Marketting and Hype

Is it just me or do all of you feel that Indian Idol is hyped so much more than Sa Re Ga Ma Pa?

I am not criticising on Indian Idol or something, but I just feel sad everytime I see the news talking about Idol when SRGMP is puhsed to the background when any1 with a little ear for music can say that top 5 of SRGMP are more talented than the whole of the top 12 of II 2 put together.. sparing Karunya and Amey, none I repeat NONE of the Indian Idol contestants come close.. but they get so much more publicity..

Take Amey for example, he is a great singer, the only other one I like in Indian Idol. After his vote out, he was interviewed by a dozen news channels, rediff had him on their chat (where they usually have only celebritiies), it was his bday and an interview came on Star News. I mean frankly, he is only as good as Hemu, Nihira or Vinit.. and still he is getting so much of publicity from the media..

First I thought it was because of the walk out and all that, and with him being a better singer and getting unfairly voted out. But the same thing happened to Nihira. She was defn. better than the rest in top 5 and STILL she got voted out.. but did any channel interview her? NO..i mean the only time SRGMP came in publicity was when Vinit, Hema and Himani walked out.. and that too negative publicity.. and probably before the finals. Thats is, where is the talk about great talent ? where is the talk that the singers of this show are all under 20 and have voices that have potential to be the next big things in bollywood..

but there is none sadly. Amey's bday celebrations are shown so elaborately, when Karunya turned 20 it was like a party, but when Nihira turned 19 during the show or when Vinit turned 17/18 during hte show there was no mention.. and that is VERY VERY VERY sad.. I mean why give so much bhaav to one show and totally neglect the other?

There is nothing wrong in giving publicity to Amey, he is a good singer and deserves it but I dont think he is better than Nihira or Hemachandra to get that much of publicity. He is almost like a national celebrity..

What hurts me the most is Sony cashing on his new found fame but at the end of the day, he is STILL going to stay a struggling singer. Abhijit Sawant might be Indian Idol but wrt to Bollywood he is still a struggling singer. And that fact wont change..

Why didn't Zee aggresively promote Debo or even Vinit? yes, HR hyped Vinit but other than Zee News they were totally away from media.. which is sad..

Do u think hyping a singer will do him benefit ?

Again, nothing against amey.. I was just in a foul mood after seeing his interviews today, SO MANY of them... I shouldn't act like a small kid but can't help it on this occasion..coz I feel that if Zee also aggressively promoted their singers, maybe things would have been different today..

So what do u people think.. Hyping a singer helps him/her get more offers in the industry?

Originally posted by: madhavir108

Take Amey for example, he is a great singer, the only other one I like in Indian Idol. After his vote out, he was interviewed by a dozen news channels, rediff had him on their chat (where they usually have only celebritiies), it was his bday and an interview came on Star News. I mean frankly, he isn't as great a singer as Nihira, neither is he a good performer like Hemu neither does he have Vinit hype and still he is getting so much of publicity.

I beg to differ. He's a good performer, as good as Hemu IMO.

Rediff also covered SRGMP, they also posted many articles on SRGMP esp the final two- Vinit and Debojit. Check out the archives.

I think Nihira and Hemu deserve to be hyped more than the top two of SRGMP though. But it depends on the contestant as well, if they're open to doing such interviews.

Okie, I corrected my comment about Amey and Hemu, I was just a bit mad then..

I did check rediff archives, but it was a lot more towards the end.. there was never much coverage given before or during the show.

Before II started, rediff did a cover on the hopefuls from Mumbai first and then top 12. Last year too there were so many more articles about Amit and Abhijit.

As for SRGMP, the articles were about Regionalism, the walk out and in the end they covered the finals. Which is def. sad..

the reason for me posting this is not to defame Amey because again I stress, I love Amey's singing right from his Tanhayee auditions till his Kal Ho Na Ho!

the reason is, I want to knwo if such publicity helps to a great extent or doesnt ?

I think the contestants are open to do the interviews. Hemu is being interviewed by telugu channels so much now. Unless Zee had a binding that they wouldnt do interviews then, but the question is, WHY did Zee do tat?

