Why Independent Music !
Film Industry Music Directors often crave to do non-film, independent music.
It’s natural for them to feel that way because film music has its restrictions—not only restrictions imposed by briefs specific to the film’s characters and situations but the constant pressure of delivering something ‘That will Sell’.
This has changed in the last seven months, during which we’ve had a number of major composers releasing music independently. Amit Trivedi kicked off his own label, AT Azaad, in April, with a series of tracks called “Songs of Faith”, followed by another series, titled “Songs of Dance”, resulting in a total of 10 songs.
Vishal Bhardwaj, too, started his own label, VB Music. Bhardwaj wrote an emotional note—“Always a composer first, a filmmaker second”—when he announced that he will release new compositions under his label; he has already released two.
The inception of Salim-Sulaiman’s Merchant Records happened 6 years ago, but it really got going in the past few months with back-to-back releases. Arijit Singh announced his label, Oriyon Music, a couple of months ago.
Business Strategy Or Creativity?
What explains so many announcements in a short span is that the lockdown has given the artists, who are usually busy, the time to work on something they’d been wanting to do for a long time.
And what explains them starting their own labels is that today it is easier to do so. Thanks to YouTube, anyone sitting at any corner of the world can publish their own music (and become famous, as proven by the rising number of YouTube stars).
Since it is all digital now, you can put your content on YouTube directly. There are services that help you distribute your music on the streaming platforms, which you can do from your home.
It also says something about the Hindi film music industry today and the little creative freedom it allows composers, singers and lyricists.
There is also a new working system that favours multiple composers instead of one, a format that most established composers don’t agree with. This has resulted in less and less work for them.
Meanwhile, India’s Best Astro-Strategist, Hirav Shah, has rightly said that, In this Industry HARDLY 0.005% ARE MAKING MONEY and therefore Strategical, Moral and Astro Strategical support can increase productivity by 96%. The flourishing career of MeetBros is a testimony to what Shah says.
MeetBros have been consulting Shah for quite some time now, and they say that it has been the most rewarding experience personally and career wise for them.
Is There Any Hope !!
Starting a label is one thing and cutting through the noise in the age of information overload is another. It’s true that anyone can go viral today, but nothing that the composers have put out until now have managed to stand out.
There is no clarity at all for the composers, as to how to go about next.
Shah says, In life, when you have CLARITY on where you want to go and GUIDELINES on what are the CHANCES of REACHING there, You can become UNSTOPPABLE.
We can only hope that the Independent Music Scene changes for the good,now.
