MUMBAI: Day 3 of Ficci Frames 2010 saw founder and CEO of AWAL (Artiste Without A Label) Denzyl Feigelson speak about the music industry, and 'Remedies for its Revival'.

Feigelson who specialises in international digital consulting, and has played a key role in setting up Apple iTunes since its inception, was quizzed on the evolving digital space by Ralph Simon, Founder and Chairman of MEF Americas.

It's a known fact that the music market internationally has seen a huge decline, and many big labels are on the verge of bankruptcy. According to Feigelson, the potential of music on the digital space will only grow in the coming years. Commenting on Indian music, he said, "Global appeal for Indian music is widening, especially with the success of Slumdog Millionaire, and there will be a lot of scope for artistes who can create music that works across platforms."

While in India it's not common to plug a song in a daily soap, he said that, "In the west, getting music on popular TV shows means one thousand downloads." Is that something that Indian labels could try? Probably.

Not surprisingly, social networking has given a huge boost to the digital music segment, and consumers want to have a social experience of sharing and discovering music. Meanwhile, many Indian artistes are becoming more active in the social space - on social networking sites like Twitter, and connect with their fans. Though this has not caught up the way it has in the west, Feigelson believes, "Fan engagement, loyalty and building tribes is as much important - the artistes should build up on these services."   

Another potential avenue for businesses in the near future will be the monetisation from websites that service lyrics of a song, he noted. "Lyrics are the highest searched item on the internet, followed by searches for music, sex, Britney Spears and love." In addition to lyrics, the $ 4.2 billion Mobile Apps markets too have a strong revenue generating potential for music labels. "Apps will most likely outsale CDs by 2012," he pointed out.

The future lies in building services that help people discover music. Citing the example of Pandora, he mentioned that the website has been beneficial, both to the artistes and the consumers. In what should sound like good news for the artistes to explore, he said, "Pandora has paid USD 30 million in royalties in the last three to four years." Pandora is a service that identifies the consumers' taste and comes up with suggestions according to their musical preferences and taste 

Meanwhile, Feigelson pointed out that the 'albums' will be passe since 'singles' have consistently proved to be a growth market. "Artistes now need to be creative and prolific - format is not necessary since artistes are increasingly putting out clusters of two or three songs. The trick also lies in bundling a varied range of content for the consumers, he added.

Speaking exclusively to Radioandmusic.com after the session, Feigelson said, Considering the pace at which the digital space is developing, five years down the line, artistes might not go to labels
unless labels change the way they function....

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