Like you said, even after all this publicity, he's still a struggling singer so I don't think all this publicity helps the singers much. Its not like MDs are lining up to sign him for their next films. If anything, it benefits the channels. NDTV and MTV are two of Sony's partner channels. FG was also shown on MTV, they showed exit interviews of the contestants as well. FG contestants aren't better singers than SRGMP either but they probably got more attention than SRGMP contestants. It depends on the channel. Sony has a lot of partnerships with other channels and even radio stations (RadioCity) There are radio interviews every week w/II2 contestants.

If Nihira and Hemu aren't getting the same amt of publicity, it doesn't mean they won't be successful. They've been exposed to the right people in the industry like Ismail Darbar and Subhash Ghai. I think it depends on the contract with the channel as well. Sometimes too much publicity isn't good either...yes, it helps but being overexposed to the public isn't a good thing.

Thanks abhi, I actually wanted to write this on my blog but then thought I'll just write about this here itself!

I agree with you Sonya (I hope thats ur name, I remember u mentioned it somewhere in the II forum), Hemu and Nihira got the recognition from the music directors on the show. I am not judging them being successful or not, I am just trying to understand how much media hype helps a singer.. does it ease his struggle in anyway ?

I personally believe that it makes it harder.. like you are on the camera always. Debojeet always used to sing for jingles, small budget movies, we never bothered. I for one loved his song in 88 Antopp Hill but didn't know who he was then, I heard it just because it had Nihira singing too! But now if he does sing for some anjaan movie, I know who he is so I will have an expectation from him and if that isn't met, i will be disappointed.. y because he had the media attn..

If it was some other participant of SRGMP or II who wasnt hyped much, I am sure I would listen to his singing as a song and not judging it.

I think to get over hyped is bad and I hope it doesnt affect Amey.

Marketing and Branding is an important tool to get visibility among consumers in any field.

Talent needs to be groomed, positioned and marketted in any field.

Sonya, I am posting the article you showed me once:-)

VOICES Radio stations and RJs airing our songs don't even name the singers. -- Kunal Ganjawalla, singer Music companies dictate terms; they've tried to get me out of film projects. -- Aadesh Shrivastav, music director Look at Sting. Even after 24 years, he continues to get a royalty for his song 'Every breath you take'. He earns it every day. -- Palash Sen, singer, Euphoria Film music is the curse of the industry. It has done the maximum damage to singers. Marketing can do wonders for the industry. Singers need to be sold in the same way that detergents are -- by attracting audiences. -- Sonu Nigam, playback singer Royalty is a tricky issue for artistes. If I was an artiste in America, I would've had five jets with a runway and a huge house. - Anu Malik, music director Musicians sign contracts knowing fully well what they're getting into. They can't turn around after some time and tell companies that they're being cheated. -- Savio D'Souza, secretary general, Indian Music Industry (IMI) The industry lacks clarity. Marketing is essential. Even Carlos Santana has come back in a new avataar and finds listeners. That's marketing. -- Shantanu Moitra, music director

http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/sep/05spec.htm

Madhavi Ji,Talk about II taking it all away.
None of II-1 contestants have done playback except Abhijeet Sawant(Rahul Vaidya and Prajakta did a song in some Anu Malik album..I dint think that was a song 🤢 🤢 )
And The Most deserving in II-1 like Rahul Saxena and Aditi Paul havent sung a single song yet for movies.

And in SRGMP,we already have Hemu,Vinit,Himani who've already done playback.

So,I guess..It all evens out,at the end of the day 😃

My humble opinion is:

Playback is a curse on Singers, in my opinion whereby it is bound by the script, hero/heroine's image, production houses etc... Kajra re was a HIT, yes Alisha Chinnoi /Gulzar got some recogniton, but most of its appeal was also due to Aishwarya Rai-Big B-Chota B's Star-appeal and hence sold! Music has to be uncoupled from Bollywood, whereby Singers can dictate terms instead of filmstars and production houses. Today, if films flop, the its music is not even promoted however good it is. This paradigm has to shift. Hence I do not consider Playback to be height of success, I would consider them a success if they become a Brand in themselves and dictate terms....its just my personal opinion.

