When advertising arries usic

Is advertising in love with music? Maybe, may be not. But this affair has the potential to turn into a successful marriage.

The alliance is working wonders abroad. In India, more people, especially the youth, are playing music louder than ever before and are ready to shell out any amount to hear their favourite artists croon 24X7. Advertisers, taking note of this trend, seem to be ready to tap the genre.

So, the big, fat Indian wedding now looks inevitable as everyone— from advertisers, music industry and to consumers —  realise that the marriage will be a win-win for all. And till that happens, DNA asks representatives of the advertising and music industries of ways to take the proposal forward.

Sell music like cricket
Globally, advertising is said to be the Holy Grail for the music industry.
However, in India, how many Indian advertisements standout in our memory for their remarkable music?

“There are mere countable ones — Airtel, Kingfisher and, to some extent Titan,” says Apurv Nagpal, MD Saregama.

This is despite that fact that music speaks a thousand words and experts believe this is the reason why marriage of advertisement and music was a must. There has been some growth in ad-funded music services lately, but there’s still lot of potential left to be tapped.
So what is it that needs to be done in India for the marriage of advertising and music?
Vikram Sakhuja, the India CEO of Group M, says one should provide advertisers a reason to invest in music.

“Sell us the music. Sell it the way cricket was sold during IPL — there were roadshows, live telecast of bidding process, etc. Give us a schedule of all the live gigs happening across the country and artists involved and the advertisers would love to tap the space. Even we need options other than cricket to communicate with our target group,” Sakhuja adds.

Develop a ‘live culture’
Till a few years back, international gigs were a rarity in India and local gigs hadn’t yet surfaced due to a variety of reasons like government regulations, ticketing problems, tax issues and audience apathy.

Though, the audiences and advertisers are now somewhat warming up to the live act but experts believe India first needs to develop a culture for live gigs to turn them into a viable source of revenues for advertisers.

According to Neil Warnock of The Agency, the ‘live’ culture in India can only happen with time. “We need to learn the art of buying gig tickets, the same way we buy tickets for a cricket match. Unless gigs turn into profitable business models, no advertiser will invest in it,” he says.

Warnock has been the manager of Pink Floyd since 1970. He was also instrumental in getting Michael Jakson and Deep Purple to India.

“India needs some infrastructure for live concerts. People here realised the business sense in multiplexes and malls some years back and they are putting a lot of money in it. Soon, they will make an economic sense out of live music too and would build dedicated music venues,” Warnock adds.

However, Ashutosh Phatak, co-founder of the Blue Frog label, warns that the success would come from small acts and it was better not to think big in the beginning. “We need to take small steps first. Let’s not start with big acts. I think opportunity lies in local acts at small scale and easy access to audience at economical tickets. Once live acts become a way of life here, then we can upgrade to bigger, international acts. Sponsors and advertisers will follow. After all, they are where the eyeballs are,” Phatak adds.

Music isn’t mere VAS
It’s not just advertisers and music industry who have realised the potential in music. In fact, many big brands are also going gung-ho about the genre. For example Nokia is increasing its thrust on sales of music-led services in India and aims to beat Apple at it.  It is with this purpose that Nokia set up its music store in India, which would  offer three million international, Bollywood and regional music tracks across all genres.

Though music isn’t Nokia’s USP, it has realised through its international experience that music wasn’t merely a value-added service (VAS) anymore, but something that will drive sales.

“Music is an all-consuming passion with most people, especially in a country like India where it’s an intrinsic part of the culture. We think this is the right opportunity to make some business sense out of music,” says Timo Ihamuotila, executive VP - sales, Nokia.

The Finnish company’s tie-up with leading music brands such as Universal, Sony Music, EMI, Warner, Yashrajm T-series and Saregama probably testifies its faith in ‘brand music’. “It’s a significant opportunity, not merely for us, but also for artists, labels and other music industry stakeholders to generate additional revenues for their offerings,” Ihamuotila adds.