Mumbai: Digital has made inroads into every industry, and the music industry is no different.
The Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS) is organising an event, IPRS Music Day, an insightful music workshop in collaboration with Meta on 5 April at 4 pm. This event will be live cast on IPRS Facebook and Instagram pages from the Meta Studio in Mumbai, making it available to IPRS members, independent artists, music creators, and aspiring musicians from all across.
Antara Nandy and Yashraj Mukhate, who are renowned names in the Indian music industry, would be participating in this initiative. In a tete-a-tete with Indiantelevision.com, they talk at length about their journey as a creator, the evolution of songwriting, how digital and social media as mediums can help music leapfrog, and much more.
The workshop aims to raise awareness about music copyright in the digital age and how music creators and independent artists can use Meta platforms to promote their music and connect with fans. The workshop will have individual segments covering topics such as music copyright and managing creators’ rights on social media, using social media for promotion, community building, and how to earn more from the music made.
Nandy is an Indian playback singer and performer. She is famous for Zee TV singing reality show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs’. In 2022, she came into the limelight after she lent her voice to the Tamil Song ‘Alaikadel’ from the film Ponniyin Selvan.
Mukhate is an Indian music producer, composer and social media personality. He is best known for his viral parodical video where he set rap beats to a scene featured in the television soap opera Saath Nibhaana Saathiya (serial) in August 2020. This video was first viewed by lone basoo from Kashmir and he shared it on all social media platforms.
Edited excerpts:
On your journey as a creator
Nandy: I always wanted to become a musician from a very tender age and knew that’s what I wanted to do. But since I don’t come from a family of people who has taken up music as a profession, I didn’t know how to go forth. Or who would provide me a platform?
So, the only thing that was in my hands that I knew I could do myself was social media. So, I started posting videos on social media when I was a seventh grader and those were very raw videos like short ones on normal smartphones that’s it. No, Pre-recording, mixing, mastering nothing. Sung live in one corner of my house, and one of those videos were my initial videos. Actually, I found out that Leslie Lewis Sir had commented on one of those videos. Soon after that Bhupinder Singh ji also commented in one of my videos. And I think that struck me very hard. I realized how powerful tool the social media is.
Because me sitting in one corner of Kolkata and I had my content reaching, legends like these and that’s the day I think I realized how powerful social media is. So, I started posting videos and I remember 2014 I had my first viral, like social media virals. 5 back-to-back videos with my younger sister we were playing a random thing in the house about how to produce music and those went viral.
Up until then I had only dreamt of seeing the numbers of my likes, shares, views in (K’s). Millions was way out of the question, (K’s)was the dream and those were the videos that made those dreams come true.
All of a sudden there was a lot of importance. Anoushka Shankar ji shared our video. Sonu Nigam ji shared our videos. Soon after that a little later, we also had Adnan Sami ji sharing our video and we had a lot of media attention. We were all over print media, our videos were getting circulated on WhatsApp, they were on multiple WhatsApp group etc. like. It felt amazing.
2020 is the time when lockdown happened and when then the entire world was stuck at home. Our careers took off in a way. My younger sister and I had started series on social media called “Balcony Concerts”. Where we sang in 24 languages, and we played the ukulele, the percussive style of ukulele and we sang in 24 languages. Songs from multiple regions of the country. And more than 20 consecutives episodes had gone viral from that series.
After that series went viral, I must tell you here we have no television visibility whatsoever. We were never on television news channels. Although we were covered by print media a lot, but no television visibility.
Yet when we step out of our homes now when we are in mall, or when we go to the airport it feels amazing to see people recognizing us. And that’s completely as a result of what they have seen on social media. So, I feel extremely grateful that our social media is sort of bringing us right way now.
Going back to lockdown, after our balcony concert went viral during the lockdown when entire world shut behind doors. Ankita (younger sister) and I we started doing ‘virtual gigs’ show. We performed for more than 150 national and international companies and multilingual digital gigs at that.
Right after the lockdown was over there was no looking back. Be it Gigs, be it Recordings, we were on the road we still are, and it feels amazing.
I may not have huge figures on social media but whatever it is that I get when I see people validating my efforts. When I go out of my house and people recognize us for being Nandy Sisters. Also, that’s a name we never coined ourselves that is a name that our audiences gave us.
And all the work I’m getting right now like my crazy dream of being able to work in the mainstream film Industry as a playback singer has recently become true. I worked; I sang in PS – I for A.R. Rehman Sir it’s a movie by Mani Ratnam Sir. I couldn’t have asked for a better debut, and I also had the opportunity to work with Saleem Sir last year. And I think he also first saw my content on social media.
So, everything we both are doing right now, me and my younger sister come up with all credits goes to the content that we put up on social media and kind of acceptance our audience has shown up that also matters a lot. We have been lucky that way!
Mukhate: I uploaded my first video on Youtube in 2010, which was a piano cover of the song ‘Wake Me Up’. Later I started putting out cover videos of Bollywood songs. 2014 I joined Instagram and started experimenting with short format content and started making videos which are less than 2mins. By 2018 I had started making my own original songs using dialogues in my social media content. And 2020 was the year when one of those dialogue videos went viral on social media, which was ‘Rasode Mein Kaun Tha’.