ART thrives on its patrons and if we want our ICONS to succeed, as consumers we can help it by buying their albums.

This is true for any genre of music be it Classical, Indi-pop, filmy-music, or even painting, dance, theatre whatever. ART and Commerce cannot be separted if it is a profession for an Artist, but yes if its a Hobby and is for personal gratification, then commerce is not a factor for the artist.

Today, if more people bought classical albums and if Classical albums were packaged well, they would not have to wait for grants from the Governments. How many of us Download music and listen? I am called a fool when I go to buy albums, coz its supposed to be non-happening. I see so many MP3 floating around in this forum also.

Also, do we see many music videos of Classical albums on TV or promoted on FMs, how would the average consumers make their choices if not promoted or marketted?

Today I know there is a musician Aamir Khan, coz my family has a musical background and have Sangeet Visharaths as relatives, but the maases identify Amir Khan as a film artist..Is this difference due to marketting or is it due to lack of talent?.😃

Also, one has to change with times, CHANGE OR PERISH, are the golden words told by some old wise men..😛!.

The youth identify with Subha Mudgal, coz she comes on TV, but purist disparages her for the same. Hence, classical music has remained in the domains of the elites, or the kids of people whose families appreciated such genre, and even that is dwindling.

At the end of the day packaging, marketting, branding matters as it heigtens audience-appeal and as a result SELLS, just talent is not enough!

DEMAND AND SUPPLY!

BUY ART TO PROMOTE THE KIND OF ART YOU LOVE..YOU AND ME CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

I agree with your perception 100%, ..

Let me put my perceptions this way..

Creativity knows no boundaries and limits.. RabindraNath, Kaji Nazrul wrote poetry and made music about varied subjects and was not bounded by a script dictated by a Producer. Or a Baul or a Folk musician is not bounded by producers..or even classical musicians or Pop-stars.. Their imagination is their limit...and they structure their ART henceforth.. Hence, it is vast. In Filmy music what I feel is it is only bounded by typical situations in the story and situation and hence musicians/Artists/Lyricists/Composers are not stretched to their limits. To have a Semi-claasical music they may need a situation or a Period film..

When a Hariprasad Chaurasia plays the flute, I can conjure up an imaage of Radha-Krishna in a leela or just a shephard playing it get the sheep back or it may lull me sleep and give me peace..or in a full moon night I may dream of my beloved........the image is on the state of my mind then...

When masses conjures up an image to film songs it is the film situations and filmstars which comes to our minds (atleast my mind).....but when I listen to non-filmy I conjure up myriad images... Hence I feel Playback singing is a bit limited in that sense, nothing wrong in it, but I would love see Singers associated with their own images. They got success because they has successful films which gave them recognition..and as a result raised their BRAND value, which later helped them sell their music.

Who knows, Lata ji may have give us even greater music if she did not have to keep Madhubala or a Waheeda Rehman or a Madhuri Dixit in her mind when she sang and modulated her voice?

just my humble take. But agree with your view also...👏👏

PS: I am great fan of yours and your articles..😉

Originally posted by: adwarakanath

Dead right, madhavi.

Soynee ji, i'll beg to differ. Singing wise...only singing wise, Hema's technically ahead of Amey IMO.

Back to the point, this is the age of marketing and hype.

1) Does Sehwag deserve all the hype? No. He's a ver ordinary batsman.

2) Do any of the past and present II singers deserve the hype..barring Amey and Karunya? No.

3) Ordinary dhinchak matak film albums with recycled tunes and standard synthesised beats are hyped to the sky. Genuine, original and superbly made albums like Raincoat, HKA, Umar lose out.

Why? Paisa.

All sensibilities were lost the day they paid Sawant and Pt Jasraj the same amount of money for a show.

Mera bharat mahan.... 👏

Yeah, that's what I am saying!