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Youth keeps music industry ticking
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The music scene in Kochi, like the rest of the country, thrives on youth preferences, but piracy is spelling its doom, analyses HAREESH BAL.
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MUSIC CRITICS shout from the rooftops against the new `gifts' to music to whose songs youngsters do not seem to get tired from dancing. Remember `Choli ke peeche' which burst on the scene a decade ago, took the nation by storm, made the guardians of morality lament vociferously and sunk into oblivion without a trace? The music scene in Kochi is representative of the cosmopolitan nature of its inhabitants.
Indipop most popular
"Indipop has been the hot favourite for the past five years or more. The Hindi and Tamil songs get the next biddings," notes Babu of `Sound of Melody', a popular music house in the city. "The remixes are also instant hits. The remixes from T series, other albums like DJ Doll, Spicy Mix and Sweet Honey are the in things. Names alone, of the sorts like Lucky Ali and Shaan sell. The `Kaanta laga' song has just shaken the stands. The sensual advertisements of these albums promote them like anything," Babu speaks of the changing tastes. "But it is a real surprise in recent times that youth are taking heavily to spiritual music like vedic chants, sahasranaamas and other relaxation music."
There is a steady group devoted to Indian classical music and ghazals. Western music caters only to a select group. There was a demand for comedy and mimicry cassettes. But even they have got trapped in the piracy bug. It is the youngsters who keep the industry ticking. Youngsters form the target group on whom the popular music companies have their eyes. If the music goes well with the youth in the first two months of release, then it is time for the companies to lay back and churn out more copies.
Piracy spells doom
When everything appears glossy, Prem Chandran, proprietor, Satyam Audios, has a different story to tell. "The movie, `For the People' might be just one of the few exceptions, but in the Malayalam music industry, music sells only when the film is a hit. There were times when in spite of the movie getting shelved, the music has sold. Not any more. Now if the movie fails to click, the music doesn't do well either."
But it is these very youngsters who are a menace to the music producers and distributors. Piracy is killing the industry. "We make master copies for the duplicates," says Prem Chandran. "Even a primary school student who is computer savvy, easily makes copies of all popular numbers into CDs costing Rs. 9 and distributes them among his friends," reveals Suresh of Music Zone, also the former secretary of Audio Producers and Distributors Association.
Assembled, non branded CD players costing Rs 800 - 1200 are flowing in to outlets from neighbouring states. Unlike Tamil and Hindi films, which bank on almost all the songs in a movie, a Malayalam movie has just one or two songs as the highlight. So, pirated combined CDs, have selections of the rocking hits of the time and Rs 30 can buy you up to 150 songs of the season.
According to Prem, the music industry throughout India has taken a nosedive in the past one year. Not even paper advertisement can save the situation. Only TV promos of songs serve as advertisements. To add to the problems, the music companies themselves are forced to bring out MP3 discs. But how many such companies can afford to do it is the question. Suresh says, "The Audio Producers and Distributors Association had almost ceased to exist, owing to the discouraging situation. There are no initiatives from the government to avert the situation. The Copyrights Act of 1952 has not seen any amendments in all these years. The pirates have an easy way with the law enforcers as well. Once in a blue moon raids to video parlours do not even touch the thousands of roadside cassette and CD vendors."
"The pirated songs of a recent release, `Manju Poloru Penkutti', were out a week before the release of the movie," revelas Wilson of Wilson Audios. "Till three years back a hit album sold easily up to three lakh copies. But the songs of Jassi Gift, the craze of the season, has not sold more than 1.5 lakhs copies."
Malayalam music most hit
Tamil and Hindi film music does not suffer as much. They sell like hot cakes in Kerala and other South Indian states easily. There is considerable demand in Ceylon, Malaysia and other West Asian countries for this music. But there are hardly any takers for Malayalam film music in these countries, according to Suresh.
Prem asserts that apart from the giants, all the music producers and distributors will be forced to close down in a couple of years if the situation goes unchecked. As trends change and music continues to soothe and ignite, the path of the muse does not appear to be a bed of roses.
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
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Kochi
Madurai
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Visakhapatnam
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