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`Boom, boom' time for music videos

Aparna Krishnan

MUMBAI, June 18

MUSIC videos are setting the tune for the growth in non-film segment of the (music) industry. The success of a music album today often depends on the popularity of its video version.

Music videos thus form an integral part of an album's success. ``The salability of an album often soars once the album's video becomes popular. Hence, music companies strive for maximum air time to ensure the success of the album,'' said a channel offici al.

``Nowadays, it has become mandatory to make at least one music video for every album that is recorded and with music companies coming out with at least two albums a month, this industry is definitely poised for growth. Also, music companies do not shy aw ay from increasing video budgets,'' says a music company official.

One of the reasons in the rising video budgets is the incorporation of technical `wizardry'. Companies are ready to spend more in special effects to bring about a visual splendour. The emphasis in music videos today is towards appealing to the younger ge neration, said the official.

The music video industry is projected to grow at 15 per cent this year. Mr. Mukesh Desai, Chief Operating Officer, T-Series, said that the pop music segment is one with best potential. He has, however, predicted a 15 to 20 per cent rise.

In music videos, the first is the pop music segment which constitutes the major part (about 65 per cent) of the industry with devotional, folk and ghazals scrambling for the remaining 35 per cent.

Mr. Anubhav Sinha of Anubhav Sinha Productions (ASP) agrees that the music video market is definitely set for boom since the advent of satellite television. Mr. Sinha has more than 50 music videos to his credit which include famous albums such as Sonu Ni gam's `Tu', `Deewana' and the recent `Jaan'; Jagjit Singh's `Saher' and Daler Mehndi among others.

The music video market accounts for about Rs. 12-14 crores with big names such as film director Sanjay Gupta, television serials director Kunal Kohli and Anubhav Sinha joining the fray.

Music companies spend about Rs. 10 lakhs on an average on the making of a single music video while an entire album could go anywhere between Rs. 2-3 crores. But most companies shoot one or two songs from the album. On the whole, the expenditure on a sing le artist by music companies runs from anywhere between Rs. 8 lakhs and Rs. 30 lakhs.

About 20 new artists are being launched every year by various music companies. Says Mr. Sinha, ``A company brings out about five to seven new artists and even if one album is a hit, which usually runs into crores of rupees, the money spent on nine others is more than compensated for.''

True, much like the venture capital companies funding scores of information technology (IT) start-ups, here too, according to experts, the venture capitalists rely on the one `.com' which turns out to be the winner.

Analysts say that the important factor spearheading this growth rate in music video industry is the cable and satellite television industry which is witnessing a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 20 to 22 per cent in terms of reaching TV homes in 2 001. This figure is expected to reach 50 per cent by 2003.

In such a scenario, the music video industry is going to be big business in India in the near future thus, following the footsteps set by its Western counterpart.