On the evolution of the art of songwriting
Nandy: Songwriting used to be very straightforward, easy process. Not easy but straightforward earlier, very simple. Like you write a song you get it produced done but today I think things have changed a lot like sound design and arrangement has become an integral part of the actual writing process. Some songs are so extensively dependent on production that when they are actually performed live and they are taken on stage, you need properly produced backing tracks to bring same impact as the original songs. I think, yes, songwriting has become much bigger and much more technologically driven process right now.
Mukhate: People always remember a song by its chorus, its face. That is why it’s called a ‘mukhda’. So as songwriting is evolving creators are realising that the length of the song needs to be crisp as the listeners have a very short attention span. So the main thing that has changed is that the songs have become shorter and most creators mainly focus only on the ‘mukhda’ now. Because that is what everyone will remember.
On the digital medium proving to be a boon for many industries and the way one can make his/her music big through the power of digital and social media?
Nandy: So when you decide you want to become a musician what are the things that you need? You need to equip yourself to get your training in place, be confident of yourself, and work on your music so after you have all that in place, what do you do? How do you make sure that the biggies of the industry listen to you? You send them emails or you call their office but I would say that 70 per cent of the chance of your email probably is not getting noticed. Let’s face it the number of emails, all the big people in the industry get. There is a 90 per cent chance your email getting lost in their mailbox so then what do you do? There’s something Rahman Sir has told me which is to make your work so loud that you don’t have to chase after people. And I think the place to do that is on Social media because it is 100 per cent in your control and I feel like running your own social media page is like running your own personal reality show.
I will just put it in perspective, what happens when you are in a reality show? You get great visibility because as you know a certain number of countries are watching you. You have amazing judges who tell you where you are going wrong and your scope of improvement and you have competitors. And how is social media different? It’s not, it’s kind of the same because you still have a great audience base, you have amazing visibility here because your content is open to the world and you have competitors every day I mean the no of people putting music on social media is insane so great competition and if you are actually doing well awesome work you never know who actually watches your video and comments on it and that’s what is been happening to me.
I’m saying all this from my personal experience. Who would have thought that Sonu Nigam ji would share my video or Anoushka Shankar ji would share my video? So yes you get your share of appreciation and criticism, everything and keeping a keen eye out for what your audience has to say for you is the most important part of being on Social Media, or putting out content on social media because it is them who makes who you are. Bolte hi hai, Janta Janardhan. That saying stands for a reason even on social media if you make it big it will be because of your viewers. So keeping an eye on what they have to say and sort of tweaking your content accordingly is an important part of it. And the four things that I feel are very important when you put out content is consistency, relatability, continuous improvement, and surprises. The Moment your audience can gauge what is coming next that’s when monotony sets in and that’s what needs to be broken. You need to keep surprising your audience and Social media puts you in direct touch with your audience so I think the more you involve in the entire process of your journey the better it is, and the sooner you grow. The more they feel like oh you are family, the more reachable, the more approachable you are as an artist.
I think Charlie Puth is a great example of how he uses his social media to promote his songs. The way he puts out a complete breakdown of how he makes his songs and only after he has put out a breakdown of how a certain song is made, it’s only after that he actually releases the song on audio platforms. So his audience actually feels like they are getting a sneak peek before the rest of the world hears his songs which is a great thing to do.
Mukhate: I think this is the best time for individual artist and creators to make independent music and have a direct connection with their audiences. Social media provides an amazing setup where only the artist benefits from his/her work which enables them to create more and increase their audience.
On the way music copyright is taking shape in India
Nandy: As the music industry grows, new digital platforms and mediums are gaining popularity. The use of new technology has led to a tectonic shift in music consumption. Advertisement-backed or subscription-based music download has made it easy to listen to music on the go. The 2012 amendment of the Copyright Act has given the inalienable right to royalty to the authors and composers of music. Music copyright societies like IPRS have been incessantly working towards licensing the commercial use of music and collecting royalties on behalf of its members. Though there have been positive changes, music licensing is still a burning challenge with a lack of awareness and compliance. I hope, as a nation, we soon see a mindset shift towards respecting copyright and supporting creators and their creations by paying for the music we use.
Mukhate: I do feel that there are still many artists who are not completely aware of the copyright act and the role of IPRS. Which just keeps them away from having complete monetary benefits from the work they have already done. So I think more awareness about the same is required.
On the instigation to associate with an institution like IPRS
Nandy: IPRS as a music copyright society, represents the authors, composers and publishers of music, safeguarding their right to royalty. As a music creator it is important that we are aware about managing our rights and the music copyright involved with the content we create. Songwriters, composers and independent artists creating music in India, thus needs to be enrolled as a member of a music copyright society like IPRS so that they aren’t deprived of their rightful royalties, whenever their music is commercially used.
Mukhate: As I started understanding more about copyright and how intellectual property works, I found that it is really important for an independent artist like me to register with IPRS so that I get the exclusive right and benefit over the use of my creation.
On the way IPRS has helped you as a musician
Nandy: IPRS is not only supporting music creators like me in safeguarding my rights and getting me my due royalties, through its multiple initiatives IPRS is reaching out to creators to educate and empower them on new technologies and trends shaping their careers in music today. The IPRS Music Day in collaboration with Meta is an effort towards that.
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