MUSIC INDUSTRY CASE STUDY

Think that you are the second person in this world after Jesus who is famous by his first name. The king of rock 'n roll 7 Diamond Covered cars & 2 private jets at the age of 27 Self-earned one thousand million dollars And then one day you eat 40 sleeping pills and fall asleep and never wake up. This is the story of famous singer Elvis Presley Who commits suicide before 42 years 17th may 2017, Chris Cornell His Dead body Found Inside His Detroit Hotel Room And he had come openly before and talked about his depression. 20th April 2018, 28-year-old Avicii leaves this world and this is what his parents had to say He hated the business he found himself him You will be surprised to know that your favorite singer or your favorite music band is living a hyper sensitive lifestyle. Where they has no control over his body, his time and even the songs they composed And they are caught in a trap where they sees only one way. Either commit suicide or take early retirement In September 2020, Kanye West tweets, in which he has thrown his Grammy Award in the toilet And he says that these awards do not mean anything if you treat the artist not like an artist but as a slave. Kanye used to work with a label called Rock-a-Fella And he was so upset by the slavery contracts made by him that one day he made all his contracts public. And at that time a very big dark side of this industry came in front of the people. And if I talk about Bollywood music industry then the situation is even worse. Armaan Malik speaks in an interview with Beerbiceps that we singers are not paid any money for playback singing. If that song becomes famous then you can earn from shows but you will not be given any money for playback singing. So singers in India earn money through live shows, live concerts We would love if we would earn money from the sells of songs but we don't That happens in the west It happens in the west Very often it happens that artists have to use drugs to perform inside their concerts. Because they are so tired, so fatigued That those people would not be able to perform if they did not do these things to him. And at the same time, if an independent artist tries to go too high he gets killed I know what you are thinking. If there are so many problems then why do all these artists work with these labels? 

Well, to understand this thing it is more important for you to understand these 3 things. 

No.1, That's how the music industry business model works 

No.2, How do these labels scam with these artists? 

And 3rd and most importantly After all, what is the terrible side of this industry that is hidden from all of us? 

