Breakaway Song

For this 10-year-old band,releasing their music through a popular record label was an uphill task earlier.

Sing bye bye music labels … we’re yet quite young and able besides we got MP3 … not the musicians,but the music for free,so ya can hold yer hindi horses in yer own stables … so there … -Delhi-based band Parikrama on their website

For this 10-year-old band,releasing their music through a popular record label was an uphill task earlier. Now,of course,they don’t any reasons to depend on these companies. They are reaching out to their fans easily. What has helped them hugely in doing so is the Internet. Years after its popularity in the ’90s,and the slump that followed,alternate music has now taken on more diverse path to find an audience. The mainstream record labels abandoned us when they thought that the business was not as profitable as before. The record labels promoted only certain kinds of music. A template was followed and frankly,such a model cant run for long, says Shubha Mudgal,who had forayed into this genre through her Indi-pop number Mann ke Manjire and Ab Ke Sawan. According to the vocalist,the mainstream lull has given rise to an independent alternate music industry. Mainstream music industry in India is still short-sighted,but we are not waiting for it anymore, she says. All of Mudgals recent works ,including Raag Muse,have been promoted and distributed through the online Underscore Records.

With the availability of newer avenues to showcase their music,pop and indie music bands are giving a fresh shot at popularity. This may not have unleashed a blitzkrieg of alternate music,but have found a wider audience. On YouTube,there is a video of Raghu Dixit performing Eh Bhagwan Mujhko Tu…..Zindgi Doobara De . The Raghu Dixit Project,as the official website says,is an open house for musicians to come and collaborate. Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan too run their eight-year-old company,Underscore Records,on a similar idea. This helps artists share their work globally,without any help from the conventional sources of the music industry. This has also granted the artistes they wish for the most creative freedom.

According to singer Shaan,the audience has now matured. They dont like the typical Bollywood numbers all the time, he says. But those marketing and distributing music are still hesitant to try out unconventional work. Shaan,whose Tanha Dil was a major hit in 2000,has been waiting to launch one of his albums for months now. I am not getting a good deal for it. The companies say that CDs dont sell well. But the Rabindra Sangeet album that I just released,sold more than 50,000 CDs.

Marketing through unconventional channels has its benefits. This ensures the rights to their works stays with the artists. The returns they generate,even if its a trickle,too goes to the musicians. Indian Ocean,the contemporary fusion band,had began their journey with a record label. Last year,however,the band launched its album Khajoor Road,16/330 as a free download. This consists of seven songs. The band was giving away one song free every month. They later compiled all the songs and released a CD. The band offers a simple explanation for this kind of marketing. This means no more negotiating contracts with record companies and fighting over copyright issues, states the band on their website.

However,it won’t be entirely correct to say that Indian music companies have not realised the worth of alternate music yet. Delhi-based band Advaita got a mainstream music label,EMI to release them recently. Its band member Anindo Bose says,Music scene is changing gradually. While we have support from the music label,a lot of bands are breaking away and reaching out to the audience with their original stuff,not really caring about marketing dominated demands.

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