‘Bollywood music does not represent what India is all about’

DNA and Zee Café bring you a conversation on a different ‘note.’ Our panel questions the impact Bollywood has on the music industry and the current plight of emerging artists in the industry.

DNA:  Let’s discuss the impact of Bollywood on the music industry.
Swanand Kirkire: Every artist needs freedom of expression through independent music. We should not need an SRK to sell an album. Music should be sold on music.

Sheetal Sudhir: It breaks my heart to say this, but music needs to be popular at the end of the day. It can be any genre, but if you can amass a huge enough audience for your kind of music you’ve won. I don’t think we should need an SRK to sell an album, he is fine for selling tickets. Amit Trivedi’s music has managed to do that with Dev D — everyone’s loving it, and it’s selling.

Santosh Pillai: The sad part is that there are not too many CD shelves left anymore. But there is no dearth of people downloading music from internet. To a large extent it has to do with the way music is being sold today. Nothing is not good.

Abraham Thomas: It’s true that almost all stations sound the same as they all play the same Bollywood music. That’s because we now have just 200 popular song and they are repeated several times a day. Since there are nine stations belting out the same songs, the song burns out in one to two months. There is a dearth of other good music and what still works is Bollywood. So though our 80% content is music, my personality and my character is what the channel is and it’s not really about the music. If I differentiate between genres or language I will become a niche and not a mass product. So I am forced to go with the existing Bollywood songs.

Durga Jasraj: Media houses, radio channels and TV are contributing to developing a taste. And once you develop that taste then the progressive minds go to a Blue Frog or a live concert elsewhere. To my own surprise we did 36 concerts all across India in 12 months and Jalsa which is all to do with sufi, folk and classical music has done really well. The key is presentation, content and packaging. It depends on what you are targeting. It’s a myth that other music doesn’t work.

Ashutosh Phathak: I started out thinking and I was embarrassed about it that the only output we had in this country was Bollywood. I have seen careers go into zones that they should not have because of this. Artists did it because they didn’t have the opportunity to do anything otherwise. Space and platform has to be created for other forms of expressions. I’m not saying Bollywood music is bad. What I’m saying is that it’s not the only music and does not represent what India is all about.

Luke Kenny: Bollywood has this unique ability to absorb any culture and popularise it. And in the bargain popularising people who are a part of that culture. So we have to know how to use it our benefit. Newspapers, TV channels and the radio channels at the end of the day say it’s popular. We’ve all got targets to meet, bills to pay and papers to sell.

DNA: So Bollywood’s success is not helping the cause of independent artists…
Randolph Correia: Popular culture, like any other should be defined by our artists. Bollywood has just made money and it’s not willing to share it with anyone. We are all Indians, but we don’t have to define it by wearing dhoti. We are the new India. The world is viewing us right now and Bollywood is just one face of the music.

Shilpa Rao: Bollywood sells because it’s the reflection of the society. India is the only country which is open to all kinds of music from Indian classical and jazz to western classical. We are incorporating new sounds and sound designing techniques. People are experimenting with film music and it’s going towards the global market.

Shibani Kashyap: What happens to those who don’t find their way through Bollywood music? There is more to the life of an artist.

Monica Dogra: Bollywood is so popular because it's shoved into people's faces constantly. Why do we conclude that audience will not enjoy something like this and that it will not sell? Of course it will sell if you market it well. We need to come together and just claim it.

DNA: Are independent artists losing their way in this game?
Randolph: On music channels when a song played the credits displayed the name of the film and not the artist. So no matter how good the music is, the guy in the village is imagining SRK or Amitabh Bachchan.

Ashutosh: There was a time when there were artists like Lucky Ali.

Shibani: It was a time for independent artists, pop artists in India.

Luke: Lucky Ali, Mehnaz and others brought the western sound and that was a novelty. Bollywood saw that this was working and adopted that sound. So after that, the singers didn’t really capitalise. How many concerts have you done Shibani where you didn’t have to sing Sajana?

