http://www.financialexpress.com/news/In-search-of-new-tunes/551051/
At music stores, discounts for music CDs seem to be there all year round, but that hasn’t done much to boost sales. To make matters worse, with box-office collections down, and a slump in satellite, music, home video rights as well, the film industry is in crisis too. And with the music industry in India overtly dependent on film music for its sustenance, most of the players have been forced to think out-of-the-box to tide over a difficult period. Analysts predict that the music industry will struggle to reach the projected size of Rs 777-odd crore in 2009 — it was pegged around Rs 670 crore in 2008, with a matching amount, perhaps more, attributed to piracy. Already, physical sales are on the decline, growth has been in single digits for the past several years, and this year, film music, too, hasn’t taken off. Barring Delhi 6 and A R Rahman’s chart-toppers like Rehna Tu and Masakalli, and soundtracks of Dev D and Kaminay, Bollywood too hasn’t had a musically rocking 2009. With a liquidity crisis hitting all sectors of entertainment, the music industry also has had to cut down on costs. But most players have used the meltdown to tighten belts further and to explore new avenues to expand the revenue stream to become less dependent on film music. Says Apurv Nagpal, MD, Saregama India: “We’ve done well this year as we have not had too many film acquisitions.” Nagpal points out that while costs have come down for B&C grade films, it has remained high for A/A+ films. “We are still looking for reasonably priced acquisitions. We’ve recently acquired AR Rahman’s first Hollywood soundtrack rights for India, a film called Couple’s Retreat,” he adds. Analysts say it will be difficult for a standalone music company to survive. According to Smita Jha, associate director, PwC, music companies must exploit rights in various models across various platforms. “The dependence on films is still very high and hence music companies are suffering,” she adds. For Shridhar Subramaniam, MD, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, too, the industry would like to see the development of an independent artist-based music genre as opposed to such heavy reliance on the film industry for music content and talent. “This broad-basing will see other revenues like touring and merchandising develop,” he adds. But is that happening? Universal Music India says it’s actively pursuing a 360-degree approach on artiste signings so that... -- regards, Vithur
