Band Aid

Popular Mumbai-based band Bhayanak Maut and Delhi’s Undying Inc. have already been in the merchandise market for about six months,but there is an increasing number of new entrants in the domain. With the changing rock music scenario in India,many are seriously considering connecting with their fans through merchandise that include tee-shirts,caps,coasters,badges,posters and wallets.

While in the West merchandise has been an integral part of promotion and revenue generation for bands,in India it’s still a nascent industry. In fact,much of the credit for introducing the concept to bands in India goes to two young men,Shashwat Gupta and Anupam Roy,who launched their company for artist management about a year back titled Grey and Saurian. “Merchandise is a way to take a step forward with music. We have a separate design team called Cinnamon Design that helps bands in choosing prints for their merchandise,” says 27-year-old Gupta. While some like The Circus left it on Gupta’s team to come up with a suitable design,others like Bhayanak Maut prefer to be more hands on and design their own stuff. “Outside India,merchandise is literally the livelihood of bands. For any band in the world that wants to be remotely successful,this is the business model. It is not so much about the revenue. It is all about connecting with your fans and making people aware of the band,” says Aditya Gopinathan,guitarist of Bhayanak Maut,who has designed the black wallets and tee shirts with the band’s logo. “Merchandising helps in having a global impact even though it means spending some money out of our pockets initially,” says vocalist of Artillerie,Noble Luke,which will soon sell their own band memorabilia.

Although merchandise is not exactly a money-spinner at this juncture,most Indian bands say it’s one of the most effective ways of connecting with the audience. Yuvraj Sengupta,drummer of Undying Inc. which has sold 200-400 tee shirts in a period of six months,says,“Right now it’s more about marketing the brand’s name. In a country like India where the industry is just about starting up,it’s ambitious to hope to make money so soon with merchandise.” The arrival of digital technology has also made the task somewhat easier. Shiv Ahuja,keyboard player for Five8 says,“Two years ago a band like ours could not even imagine producing our own merchandise. But the music scene in India is undergoing a major change and there’s ample scope for bands like ours. The quality of merchandise is improving too without the prices shooting up. It is easy to break even now.”

While maximum sales happen during live shows,there are a few stores across India who have started stocking up on merchandise. Avengers Toys in Bandra,Mumbai stocks CDs of the band Scribe and some tee shirts of Bhayanak Maut. “The response has been pretty decent. There is no huge demand but there is scope,” says Valmik Babbar,owner of Avengers.

It’s not just the newer bands which are trying their hand at merchandising. Veterans like Indian Ocean too are coming up with the ‘Indian Ocean Box Set’ comprising their upcoming album,live DVD of the documentary on them,fridge magnets,tee-shirts and coasters. This set will be priced at approximately Rs.1500. There will also be a slightly cheaper goodie bag at Rs 500 with their music album,coasters and fridge magnet. Time to trade your Metallica tee-shirt for a one of Indian Ocean,maybe?