MUMBAI: Iconic label Crescendo’s return to the music industry is on track. The label, which was laid low by digital music and plummeting sales by mid 2000,  is now back in the reckoning with focus on traditional verticals- sales of music and live events, Crescendo founder & chairman Suresh Thomas  said.

Shifting its business model from being strictly a music label, Crescendo has now included live events as a business vertical and to a lesser extent the mobile platform for its revenue stream. It has also turned to new and upcoming talent in its roster to reduce inventory cost and for flexibility in management. It has partnered with major label Universal for distribution of its music.

“We have released 10-12 albums and the artists have been well-received both physically and digitally. But here we are talking about sales in few hundreds and thousands. We are happy with our partnership with Universal as our distributing partner. They have the clout and are interested in our music,” Thomas told Radioandmusic.com.

While music sales are gaining traction albeit modest scale, what Crescendo is banking heavily on are live events, which Thomas feels is big (if not bigger) than Bollywood. The live music market he is referring to is the culmination of all live shows- from small town party shows to the big ticket gigs hosted by the metros.

“Say Bollywood has three Rs 100 crore generating films a year and another 4-5 Rs 50 crore and above earners. Add to it the hundreds of films that make or lose money and if you compare it to the thousands of live music shows around the country, the latter is most likely bigger,” Thomas pointed out.

Cresecendo’s strategy is to sign new talent- solo artist or bands and manage them. The contracts are flexible and ‘friendly’ long term contracts – usually for a period of three years. The label manages the artists’ works in terms of producing albums and arranging live gigs.

Depending on the size of a gig, a relatively solo artist can stand to earn Rs 40,000- Rs 60,000, and a band can expect Rs 80,000- Rs one lakh per show.

“What we have are artist who are popular within their localized region but obscure in others. For example, an artist called Suryaveer has good following in Delhi but is unknown in Mumbai. Same with Goan artist Slyvie Fernandez and her band who are popular in their home ground. What we try and do is introduce them to new markets and expand their listener base. As for the direction they want to take with regards to their career, some acts are clear about their sound, image and where they want to go, others, we suggest to them career path(s) that we feel will be beneficial to them,” Thomas said.

Thomas and Crescendo is confident that the live music market in India is the key to generating serious revenue and promoting talent.

“We have no binding agreements with our artist and everything is flexible. The revenue from sales of music- physical or digital is still small. And mobile based VAS (Value Added Services) songs don’t generate revenue unless you have a huge Bollywood hit in your hands.”