2008 was a year marked by several developments in the radio and music industries, but it was also a year when some noted personalities in these fields, who had left their mark in their respective fields, passed away. Radioandmusic.com pays tribute.
Sharan Rani
Versatile Hindustani musician Sharan Rani, popularly known as 'Sarod Rani', passed away in New Delhi on 8 April, a day before her 80th birthday.
Rani, the first woman to take up the Sarod, was a disciple of great music maestros Ustad Allaudin Khan and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. She belonged to the Maihar Senia gharana and was hailed by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the 'Cultural Ambassador of India'....
After featuring the south, north and east FM scenario in 2008, radioandmusic.com completes the FM roundup with the west scene.
2008 was a tough year in general for media in India, but radio managed reasonably well during the year.
Believes Radio Mirchi CEO Prashant Panday, Fuelled by growth in network, the growth rate of radio in the first half of 2008 was as high as 55-60 per cent on a year on year basis....
Radio city EVP and national sales head Ashit Kukian adds, We are extremely happy with the way 2008 has gone, especially with respect to the launch of our two new verticals Planetradiocity.com - our music portal and Radio City Connect, our activations division.......
Looking back, 2008 was the year of commencing operations for many commercial FM stations in eastern India. To make their presence felt, these stations carried out a lot of marketing initiatives.
Many of these stations, located in small towns and marked by hefty retail advertising, have managed to escape the current heat wave of the global slowdown and have managed to sustain themselves with satisfactory profits, especially in the last quarter.
SFM's Shillong station is just over five months old, having launched in July 2008. Station head Ian Khongmen puts in, It was a good year despite many hurdles which we had to overcome time and again. The response has been good and music lovers are now hooked on to our station without any difficulty as we played new, good music.... ...
From an astounding 75 'A' grader bollywood releases in 2008, barely a clutchful made the mark, music wise. Not surprisingly, films composed by Rahman, SEL and Pritam - those with catchy tunes made brisk business. The messiah of the masses, Himesh Reshammiya, hit a chord with Karzzz too, relying mostly on the popularity of the original tracks and some ingenuity on his own part. Those who experimented (Sneha Khanwalkar with Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye) were not blessed with quick album sales and downloads, however.
Here's the lowdown on the top 10 film albums of 2008 and the five composers who stood the test of popularity.
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (T-Series , composer A R Rahman)
Figure this scene. It's a bit like an old Seinfeld episode. You go to a party; it's the end of the year or beginning of the new one (depending on when you are reading this). Someone asks �it's the end of another year – how do you think it was for radio?' The response is a bit like Kramer's, �it wasn't a bad year, pauses, but it wasn't a great one either'. FM radio stands at the intersection of reality and possibility and we attempt to understand how that unfolded in 2008....
From an astounding 75 'A' grader bollywood releases in 2008, barely a clutchful made the mark, music wise. Not surprisingly, films composed by Rahman, SEL and Pritam - those with catchy tunes made brisk business. The messiah of the masses, Himesh Reshammiya, hit a chord with Karzzz too, relying mostly on the popularity of the original tracks and some ingenuity on his own part. Those who experimented (Sneha Khanwalkar with Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye) were not blessed with quick album sales and downloads, however.
Here's the lowdown on the top 10 film albums of 2008 and the five composers who stood the test of popularity.
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (T-Series , composer A R Rahman)
Bollywood saw over 100 big budget releases this year, there were songs which got us instantly hooked and there were those overhyped musicals or music scores which fell flat. Out of the huge number of releases, few had songs that were timeless. We wonder, did Bollywood give us music that we can recall and relive again and again?
Unfortunately, from the long list of films released under Bollywood, and the long list of 'tracks' that came with those films, there wasn't much the songs delivered sparing a few 20 tracks. The songs lacked creative quality and most importantly – timelessness. The 2008 trend was peppy, fast paced music – it didn't matter if the lyrics made sense or the tunes repetitive. Without doubt we can call 2008 Bollywood's 'peppy-beat-era's' inception year....
