VYOMA SHAH
The Indian Music Consumer
While India ranks 19th , when it comes to the largest music markets of the world , the Indian music industry is gradually approaching its prime and has the potential to be one of top ten music markets in the world . Data driven companies like Gracenote are working hard to help better understand the Indian music consumers ’ mindset and music consumption patterns . Proper utilization and analysis of this data can really help shape the industry and accelerate its growth .
Owing to the mobile phone proliferation , streaming has become increasingly prominent as a source of music consumption , so much so that it is the industry ’ s leading cash cow . The Nielson India Music 360 report states that on an average , each online consumer spends 20 hours per week , listening to music . A majority of the streaming happens through music videos , 21.6 % to be precise , followed by streaming through various different audio services . This explains why YouTube is the most popular streaming platform , followed by Jio Music and Google Play .
While the rate of streaming is exhibiting an upward curve , revenues are not rising proportionately . This is because piracy is still extremely rampant in our country , consumers are still hesitant to pay for this vast array of content . This explains why a streaming colossus like Apple Music , which is entirely a paid subscription service , is the least popular streaming platform in our country . What it might take to fix this imbalance between music consumption through streaming and revenue inflow , is a more vigilant approach towards detecting and closing piracy sites , which I know is harder said than done .
Cherie Hu , an award winning music writer said in one of her articles that outfitting streaming services with cleaner data might contribute towards bridging the gap as well , which is what Gracenote is aiming to do with its product – Gracenote Global Music Data . “ We sell a normalized set of artist albums and recordings , i . e ., for any individual entity , there is just one representation . Also , for the past fifteen years , we ’ ve been developing descriptive metadata – things like genre , mood , style , language etc ., so that it makes it easier for our customers to create better user experiences ,” said Tom Rettig Vice President of Product , Music , Gracenote .
Despite digitization and exposure to a multitude of genres , the average Indian music consumer still prefers Bollywood over all other genres , followed by other Indian film music , Indian pop , Indian regional folk and then western pop music . However , with video streaming services becoming almost synonymous with the age old television , several possibilities open up for more artists hailing from the non-Bollywood world . Artist and composer Karan Malhotra has recently been composing a lot of music for various web series such as Girl in the City and the Trip . Indian shows like Sacred Games on Netflix are getting recognition for their music . If artists ’ original compositions and recorded music start finding a significant place in these shows , it would open a whole new world of opportunities . It would give them the level playing field they deserve and pave way to exploit the much underutilized power of sync rights in our country .
As far as live music is concerned , the report claimed that 47 % prefer to watch live acts at intimate venues like bars and coffee shops . While the repercussions of the live music ban in a city like Bangalore , where music is such an integral part of the culture are daunting , there ’ s still hope .
Our current and future economy seems extremely promising . According to the report , 86 % of online consumers use a smartphone to consume music weekly and this number is only likely to grow . India will have the world ’ s largest population by 2030 , middle and high income classes will experience an increase in earnings and India will continue to be a young economy . Can ’ t wait to see what the future will unravel for the Indian music industry .
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