How streaming platforms are giving a new dimension to growth of regional music

Content consumption, especially on digital platforms, saw a tremendous spike during the pandemic and lockdown period. Even though the lockdown and curfew periods are over, demand for content continued unabated. Being confined to their homes due to the COVID-29 restrictions, people sampled different genres of content and were also seen having a stronger preference for content in their native language. Thus, rose the demand for regional content.

Along with video content, music has also been seeing a rise on digital platforms. Platforms like Spotify, Gaana, etc., have upped their game to meet this growing demand.

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Providing some insights into the growth of music streaming in India, Shahir Muneer, Founder and Director, Divo, pointed out that regional music has been a part of the vernacular growth story of India. “With vernacular social media apps, vernacular video, music was just yet another piece of the next 1 billion Internet users’ story of India. Music has grown not just via pure play audio/ music apps, but also with video – be it YouTube, or short video apps, or social media apps having music features in them,” he added.

According to Muneer, keeping in mind the accessibility of the Internet, there is still a large addressable market to grow in regional music for years to come. He further said, that apart from the obvious penetration of the Internet, it is the music streaming apps offering free music that has expedited the growth of regional music.

Punit Pandey, Chief Business Officer & Group Business Head, 9X Media, too, noted that regional music has been growing for close to a decade now, and hence, the growth is not unique to the pandemic. “Regional music has been growing irrespective and will continue to grow. Taking a stock of the growth rate, what is happening in the marketplace, music used to grow at a pace of 10-12 per cent and the pandemic has aided this growth,” he said, adding how the same way people explored OTT streaming content since there was time to kill, the pandemic has also pushed people to consume more music content.

At the same time, Pandey disagreed that the pandemic has pushed regional content. “It will continue to grow, since today’s youth would rather go back to their roots in their villages and not New York to understand their culture,” he maintained.

In terms of the language barrier, primary consumption of music comes first and then the lyrics step in. While lyrics are crucial, Pandey believed that it is the sound and the beats that bring it to life. Here, he cited the example of ‘Kolaveri Di’, which was recorded simply in a recording studio, but cut across the lines and stayed on 9XM and other channels because people were hooked to ‘Kolaveri Di’ and the music that accompanied. “True recognition of sound and good independent artists are the ones that cut across the barrier,” he said.

Unlike a few years ago, when a singer had to cut an album then a song, go to a music label, get a tie-up done and only then have their music released, today, as long as one has the ability to make good music and sing good songs, they can upload it not just in video platforms but on numerous music streaming platforms. All one needs is a good product. Here, Pandey noted how Punjab has its own independent music industry booming, while Maharashtra focuses more on Bollywood music. “The platforms are allowing new artists to come up and grow their audience and the filter is good product, good sound, and beautiful sound engineering. Where there is a good product, consumers follow and a brand will follow their consumers,” he said.

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