HAS the badshah of Bhangrapop Daler Mehndi changed his tune? Is he leaving Magnasound? Is he afflicted with the switchover syndrome that's struck Indipop stars? Alisha Chinai, who started out with HMV but was Made in India by Magnasound, signs a mega-deal with EMI-HMV. Chokra Piyush Soni made music with BMG-Crescendo, but sings Ek Bar for Archies. Biddu, the NRI musician whom Magnasound returned to India, now prefers Warner. Colonial Cousins, a Magnasound pair, switch to Sony Music.
BMG introduces Raageshwari to pop Duniya, but she now traverses it with HMV. Another BMG-creation, Lucky Ali, decides Sony Music may prove luckier. Ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas debuts with Polygram, potters around for nine years with home label Velvet Voices, before deciding Polygram keeps his creativity more velvet-lined. Suchitra Krishnamurthy waits out her four-year contract with Rajesh Zaveri before signing A-Aha to Magnasound. Shiamak Davar, an HMV-launch, makes Mohabbat with Polygram. Asha Bhonsle croons over current label Polygram, cribs over former label HMV.
Are music companies poaching? Or, are artistes turning savvier? For himself, Piyush Soni says: "A long-term deal makes the artiste feel safe, but his music suffers. The company begins to take advantage, insisting on the type of music. I've deliberately kept my second different from the first. Such freedom will be lost if one sticks to a label."
When Lucky Ali approached them, recalls BMG-Crescendo MD Suresh Thomas, he'd been rejected by all established labels. His was a new genre of music. BMG couldn't afford a risk, so it made a three-part arrangement. Mahesh Mattai, who created the video, paid for it. Ali dug into his own pockets for the album, while BMG went to town with the promos. "Unlike other local companies, we'd agreed to pay royalty. When the album became a hit, each party was happy. There never was long-term commitment on any side. Ali did approach us for the second album, but we couldn't afford him." Market buzz suggests Sony paid him a Rs 65 lakh advance on the deal.
"Nonsense," laughs Sridhar Subramaniam, marketing chief with Sony Music. The switchovers indicate the artistes' Sophomore complex—their concern over whether their second album will be a hit or a miss. Subramaniam says the second album is the most important one in a developing artistes' career: if it flops, he or she is finished. If it's a hit, the public will accept the third. So, artistes want a label that inspires confidence. "Sony Music is an MNC, a 100 per cent subsidiary of a company with a solid, international reputation, with a track record of never having a miss. Financial dealings are transparent, with the added attraction of royalty," says Subramaniam.
Also, Indipop, born in 1991 and blossomed in 1995, is today a Rs 500 crore industry. Says Channel V creative head Mandar Thakur, who keeps a firm finger on the pulse of Indi-beat: "Today artistes have a choice—Polygram, Sony Music, BMG, Magnasound, HMV, Plus Music and T-series. Virgin is planning to come in, EMI is attempting a toehold, Sony has been consolidating." Artistes too have outgrown the era when songs were auctioned to the highest bidder, royalty be damned.
IT was the row over royalty that soured Chinai's relationship with Magnasound. When Made in India hit the jackpot,Chinai felt she was an underpaid superstar. The Chinai vs Company battle shifted from the media to the courts, till a gag order silenced the bickering. Colonial Cousins, too, have become wiser since their Magnasound days. In 1996, they told Indian Express how their deal allowed the "music company to first recover its expenses from sales before starting to make money and earning royalty for the artistes". The company has the upper hand; the artistes clueless about the shelf-value of their creative outpourings.
Magnasound downplays all this. "All these artistes were on an outright purchase or a one-album contract. So, can we say they're shifting labels?" asks a company representative, adding that Hariharan, one of the Colonial Cousins duo, was still with them. It was the twosome which signed up with Sony, with Leslie Lewis still retaining his Polygram contract. Pop music still being niche, promo costs are exorbitant making it impractical for smaller music companies to pump in the moolah. "We're told Rehman's Vande Mataram cost Rs 7 crore, the video alone Rs 1.5 crore. Plus Music's Tum Yaad Aaye reportedly cost Rs 2.5 crore. Per artiste promo on an average is Rs 7 to 15 lakh, including Rs 5 lakh on a video. Bigger companies can wait for long periods for returns, it's difficult for a smaller company," says one industry hand.
Promos normally tot up a bill of Rs 40 lakh, since a company breaks even with just a middling sale of 2.5 lakh units. The promo bill was a stupendous Rs 90 lakh for newcomer Vikas Bhalla (Intercard and Pepsi matching BMG's Rs 40 lakh expense tag on him) through pub crawls, 16 hoardings, TV slots, and four videos. Silk Route, a new band, will also have a four-video launch, unheard of till now. Smaller companies take satisfaction from the fact that once stars are launched they make money just through stage shows, charging upwards of a lakh per act.
Which explains Raageshwari's satisfaction with launchpad BMG. "I went to them for the second album, but HMV's deal is better." BMG's Thomas feels it's easier to handle new artistes than established ones, with Indipop artistes still to become superstars. "Unlike the West where a single artiste makes or breaks a company, here if we lose one there are several others in the wings. Most are still one-song wonders. Five years from now, India may get mega stars. There'll be tighter control over contract terms, as with Daler Mehndi who's been consistent; Chinai whose next album is sure to be a superhit, or Ali who's ensured that his buyers are picking up not just one song, but his entire repertoire."
Superstars Asha Bhonsle and Rehman are looking beyond the money these companies offer; some even aspiring for a launch onto world stage. All of Sony's artistes—Rehman because "he is India's superstar"; Ali and Cousins for their peculiar fused sound—have an appeal that cuts across language and race barriers. Says an EMI representative: "You'll be surprised how Indian stars sell abroad—not just in Dubai, but in every nook and corner of the world. This is the target." And the reason why artistes' look to established companies.
Not all get what they want, the exceptions being BMG's artiste section and independent promoter Martin D' Costa who've been consistent as godmothers. "Record sales aren't enough," says Thakur, "once publishing becomes part of the music industry, artistes will rake in the money brought in each time their tune is lifted. A lot then will depend on artiste management." It'll mean striking the right note in career choices as the hitherto chaotic industry organises itself.
But trade pundit Amod Mehra strikes a negative note. "It doesn't mean the industry is organising itself. It only means artiste's getting greedy." Also, that international companies want to establish themselves in India under a Hindi banner. Thus, Sony is riding on Ali's magic. Chinai, Ali, Cousins have an NRI fan base—if you translate CD sales from pounds to rupees you get a bonus, says Mehra. "Artistes are selecting companies not just for the money," says Vinay Sapru of Polygram but for their ability to promote an artiste as a brand. "It's not just Asha Bhonsle the singer, but Asha Bhonsle the artiste."
The evergreen voice will surely agree. In a recent issue of Filmfare, she fulminated against HMV's "cavalier attitude" to her ghazal album with Ghulam Ali—"no promos, no function, nothing". Polygram, she said, "never compelled me to do anything I'd be uncomfortable with." Unlike her, Shiamak Davar has fond memories of HMV. But he too is effusive about the creative freedom newly-adopted Polygram allows him. "Yet HMV remains close to my heart."
Is this devotion or discretion? Both may be a must, what with artistes like him playing the hectic game of musical chairs.
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