ROYALTY and loyalty have swapped places in the artiste's priority chart. In a completely changed musical mart, the average performer is going all out to get the most lucrative deals provided by competing companies. Moreover, since every newcomer seems charged to emulate a big success, he is seldom hesitant while leaving one music publisher's label for another.
Unlike their predecessors, today's artiste is always on the move. Having started out as an HMV artiste—and releasing albums like Ah Alisha, Babydoll and Kamasutra—Alisha Chinai moved to Magnasound to cut Bombay Girl and Made in India. Now that all's not hunky-dory between Magnasound and the lady, latest rumours are that she may be changing tracks again. Baba Sehgal, who became a pop icon with his Magna-sound desi rap releases, left for Crescendo which published Indian Romyo last year. Baba's latest release is a pop venture titled Tora Tora published by HMV. Market sources indicate that HMV paid around Rs 4 lakh to the star for the rights, apart from spending over Rs 15 lakh to promote his product.
Along with these megastars, many other Hindi pop artistes have changed places too. Having taken off as an HMV artiste, the George Michael look-alike Ali Haider later signed up with Magnasound. Initially with CBS, Shweta Shetty went off to Magnasound to record Johnny Joker and Shweta: The New Album. Suchitra Krishnamurthy, whose rather inconspicuous debut album was released by Digital Cassettes, has been published by Magnasound twice thereafter.
The phenomenon doesn't confine itself to Hindi popular music. In the Western pop segment, the two-album-old star Gary Lawyer has left HMV and signed up with Magnasound for releasing his new venture. And Indus Creed, which took off as Rock Machine with CBS, moved to Magnasound for the release of The Second Coming, their next album. The band's eponymous third album was released by Crescendo sometime back. Goan pop star Remo Fernandes, who hit bigtime with CBS' Bombay City, struck a one-album deal with Magna-sound to release Politicians Don't Know How To Rock n' Roll.
Reasons a Magnasound insider: "After the inflow of money, music companies have mushroomed and artistes suddenly have alternatives." Adds a Crescendo source: "Now the artiste can easily say he's not happy with the product handling. So, pinpointing petty, often absurd reasons, they say goodbye and change labels." Label-hopping has kept the Western music industry on its toes for some time. With the proliferation of companies here, it's a live issue in India too. "It's impossible to satisfy most artists. If you release one video, they reason that you could have released two. If you publish ads, they might say there were no hoardings. There's a tendency to suggest a flop is a company's failure," says a Crescendo insider.
But music companies also have a choice today. Says a Magnasound insider: "With the market opening, the industry might have two superstars today. But what's certain is that the number is bound to multiply. So, if an artiste wants to leave, one need not hold him or her back as long as the exodus doesn't happen in huge numbers." Several of these artistes started out as HMV performers. But today, they are being released by industry newcomers. An industry spokesman explains: "While HMV was in the process of regaining its number one status, it signed up several films since the gold-mine lay in that sector. As a result, many non-film singers went to new companies since they were promised better deals in terms of promotion, more money. They chose to leave though HMV wasn't neglecting the sector from any point of view."
While Polygram sat idle—apart from their Sharon Prabhakar releases—Magna-sound and Crescendo have been the biggest gainers. These two have changed the market equations, so artistes have more avenues than ever before.
But, are the artistes always in the wrong? Suresh Thomas, BMG Crescendo's managing director, sets forth a balanced perspective: "After the contract gets over, some artistes leave because they look at more money. Others do it because some companies misuse the product and don't pay the artiste properly. Besides, if one artiste leaves a company for another since the product can be handled better by the latter, he or she isn't wrong. After all, it's a question of one's career." Interestingly, music companies continue to offer better deals to every successful artiste, confident that one performer's departure doesn't mean a catalogue's extinction. For every performer—including the Alishas and Babas—it's a question of survival with every new album released. In today's music industry, the superstar is dead for all practical purposes.
