Like all music industry conferences, last week’s All About Music (AAM) 2019 had its share of memorable quotes. If someone said, “We are an artiste-led platform,” another person said, “I don’t believe in trending because if you follow trends, you aren’t original.” Speaker No three announced, “It’s sad that all our creative effort is described as content, when it is actually art.” And then there were the jibes. Take for instance, “No matter how many million views you get, if you can’t translate it into live performance, you’re no good.”
These and other panellists got their two seconds of glory, and were cheered on by friends or promotion-seeking colleagues. Yet, there was an element of truth to their pronouncements. There was a lot to be learnt. The conference had some amazing panel discussions, interactions with company representatives and workshops, specially the ones on publishing, copyright, percussion and sound mixing and mastering.
On the positive side, one got fresh insights in discussions on the rise of non-film music, revenues beyond live performance, the role of radio and television in today’s streaming era, the impact of regional music, funding and brand investments. There was a fascinating talk on the success story of Saregama India’s Carvaan player. To use industry jargon, there was an overdose of gyaan , and musicians said they learnt things they were unaware of. All that is welcome, and the organisers did put up a good show, with special folks with mightier name tags and the right contacts getting invited to dinners hosted by YouTube and Spotify. Yet, there is some feedback - or constructive criticism, if that sounds better.
One, there was regular mention of the aim to make India a top ten player in the global industry rankings by 2022. The main revenue streams discussed were live music, public performance royalties, licensing and streaming platforms. But nobody talked of a concrete gameplan to reach that milestone. Words need to be transformed into constant collective action, and not restricted to an annual lecture.
Secondly, while this was obviously an industry-focused conference, there was little talk of the actual music itself, specially the challenges in a changing environment. All the big labels and event managers were not represented, and in some sessions, speakers were more keen on self-promotion. Panel discussions and workshops clashed, so one missed as much as one gained. The session on Tik-Tok had too much talk-talk. Next, there was too much emphasis on independent non-film music, appearing as if people had generally given up on film music, which despite its current bad times still has the largest number of listeners. One didn’t ever hear the word classical music, even during breaks. Perhaps the industry is blind to the fact that this genre contributes sufficiently to the streaming business. In short, we discussed a lot about music, but certainly not all about it.
Some talked of the ‘unprecedented’ growth of Indian hip-hop, a genre actually boosted by the film Gully Boy , and not by the industry. Now, everyone wearing a hoodie with tattoos doesn’t become a star. Badshah’s ‘ Paagal ’ may have 150 million YouTube views, as claimed, but has anyone checked how many people really hum it or know its lyrics? Accept it or not, there needs to be a reality check.
