The Drift towards Remakes

Hi guys! Welcome to my second blog! It has been quite a bit of time since my first one. Well, it's quite difficult to get the neurons running in this time of crisis, isn't it? In this one, I'll try to write a musical blog regarding the current scenario in the mainstream Hindi music industry. 

Disclaimer: The opinions are completely entitled to me and any sort of disagreement can be sorted out personally over WhatsApp xD. 

In this world of so many genres of music, there are many kinds of music listeners as well. There are ones who just listen to music to cut out the external noise, some just to listen to music, some to live music, some to flex their grooving skills and some for so many other reasons. Similarly, for every other person, the idea of good music is different. For some, what matters is the tune, for some the lyrics, or how good the song fits into their own lives or the story it is trying to narrate. Like, for me, what matters the most is the story the song is narrating and the ambience in which I heard the song for the first time. That is also because I have lived through the period of music composing when stories were being narrated and the music was being relevant. The kind of music that was being made during the late 90s until the early 2010s was legendary. Each song had a beautiful memory of our childhood added to it, never mind how irrelevant the context of some of those memories were. Every song of that era resonates with the soul twice, once for we are matured enough to understand the complete story the song is in itself. The other was for what story of our childhood was connected to that particular song. 

Suppose, one day you are walking down the aisle of the confectionary section inside a mall. Suddenly you see a hoarding with the picture of your ever-favourite Cadbury Nutties on it stating that it has been relaunched. You suddenly see a 7-year-old you asking your mom for a pack of that one Nutties pack left in your neighbourhood store and for so much struggle she finally agrees to get you one. Only to get your homework done by you in return xD. After a little stroll down memory lane, you walk up to the counter where those are being sold. You buy one pack and push your way out of the eager crowd. You, not being able to resist yourself, just start trying it instantly but then there's a little twist in the tale. Its taste isn't anywhere near what it used to be, rather it's a whole lot different and you, for all the obvious reasons, don't like it. Most of the people are like you, while there are a few people who like the experimenting done with that. 

Now, replace that whole Nutties situation with that special song from your childhood. Same thing happening again and again with every other special song from your childhood. The song is either killed by extra beats, unnecessary sensuality, extra stupid lyrics, or all of them. But the problem with us, as an audience, is that we are all blaming the chef for making that newer version of our childhood favourite chocolate. What we are forgetting is that he has been employed by that Chocolate manufacturing brand for making that chocolate. So, you ask who to blame for? Simple.

Super Cassettes Industries Private Limited.

Don't know who that is? Oh, that's the original name of T-series. The biggest music label company in India owning around a 40% share of the Indian Music market and literally, the owner of the Indian YouTube Scenario with over 14k videos released, over 106 billion views, and around 136 million subscribers (most for any channel in the world). And in this current generation when YouTube views are a form of digital currency, T-series has pounced over every possible chance to make the full use of it. The recent upsurge in making remakes has also been related to it. In an interview in 2019, Bhushan Kumar, CEO of T-series, said on the criticism of the remakes,

"... I am running a music label. I am a businessman. If something works and the audience is accepting of it why will I discontinue it for a small percentage of people who are criticizing it? It’s simple, if you don’t like something, don’t watch it ..."

This statement is a clear indicator of the fact that what bothers the Company more, is money, number of views, and positive response from a small section of the audience while ignoring the whole negative response it is gaining. 

T-series' presence is second to none in the whole Indian music scenario both offline and online, obviously the second being more relevant in today's world. Other labels like Zee Music, Sony Music India, are far off behind. Now, one must question that if T-series are in such a comfortable position in the food chain then why aren't we seeing risks being taken by producing new and original songs? The answer is simple. And this time the onus is partially on us as well. We are ready to listen to some established and famous singer singing a remake but are hesitant in listening to a new singer singing his own original song. Due to that, Companies are playing it safe and aren't really bothered about whether their business model harms the growth of music or not. And why would they really care? Without undermining whatever hard work goes into producing the remakes it is certainly very less compared to what it takes in creating a new song. And if less hard work is paying off so well then why would they be really bothered? During January–July 2018, T-Series earned an income of ₹720 crore (US$100 million) just from YouTube. 

T-series are so obsessed with their YouTube presence at this moment that in April 2019, after PewDiePie released two diss tracks against T-Series, "Congratulations" and "Bitch Lasagna", T-Series filed a complaint with the Delhi High Court to have the songs removed from YouTube, arguing that they were "defamatory, disparaging, insulting, and offensive". Despite Kjellberg's (PewDiePie’s original name) statement that these diss tracks were "done in good fun", the court issued a temporary injunction in favour of T-Series on 8 April 2019, and access to the diss tracks on YouTube was blocked in India. In August 2019, it was reported that T-Series and PewDiePie had settled their legal disputes outside of court. A company that big, can't digest two Diss Tracks from a Swedish Youtuber. 

T-series has been a complete Mafia in the music industry where it completely owns all rights to the music being made and the music composer, lyricist, and singer have absolute zero ownership in something which is their own creation. Explains why there are remakes of A.R. Rahman songs being released but, in some interview,, he states his disgust with those remakes.

The onus is not on Tanishk Bagchi. It's on T-series.

What we all, as music lovers, can hope and wish for that they understand what are they doing is wrong and how they must promote original music with that big amount of raw and young talent at their disposal. All we can hope for is that the production of remakes is stopped and our childhood is left as it is and we can have something original to cherish for in our 20s as well. I'll end this blog with a few lines from Masakali (original one of course xD) which hold the true essence of innocence, freedom, and carefree nature of our Childhood. Till then, stay safe and keep listening to music :)

"तुझे क्या गम तेरा रिश्ता

गगन की बांसुरी से है

पवन की गुफ्तगू से है

सूरज की रोशनी से है

उड़ियो ना डरियो

कर मनमानी मनमानी मनमानी

बढ़ियो ना मुड़ियो कर नादानी

तन तान ले मुस्कान ले

कह सना नाना नाना हवा

बस ठान ले तू जान ले

कह सना नाना न न न हवा..."

Do tell how it was and thanks for your time out here. Hope you enjoyed!

Until next time...

Stay Home, Stay Safe.