Shibani: That’s because the song is popular.

Luke: It made an impact with the movie. Then you released a subsequent album Nazakat and post that what has happened?

Shibani: It’s only been Bollywood, I agree…

Sheetal: Even while programming the music our hands our tied because certain music is not popular.

Luke: If independent artists make music videos channels will not play it. Why? That’s because when those videos were played the particular numbers for that time dipped. So why are the ratings falling? Because we are playing non-film music.

Abraham: There is an issue of the changing tastes of the audience and being able to connect to that. New sounds have come and there has been a fair amount of internationalisation of Bollywood music. The media will believe in what is popular, what research and advertisers say.

Ashutosh: There are 200 songs that you have to play. But out of some sort of responsibility can two per cent of the other stuff be played? Someone’s got to do it. If you don’t play, we will be stuck!

DNA: What about the live music scene?
Monica: People are willing to pay Rs1,000 or even more for foreign bands but they hesitate to pay to watch Pentagram — one the biggest bands in India.

Randolph: We need to glamorise Indian artists. Are we going to lead the donkey or are we going to let the donkey lead us?

Ashutosh: If one guy tries it, it won’t help. We have to come together and make one consolidated effort. Right now is the best time. Everybody is looking here and if we do it, it will be great. If everyone comes together in the next months or so it will be an alternative Jai Ho.

Santosh: Shibani talked about creating a fraternity. Sometimes a channel, station or the media publication aren’t even aware of them.

Shibani: Why can’t we have a music week like there is a fashion week. There’s so much hoo-haa about fashion. Why not about music?

Ashutosh: Let’s try to do a music week. It’s an excellent idea. I’m all for it!

DNA: So what’s the way out?
Ashutosh: Embrace what’s available at moment. And then go on to do what we really do want. But that goes against what many of us want to do.

Sheetal: If you have to sell a product there are two ways of doing it. I’m an artist and I’ll do what I have to do. I don’t care about anything else. Or I’m a commercial artist, I want to popularise my art. Then how do I sell a product? How do I market my product? TV is passé…radio is passé…so then you look at new mediums of marketing your product, internet and ringtones.

Randolph: There is so much political expression through rap and underground movements. Where is that in India?

Ashutosh: Indian in the UK have a scene, Indians in the US have a scene. Indians in Mumbai have no scene.

Shilpa: We need them (record labels) and they need us. But we artists need to do some
extra work.

Swanand: It’s like what Anurag Kashyap did. He shouted and he shouted and finally got heard. We should do exactly that. He did it not only for the music, but also for cinema.

Swanand: I’m writing my own script now to be able to express myself.

Shilpa: But Dev D’s music was a spring board for the film.

Ashutosh: What if we had the album without the film? Do you think it would have worked? I’m not sure.

Randolph: What I want to say is when you are on stage the crowd will or will not like it. It’s the band’s job to rock the crowd. So this whole theory about ‘people want this only and that’s why we give it to them’ is rubbish. I heard Pearl Jam for the first time and had not even seen them, I loved the band.

Abraham: There are very few people who create a taste, the rest just follow. If we get differentiated content which is popular we’ll play. If it can click with my target then I am ready to do that.

Ashutosh: We should be given concessions. That’s the reason I started Blue Frog and Blue Frog Records. We are still babies, we made around 10 albums in the last one year.

Randolph: Before this ‘India’ thing dies down lets capitalise on that.

Ashutosh: We need to get more into those mainstream spaces. They lead to more awareness.

Monica: I think it’s not anyone’s fault that independent music isn’t finding its feet. The mind stuff is there. We need to organise unions to protect the rights of our artists. What about every time your music is playing somewhere? We are raising our rates and we wonder if people will still pay us that much or will they go to some other college band that they can get for cheap? So that’s scary. I also love this festival idea.