Sunday, March 24, 2002		Article

HALF NOTE
Good videos, not good music
Jawahar Wattal

TREAT this column like an insider's guide to what's in, what's out, what's on top, and what's definitely not in the music industry! The music industry, like much of the country, is also passing through a very difficult phase. The period 2000 -2001 was a very mediocre one for the Indian film music scene, the only exceptions being K3G and Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. There was a time, not so long ago, when good soundtracks of Hindi films would sell anywhere between 15 to 20 lakh albums, with bestsellers touching highs of 45 to 50 lakh . But today, the same soundtracks are considered bestsellers if they rein in as few as 7.5 to 10 lakh sales. Also, previously the good music of a film could rescue a weak plot or poor performances. That is not the case any more, with even a master showman like Subhash Ghai being unable to recreate the resounding magic of Taal with an eminently forgettable Yaadein.

Compounding the problem is the fact of the exorbitant prices at which music rights are now sold. The rights for a bestseller like K3G, for instance, were rumoured to have been sold for Rs 10 crore! At rates like, you can just imagine at what point the companies break even? The scene was not much better in the Indi pop arena.