Of the many industries to have taken a hit during the two-month long lockdown, entertainment and arts have struggled the most.
Pubs and multiplexes remain closed even as the economy partly reopens. Cinematic projects that were in the making are either being postponed or restructured to adhere to physical distancing regulations. This has resulted in downsizing, leading to a large number of people who are part of the crew – line producers, sound and light technicians – being laid off.
At a time like this, digital platforms such as Amazon Prime and Netflix have proved to be a blessing for cinematic content, globally. Even Indian audiences have been receptive of platforms such as Hotstar and ZEE5 or more localised variants such as Hoichoi and Addatimes (primarily using the Bengali medium).
However, revenues from music streaming platforms never come close to that of the visual content. Films or web series have a higher production budget and such platforms are likely to pay more money to producers whose content they distribute, than music streaming platforms pay artistes.
Even when the number of subscribers paying for these services is at par with or surpasses those using visual content platforms (Saavn for instance, reportedly has over a 100 million users in India which is a much higher number than most other streaming services in the country), they pay their artistes on ‘per stream’ basis. Additionally, most popular streaming services in India, do not offer a vast repository of independent music.
Lay offs and ‘free gigs’
Therefore, one of the biggest income sources for independent artistes in India is live shows. Musician and composer Nabarun Bose who has done independent work while also scoring for mainstream cinematic productions, commented on this issue. Having just finished working on the score for the ZEE5 webseries Kaali, he said that the lockdown and distancing doesn’t mean that all production work stops. There was only a need to change the approach to work, he said. He did most of his composition and production work from home, where he already had a recording set-up.
One of the most serious implications of this is the number of lay offs in the production department. It gets even worse for musicians and artistes who aren’t working with big labels. Nabarun reaffirmed that most musicians in India depend on live shows for income but, he said, it isn’t just musicians who earn from these shows –a gig or concert comprises a team working behind the scenes. This includes event managers, audio engineers, sound and light technicians etc. Hence, even if independent artists are being able to produce music from home or do virtual shows, those working behind the curtains are still without work.
Vocalist, songwriter, and the man behind Friday Night Originals – India’s first integrated independent music startup – Durjoy Choudhury spoke about a major pitfall of virtual shows for artistes themselves. He said that big labels and corporations try gaining online traction by marketing ‘free virtual gigs.’ Even when these platforms pay the artistes, the amount is meagre, and yet most independent artistes depend on them for traction and reach. For Durjoy, the circumstances seem bleak. “People do not go out of their comfort zone to listen to anything new now”, he said, attributing this to independent music not having reached the grassroots level. Platforms promoting such music, offer facilities like free subscriptions. Thus, live gigs remain the widest avenue available to independent artistes.
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Adil Rashid, best known as the lead guitarist of rap/rock band Underground Authority (UA), saw 15 to 20 shows with UA get cancelled, besides other projects he’s associated with. “The only thing that makes sense right now is curated online live shows, or recorded concerts,” he said.
However, this wouldn’t be on the same scale as physical live concerts. He also pointed out that given the dire state of the current economy, making these models sustainable would be difficult. He suggested that brands could invest in artistes for product promotion, by having musicians write and perform songs or actors do sketches. With changes in branding and marketing strategies for product promotion being likely, with time, Adil’s idea might come to fruition.
Online music festival
A number of event management and media companies are using this time to shift their focus to innovative usage of the digital space. The director of Smoke Inc. and the man behind Thursday Jazz Encounter and Jamsteady (platforms contributing significantly towards creating and expanding independent music and live audiences in Kolkata), Nishit Arora, is trying to do just that.
His company is setting up streaming labs, curating online gigs and even did an online music festival. Meghdut RoyChowdhury, who runs Blooperhouse Studios, also talked about how his other platform Topcat CCU (believed to be Kolkata’s only music-first venue) has been making similar use of its online space. Their social media platform has live streams about four times a week. This has been helping artistes perform and also engage with their audiences. Nishit, who’s using the online model to explore avenues outside of Kolkata too, feels the need of the hour is to make this model sustainable. He said that even though it’s too early to comment on its viability, he’s hopeful of the possibilities in the months to come.
The issue of investment, which music producer and event curator Varun Desai calls ‘a can of worms’, continues to be a major hindrance. Varun, who curates a World Music Day extravaganza (a 6- to -7 hour long affair with 12 acts from the city) in Kolkata every year, also launched a recording label during the lockdown. With corporate investments mostly going into Bollywood-connected projects, he has tried to maintain a model fuelled on groundwork, that’s corporate patronage rather than investment. He feels that if the online world could possibly become a virtual world with a stronger sense of movement and direction, the possibilities of curating music and events therein would expand and diversify.
Lack of inspiration
The other issue, which some artistes have been talking about, is perhaps more of a personal concern, than just professional, i.e. the lack of inspiration. Independent musician and composer, and member of alternative indie/dream folk band Whale In The Pond, Deep Phoenix talked about a sense of hopelessness in the midst of the pandemic, especially in the aftermath of the Cyclone Amphan. Deep has worked on an animated music video with his band for their song ‘Kite/Loon’, which he wrote himself. He feels that his music has a positive vibe, which he isn’t sure of sharing with people at the moment.
Singer-songwriter Paloma too shared similar sentiments about writing music at the time, given the “ennui of our era.” On the format of online shows, she said that artists feed off the energy of a live audience, which is amiss in such a setting. However, the present circumstances might necessitate adaptivity, while entailing a possibility for evolving and innovation. It would be interesting to see how “the artistic community rediscover their art of storytelling” given the lack of proximity, she feels.
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Percussionist and drummer of post rock group as we keep searching Sambit Chatterjee, seems optimistic about the possibilities ahead. “We’ve released an album and I’ve released some work,” he said. He also shared that he’s been writing his own music and teaching during this time. Drummer of the Bodhisattwa Trio, Premjit Dutta has also been keeping busy taking online classes and doing workshops with his many students from the city during this time. Adil in fact mentioned that he’s conceptualisng a side business of eco-friendly essential commodities!
Way ahead
It is true that the future of independent music seems uncertain and bleak. “In these dark times, across the world, indie musicians, as they do not have much to lose anyway, should be the mouthpiece of the different uprisings,” believes Durjoy. While this is important, it is just as important, especially now, for us to extend our support to independent musicians and artistes across the country.
While the sustainability of aforementioned online and digital models is yet to be ascertained, perhaps a crisis such as this is what would truly lead to innovation. As Nabarun said, concepts such as televised concerts can work, only if there is adequate monetary investment. The gap in the space previously occupied by music concerts and festivals needs to be filled, and we as consumers of the art have a huge role to play. Be it by way of streaming more independent music, paying for what we listen to, or watching shows and sessions happening across online platforms – a strong audience response can go a long way in terms of garnering both investment and revenue.
Let’s not forget that during the darkest and bleakest of these days, when we had little else by way of solace or respite, time and again, we turned to the arts. And we need to remember that for artistes to keep making music, they must first survive.
Featured image credit: Freestocks/Unsplash