So in the very first place Let us first understand that this music labels how are these people give money to artists. and whether they give or not. 1980s, The 80s was the period in the music industry where many artists emerged And this became a huge golden opportunity for these labels. In those days, every type of music whether it be Folk, Hip-hop, or Hard rock There were millions of followers for every type of music. And at that time the life of every artist was also very good. In those days, getting an artist to label record dial used to be a big deal. At that time the labels used to approach very good artists and used to sign deals with them And after that the artist's shows, albums, everything that the labels used to generate revenue of up to 85% And the rest 15% of the revenue used to go to that artist. At that time it used to be because in those days it was not possible for an artist to reach his music to millions of people. But that reach used to be with these labels and with it all the artists. From all his dressing, to his show arrangement, from his PR everything these record labels used to give him. And apart from this, If the artist does any kind of brand endorsements So all his money would be available to keep that artist. But the twist started coming in this story after 1999. The age of internet In 1999, Sean Parker started a website called Napster. And in those days where people had to listen to the radio, watch TV shows or purchase record labels to listen to music. After coming to Napster on the same People started accessing this music for free. But unfortunately, Several law issues were filed against Napster And in 2001, Sean Parker was forced to shut down Napster. But you know what A few years after that websites like YouTube, Spotify and Soundcloud came. That with Permission started streaming all these songs on his platform Which benefited the most from these artists and these platforms but nothing came in the hands of record labels. And this was where every single record label got a huge blow And to fight this the record labels introduced master deals But before the arrival of master deals the business model of the music industry looked like this So whenever a song is made It mainly has these 2 components. No.1, Composition and No.2, Sound Recording The composition which is done by the writer and the publisher together That is, the person who has written it And another person is the publisher who composes the complete composition of that song. That is, the one who composes. So in those days a writer used to write a song and the publisher used to prepare its composition. The song was composed and finally an artist sang that song. And those record labels used to record this song and give it to the distributors. Whose job was to handle the entire distribution of all the places where that song is to go within the whole chain of this whole. As the song went on the radios, went to the theatres, went on the televisions, and simultaneously the CD'S of that song were sold. And finally, out of the revenue collected The distributors used to remove their cut and gave 85% of the profit to the labels. And the remaining % used to go to the distributors between the Artists, Writers and Publishers. But with the advent of online platforms where the artist who was at one time used to sell his CD'S and used to generate 85% of his revenue and give it to the labels. At the same time, due to online platforms these online platforms started getting up to 75% of the revenue And the remaining 25% of the revenue started going into the pockets of these whole artists. Which was a very good thing for these artists and this thing was not seen by the labels So basically, where it used to share 85% of all the distributors with all the labels Now it is only sharing the revenue of selling CD'S with the labels. And the rest of the revenue like the song played on Spotify, put it on Napster, put it on YouTube, kept it on Apple Music On all these platforms, 75% of the revenue generated was kept by this streaming platforms and the remaining 25%. would have been taken by the entire artist. And it was with this in mind that the labels introduced Master Deals And this was where every artist's life was about to change forever. Imagine You Are A Struggling Artist And If Someone Puts 5 Million Dollars In Front Of You Then What Would You Do? And not only that your Albums, your Tours, your PR Marketing for everything else, that person should bear the cost. So will you be able to refuse such a deal. In early 2000, Records label was in dire straits Artists were earning money Because now the online streaming platforms that had come But the record labels weren't making money and this was where things needed to change. So according to master deals From the creation of a song to its publishing rights Everything is controlled by the label. Which technically means Song sung by that artist, where will it play, when will it play, how many times will it play and where will it not play All these things will be controlled by the label That is, the song you sing does not belong to you Wherever you will perform that music. Whatever views will come from there, or whether you are doing TV shows, or you are going and doing live concerts A very fat share of everything the record label will hold I know what you are thinking If this is so, then how do all these artists fall into the trap of these record labels? Well, This thing is done so smartly that most artists don't even notice Master deals are pitched to the artist in such a way That you are an emerging artist and we are the only label that can make you a millionaire or a billionaire What more does an artist need The artist signs the deal And this is where it starts to get dirty After the master deals is signed This is how record labels pay an artist. An artist records an album, after that Let's say, a lot of CD'S copies of that album were sold Which generating a revenue of Rs 2 crore. After that the song was played on Spotify and many different streaming platforms. From where, generating Rs 2 crore more And finally, Doing a few shows and generating revenue of Rs 1 crore Total becomes four crore rupees But you know what At the end of the day Despite generating a revenue of Rs 4 crore that artist gets in debt of 40 lakh rupees. I'll show you how Even Many Master Deals' According Artists Said That 85% of the amount will be kept by our labels and the remaining 15% will be in your hands. But this does not happen As soon as an album starts to generate revenue after that the labels will make money out of the artist's earned money. These are some of the expenses that they deducts 4 crores of revenue was made Out of which the labels deducted 20 lakh rupees of the recording from the artist's pocket then because the labels do these promotional activities. So 30 lakh rupees more was deducted after that the video of that song has also been shot then 20 lakh rupees have been deducted for it. And finally, That artist has got so much touring and all these things done So he has deducted 30 lakh rupees more. In total, The bill of the total artist that is made above the label becomes 1 crore rupees And how much the artist earned? 