The third annual Indie XChange conference and showcase of music and films, held every year in Chennai, offers lots of food for thought for the indie and world music industry in India. (See also my photo essay on the music showcase at XChange.)
Eight panel discussions and ten workshops provided a wealth of resources and insights across three days. India has a booming scene for live music but it needs better talent management, venue coordination and longer hours, according to the speakers. Many independent artistes and bands in India have great potential but need to work much harder on skills, ‘hygiene,’ coordination and stage acts.
Good tips for the industry from XChange include: connect music conferences to music festivals; move from competition to coopetition by sharing costs of visiting artistes at least between cities and countries; collaborate with venues in neighboring small cities; and educate the police to not be too trigger-happy in shutting down late night music venues!
There was lively exchange of best practices from other festivals and venues around the world. For example, the association of live venues in Australia got the law changed to allow artistes longer parking times for unloading equipment outside venues! The European Forum of Worldwide Music Festivals and Europe Jazz Network are great examples of industry cooperation by venues and festival organizers, to help fans and musicians plan their itineraries and arrangements.
The conference also featured airing of music videos like ‘No Strangers Here’ featuring singers Shubha Mudgal and Ursula Rucker. There was a moving musical tribute to the victims and survivors of the Asian Tsunami of 2004, by the makers of the video and album The Laya Project. “The Asian Tsunami unleashed a wave of destruction – and a wave of human goodness to help the survivors,” said Sonya Majumdar, co-founder of EarthSync. “The project showed stories which break your heart and make you realise what is value,” recalled director Harold Monfils. Legendary musician Mahesh Vinayakram played a tribute to the victims and survivors, on vocals and a Czech resonant bowl.
While the mainstream media in India tends to cater largely to film music and mass hits, it is online and niche media that are key to discovering and promoting new talent. The online medium is liberating for music journalists, sets them free from word limits, and opens up the possibility of new kinds of formats such as video reviews, ‘this day in music’ calendars, crowdsourced concert photographs, and awards for audience Hashtag Heroes for live comments and pictures. My recently released app, ‘Oktav: Music Quotes and Proverbs’ (Apple, Android), is one such example of mobile content about music. The rapid growth of mobile and social networks in India bodes well for online media, especially for the youth audience.
Some online news media are voluntary, some are paid for, others use a freemium model; each model brings up different kinds of issues of business models, ownership, ethics, scalability, sustainability and audience expectations. Online users today are immersed a lot in digital music discovery and consumption but are also impatient and irreverent.
It is important for musicians and labels to understand the shifting nature of loyalty, the importance of honesty, and the shelf-life of online media. Micro-content such as Tweets and short videos are becoming important tactics of promotion; inserting CTA buttons helps a lot (Call To Action, such as download or watch a video).
Folk music and culture are also an important source of livelihood. In eastern India, BanglaNatak has created 11 festivals which bring employment to village musicians and craftsmen of Bengal. Its initiative, Art as Life, has converted ‘beggar villages’ into ‘painter villages,’ and has brought employment and dignity to villagers, said founder Amitava Bhattacharya. “Our Sufi Sutra music festival is free, and attendees spend on crafts; 300,000 CDs were sold last time. Cultural skill building turns villages into tourism centres, and creates skilled artistes who can perform abroad,” he said.
It was agreed upon that industry networks and associations gives independent artistes a voice, collective bargaining power, better pay and action against defaulters. “Can Indians ever get self-organized? This discussion about music industry networks has been happening for three years!” lamented one of the attendees. For a country as large and musically gifted as India, it is a pity that there are barely 30 major live music venues across the country with regular weekly programming. In sum, the indie music industry and live music scene in India needs to ‘begin quickly’ and start networking from the ground up, and go from local to national to global.
“The culture of listening to live music needs to grow more in India,” said Sonya Mazumdar, EarthSync, but there is no free ride – it is the individuals and organizations in India that need to put in that extra effort to collaborate and grow the whole pie.
Here is my pick of 20 quotes from the speakers at XChange; I look forward eagerly to the next edition already!
“India has a billion people, many niche music markets will open up. There is no need to chase only the mass market!.” – Gerald Seligman, former director of WOMEX
“Music doesn’t happen without heart.” – Krish Kumar, SMVSR Concert Hall
“Urban art and music should come out of India’s five-star hotels into the public space, and in metro transport also.” – Helmut Schippert, Goethe Institute
“Indian youth are curious about the world and its culture and music, and need more nurturing and facilitation.” – Rathi Jafer, India Korea Centre
“I am too young to quit, too old to fail!.” – Sastry Karra, EarthSync
“Analytics is as important as artistic skills in promoting music online!” – Samir Bangara, Qyuki
“Social media skills are almost as important as music skills for artist these days, for promotion and fan engagement.” – Sohail Arora, Krunk
“Mainstream media don’t start trends any more, they pick up and amplify trends.” – Ajay Prabhakar, Score magazine
“India has the richest folk music, it is there in every kilometer!” – Radhika Bordia, NDTV
“Music managers should leverage fans via social media to lobby mass media for coverage!” – Heena Patel, Rhythm Riders
“The value of a network is not just for those in the network, but for those who want to reach that network.” – Ritnika Nayan, Music Gets Me High (MGMH)
“Indie bands should not bash Bollywood – accept it, co-exist, and learn how they have succeeded so well.” – Sonya Mazumdar
“It’s a challenge for us to bring Pakistani artistes to India; law and security issues often lead to concert cancellations.” – Laiq Qureshi
“Don’t get so carried away about the context that you forget the music and the experience!” – Simon Broughton, Songlines magazine
“Music journalism is not just about covering the big acts, but discovering new ones. There is no need to follow mainstream media trends.” – Priyanka Shetty, WhatsTheScene
“The Manapany Festival in the Reunion Island brings together surfing, climbing and music!” – Pierre Macquart, Festival director
“The CoveLong Point Festival near Chennai brings together surf, yoga and music!” – Arun Vasu, Festival founder
“Street and folk music are entering the mainstream. Now everyone wears a veshti on stage!” – Paul Jacob, bassist
“We bring music instrument makers to our festivals, such as morseng and sarangi, to keep traditions alive and bring sustainable income.” – Ankur Malhotra, Amarras Records
“Entrepreneurship is key to helping Indian villages tap their cultural skills via festivals and convert their villages into arts centres.” – Amitava Bhattacharya, BanglaNatak
Author: Madanmohan Rao
Madanmohan Rao is an author and media consultant from Bangalore, and global correspondent for world music and jazz for World Music Central and Jazzuality. He has written over 15 books on media, management and culture, and is research director for YourStory Media. Madan was formerly World Music Editor at Rave magazine and RJ at WorldSpace, and can be followed on Twitter at @MadanRao.
