promotes and produces concerts and music-based events.
The moderator was none other than Vijay Nair, one of the pioneers of artiste management in India having floated the country’s first artiste management company, Only Much Louder back in 1999.
The panel spoke about bringing global talent in to India and what it takes to succeed in the live music scene.
Jonathen Adelman started the conversation on a very interesting note. For an artiste, a live performance is not about taking the pay cheque home but it’s about creating new music fans wherever he goes,… he said.
Speaking about the sort of promotion live music requires, Ironside said, Earlier there was just one music channel that was dedicated to music and it was Channel [V]. But as the youth and the audience at large started demanding Bollywood music, the channel underwent a change and now it hardly promotes independent and western music. This makes the live music scene difficult in India….
Lack of adequate infrastructure for organisation and staging of events and high levels of entertainment tax imposed by the government are the major challenges faced by the segment today.
Further expanding on this, Jairam said, There are a lot of gaps in terms of venues, infrastructure and licensing that need to be bridged soon. Performances by live bands should become a habit for the masses just like Bollywood movies releasing every Friday and then we will see a similar number of people rushing to buy tickets for a live music show….
We need to set high goals by aiming to attract an overall audience to live music rather than just the music lovers by getting them to experience music in a different format. For example we are launching â€?Open Sky Festival’ and such event will gradually lead to a cultural shift,… he added.
Live entertainment is a huge source of revenue for the global media and entertainment industry but again it is important for the artistes to get their due share and here the whole issue or transparency between the artiste, the promoting agency and the entire music industry crops up.
Dhruv Jagasia who is a band manager of Indian Ocean and Midival Punditz was present among the audience which led to a healthy argument between him and Jairam on how artistes cannot charge according to the number of people they draw as audience.
Concert experience just needs to be fun with all the facilities like hard drinks and valet parking being available,… said Dhruv who feels that India still needs to reach a stage where seeing a live performance becomes a trendy alternative to watching a movie.
