Labels bargain for better customer connect
MUMBAI: The last few weeks have been bonanza time for connoisseurs of music across genres.
It's that time of the year when you surfed through the racks, picked your favourite bunch of CDs, and move on without putting too much of a strain on your wallet. With physical sales hitting a low and the global slowdown setting in, music labels in the country have been going the retail sector way by instituting big bargain sales and giving away CDs at throwaway prices.
Awards sing the right tune for FM stations
In the Indian FM radio industry where pioneering properties don't take long to get plagiarised and duplication of concepts is almost a given, 'music awards' seem to be the flavour of the season.
Community Radio - the voice gets stronger
It's been barely some months since community radio took off in earnest in the country - 36 campus-stations and three NGO-led CR stations - are currently on air.
The medium, however, appears to have touched a chord with the communities they serve. Community Radio Stations like the MVSS led station at Satara, Bundelkhand Radio at Orchha and the Deccan Development Society DDS community radio station at Pastapur, Andhra Pradesh, have become the voice in rural areas enabling local citizens to raise their opinions on issues pertaining to the community.
Holi spells moolah time for Bhojpuri music
Raunchy Bhojpuri albums, bordering on the vulgar, were always the hot cakes that disappeared off nukkad shop shelves' in the UP-Bihar belt in the build up to Holi.
Music labels rush to cash in on Rahman's triumph
MUMBAI: After A R Rahman brought home twin Oscars, music labels in India are leaving no stone unturned to cash in on the Rahman fever. T-Series has already launched a Rahman compilation last week. Others like Sony BMG, Saregama are working on similar lines and are planning early March launches for similar compilations.
Radio keeps head above water in slow times
MUMBAI: Have the tough times proved to be a boon for the radio sector? FM players across the country have seen a marginal growth rather than a dip in their inventories in the last quarter, and anticipate a rosier picture in the coming year. According to Radio Adex data, monthly radio ad volumes registered a three per cent growth from December 2008 to January 2009. The October-December 2008 quarter showed a slightly rosy picture too - clocking Rs 23 million in ad volumes for the radio industry, a seven per cent increase over the Rs 21 million registered in the July - September quarter.
Can the singer- actor survive in Bollywood?
Bollywood movies are incomplete without song and dance routines.
The world might mock our crazy costumes, unrelated song sequences and location changes and wonder why almost all our movies look like musicals but our show has happily gone on.
TV content freeze impacts FM radio
MUMBAI: The fresh content freeze on television is not just impacting the TV industry. FM radio stations, that have benefitting handsomely from TV channel promotions, suddenly find these ads drying up.
Net gains from music
If you thought listening to music online was only about raaga.com and musicindiaonline.com, think again.
A clutch of new players have upped their ante in the last one year or so, each one playing a different tune on the Internet. It's no longer about playing the latest Hindi chartbuster; sites like radioverve, splitradio and indiabeat are on a mission - to popularise lesser known music and to promote unheard musical talent from various corners of the country.
Bands turn to Bollywood
Rock and pop bands and solo artistes in the country, thus far content with albums and live performances, are increasingly taking up film music projects.
Indian Ocean, who stepped tentatively into Bollywood with composing the score for Anurag Kashyap's 2006 film Black Friday, have composed the soundtrack for the recently released Handmade Films' film Hulla, and have another film project, Bhoomi, in the pipeline.