2008 was a year marked by several developments in the radio and music industries, but it was also a year when some noted personalities in these fields, who had left their mark in their respective fields, passed away. Radioandmusic.com pays tribute.
Sharan Rani
Versatile Hindustani musician Sharan Rani, popularly known as 'Sarod Rani', passed away in New Delhi on 8 April, a day before her 80th birthday.
Rani, the first woman to take up the Sarod, was a disciple of great music maestros Ustad Allaudin Khan and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. She belonged to the Maihar Senia gharana and was hailed by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the 'Cultural Ambassador of India'....
Figure this scene. It's a bit like an old Seinfeld episode. You go to a party; it's the end of the year or beginning of the new one (depending on when you are reading this). Someone asks �it's the end of another year – how do you think it was for radio?' The response is a bit like Kramer's, �it wasn't a bad year, pauses, but it wasn't a great one either'. FM radio stands at the intersection of reality and possibility and we attempt to understand how that unfolded in 2008....
Looking back at things that have happened with the band over the past few months, I am just amazed! It's been one crazy rollercoaster ride that we have been on and all along I keep thinking, "This is the stuff dreams are made of! and it's happening .. for real!"
There was a lull for some time in the beginning of this year with the band doing a few shows here and there, until we got wind of the 'Roots Music Festival Tour' that was going to change our lives. We never really thought that it actually would....
2008 turned out to be a year of opportunities for FM operators south of the Vindhyas, as many players launched their stations during the year. 2009, say most, will be a year of consolidation.
An interesting aspect of the Bangalore market that the initial RAM listenership survey had mapped as a high morning listenership and high out of home listenership TG, was the conversion to Kannada. With the exception of a Radio Indigo, which stuck to its premise of international music, several players preferred to target masses by going the Kannada way....
With physical sales of the record industry registering a constant decline of almost 44 per cent each year from 2000 through 2007, the live music business gave new hope to organisers, artistes and listeners alike. With sponsors offering 360 degree deals to the artiste, this seemed to be the best option as the record music industry went through the slump. In 2008, the period till September was good, but in the following months, many concerts got postponed or cancelled. The 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai added to the trouble already created by global recession. Industry experts believe that worse is still to come and the situation can only improve by the end of 2009....
Figure this scene. It's a bit like an old Seinfeld episode. You go to a party; it's the end of the year or beginning of the new one (depending on when you are reading this). Someone asks �it's the end of another year – how do you think it was for radio?' The response is a bit like Kramer's, �it wasn't a bad year, pauses, but it wasn't a great one either'. FM radio stands at the intersection of reality and possibility and we attempt to understand how that unfolded in 2008....
Comments: 52 | |
Looking back at things that have happened with the band over the past few months, I am just amazed! It's been one crazy rollercoaster ride that we have been on and all along I keep thinking, "This is the stuff dreams are made of! and it's happening .. for real!"
There was a lull for some time in the beginning of this year with the band doing a few shows here and there, until we got wind of the 'Roots Music Festival Tour' that was going to change our lives. We never really thought that it actually would....
Comments: 1 | |
2008 turned out to be a year of opportunities for FM operators south of the Vindhyas, as many players launched their stations during the year. 2009, say most, will be a year of consolidation.
An interesting aspect of the Bangalore market that the initial RAM listenership survey had mapped as a high morning listenership and high out of home listenership TG, was the conversion to Kannada. With the exception of a Radio Indigo, which stuck to its premise of international music, several players preferred to target masses by going the Kannada way....
Comments: 1 | |
With physical sales of the record industry registering a constant decline of almost 44 per cent each year from 2000 through 2007, the live music business gave new hope to organisers, artistes and listeners alike. With sponsors offering 360 degree deals to the artiste, this seemed to be the best option as the record music industry went through the slump. In 2008, the period till September was good, but in the following months, many concerts got postponed or cancelled. The 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai added to the trouble already created by global recession. Industry experts believe that worse is still to come and the situation can only improve by the end of 2009....
Comments: 0 | |