MUMBAI: The session- �It's all about music' revolved around the old Bollywood versus film music issue as also regional music markets hooting for independent music.

Sony Music managing director Shridhar Subramanium observed that regional music will find national identity in the coming times and there will be industry consolidations with music labels merging with larger footprints in the country.

Looking ahead, Inreco head S L Saha stated, Regional players will be less dependant on films, deliver quality non film music and experience monetization through mobile, internet and experience long tail....

The discussion was initiated by talking about the current state of the music industry after composer A R Rahman's success at the Oscars this year. WMG founder Seymour Stein was of the opinion that there is a lot of opportunity for Indian music industry on the global map and in the coming years it would be more integrated in the global music scene.

IMI president Vijay Lazarus stated, International music industry is interested in exploring our music and we haven't really achieved those expectations. India is the 5th largest consumer of music but in terms of revenue it stands at 23rd position....

On the dominance of film music over independent music, Tips managing director Kumar Taurani reasoned, Films in India have a mass appeal and are allocated high budgets as they promise high recovery but non-film albums the budgets are limited so the exposure gets restrained. So, the way out is to introduce independent artists into Bollywood and make them bigger....

Agreed Times Music COO Adarsh Gupta, With other mediums like radio and television not giving the independent artist their fair share, Bollywood is the last resort and a huge platform for these artists to make it big....

Disagreeing to the ingress of independent musicians in Bollywood, Rabbi Shergill said, Bollywood can be a double edged sword as the artists have to compromise on their music in films. Also concluding that the sales of album post entry in Bollywood is questionable. Radio and television are gatekeepers who do not prefer independent music and that music is shrinking. Independent music is precious and worthy of saving and needs to be boosted....

Saha retorted back saying if TV and radio are the primary mediums for consumers to select their music but if it is a bad product, no amount of radio and TV plays can help the sales.

Referring to the fact that independent music has more scope in regional markets Saha says, There is a paucity of independent scene in national markets because of the influence of Bollywood. But in regional markets, there is more interaction between the labels and independent artists and a huge market for such music....

Analyzing the Bollywood versus non-film music imbalance Stein questioned, Why cant Bollywood be separated and independent music groomed simultaneously? Music labels should explore the opportunity and use independent artists similar to international markets....

Holding the music labels responsible for the shrinking independent music scene Shergill pointed out that there was a time when independent and film music co-existed and artists like Baba Sehgal, Alisha enjoyed huge sales. But lately, the music labels believe that the independent scene is doomed and considering non-film as unviable is not nurturing artists....

Tracking the music industry in the past decade Lazarus asserted, The Indian music industry in the past few years has only survived because of film music and hence gradually gave up regional and non-film music.... Supporting the regional music Saha added, Regional music labels never gave up on regional music and the regional television and radio has been very supportive and hence the apathy of music labels towards independent music exists only in some pockets....

Shocking the attendees and the panelists, Taurani stated, There is no talent in independent music and hence no recovery from non-film music inspite of huge investment involved. Snapping back at his statement, Shergill retorted saying that the big daddies of music like Sonu Niigaam, Shaan come from independent music.

Throughout the session, Stein kept up his humorous quotient and supported independent music over Bollywood. Musician Rabbi Shergill, also fighting over the same cause, shared his expressions with Stein on the dais, with both cheering each other.