15% out of 4 crores, that is, 60 lakh rupees. So technically, Despite earning an artist 4 crores Drowns in debt of 40 lakh rupees And this thing does not end there Now that artist has a debt of 40 lakh rupees. To pay it off He makes another album with the same record label. After making that album He gets more debt and this thing goes on and on. 1 album, 2 album, 3 album and it is a never ending process There are many such famous artists who have spoken openly about these scams done by labels. TLC Group, Which is a very famous group Despite having so many names and so many songs They are broke They are bankrupt What brings us to the terrible side of the music industry Which is hidden from you and me till today. Very few of us know that what famous singer Kanye West has seen in his life in this industry. And know what is the actual reality of this talent show And this thing is also done with Indian television shows. Record labels arrange a children's contest In which only 5 or 6 children out of 100 are selected for the final round. But during this entire contest whatever training those 100 kids have, whatever their expenses are they all fill these record labels. And because during the training of this contest all the money is spent on these record labels. So technically all children are in debt And to repay this loan They signs this contract So that they can repay all this loan as soon as possible. Without even realizing that now they are stuck in it forever And this is nothing There have been many such cases where the writers who have actually written a song They neither get fame nor do they get paid for writing that song. Munni Badnaam this song did more than 100 crores revenue But you know what Lalit Pandit who composed this song was not paid any money for this song. Infact, Perhaps none of you will even know the name of Lalit Pandit. Phir bhi tumko chahunga Today we all know this song because of Arijit Singh and Mithun. But Manoj Muntashir who actually wrote this song neither knows him nor he was paid for this song. I can guarantee Ghar se door or Ilzaam There will be very few people among you who have heard these 2 songs of Badshah Why? Because these are his independent produced songs. But on the other hand Paani Paani or Jugnu Almost we all must have heard this song Why? Because it's a song made by labels This is the power of distribution And that's why forcefully, these artists have to work with labels Because the artist's individually is not so reachable that they can reach his song to millions of people. Even in Controversy of Raftaar vs Emiway Raftaar spoke the one thing The independent artist who struggles a lot Those people don't earn that much money That's why Being a label artist is better than being an independent artist Over whom all this controversy and beef was turned on. And you know what Raftaar was right Because inside India and in fact all over the world the royalty collection game within the music industry has changed completely. So in earlier times these 3 things used to happen No.1, Composition Performing Rights In which A lot of royalty was paid to the writer and the composer of that particular song. Secondly, Mechanical License That is, the license to distribute that song was with these distributors. So that these distributors his record labels That is, they were able to make and sell CD'S and get that song played on radios and TV shows. The one who used to last That was the Sound Recording One who had all the control of all these record labels. So basically, record labels make this work and give it to the distribution channels So that those distribution channels can reach the songs to millions of people. And the distributors who used to be at that time Fairly, they used to give good money to Composers And the record labels that were there, used to pay their money too. But with time, Record labels kicked these distributors out of the game Gradually, all these record labels created their own proper distribution channel and simultaneously got the master deals signed. So now from making artist songs to distributing artist songs Everything being controlled by record labels Its biggest example is T-Series YouTube channel Which is a very big distribution channel in itself. And as soon as a very powerful distribution network was built These record labels stopped paying even to the singers and composers. And stopped paying the artist too And compulsion in today's date an artist does not earn any money by singing songs The money they earns from TV shows, event shows, Earn from their live performances apart from selling merchandise and a few online streaming platforms. Very often it happens that record labels create a lot of hype for that song before a music launch. And you know what To do that too, they uses that artist only. To make soft stories Either you will spread a rumor about that artist Or purposely they will ask that artist to come into a relationship with another artist. So that the news is created, the hype is created and the song plays more And nowadays the trend has changed. So, between 2 artists, a beef is made In which 2 artists make distractions against each other. Public thinks that these 2 artists are fighting with each other. Well in reality It's all the game either the labels are playing Or the artists are playing together with each other by collab In the end, The result of this is that the fans of both the artists At the end they become toxic. that's all But you know what! The most frightening reality of the music industry is Evolvement Of Mafia's If we talk about 80s and 90s then at that time the music industry and Bollywood industry Dawood Ibrahim's hand was everywhere. And Infact, The founder of T-Series, Mr. Gulshan Kumar's death is also linked somewhere with Dawood Ibrahim. Well, No one knows what is the truth As good as the music industry looks from outside This industry is equally bad from inside. And the biggest reality of this industry is the amount of money you see in artist's music videos. That this artist is living, this artist has this lifestyle In reality most of the artist are broke They are bankrupt Most of the artists don't have as much money as the money shown in their music videos. All that money is mostly labels money It's also a marketing method So that you listen to that song as much as you can, it gets as much hype, and the labels make as much money as possible.

Thank you

Credit: Aditya Saini