Bollywood is set to get its first online music studio which will challenge dominance of big labels in the R1,000-crore film music business. Called BB Music Studio and to be launched by a Bollywood film producer Sunil Bohra of Bohra Brothers, the music company is looking to challenge the dominance of big music labels like T-Series, Yash Raj Music, Venus, Saregama and others who buy and control the music rights of most Hindi films at throwaway prices.
BB Music Studio will be launched in the next few days and will target producers of small and medium budget films (that account for over 80% of the films released annually). As opposed to a one-time music rights acquisition cost paid by the big music firms currently, BB Music Studio aims to promote film music albums at initial cost to the producer. Only after music starts selling that the studio plans to split the revenue with the producer in 70:30 ratio favouring the film producer. It will also offer monthly reports of revenue earned by the film album and even give a split of sales across mobile, online, radio, digital and physical sales.
Under the proposed system, the film producers will continue to remain the ultimate music rights owner. Currently, this is not being done by the big labels who typically acquire the music rights of films at a one-time cost ranging between R20-30 lakh to several crore on the promise of investing in the promotion of the music across TV channels, radio, online, mobile and other mediums. However, several film producers have alleged that the big labels never spend enough to promote their film music and they cannot do anything about it having sold the music rights to them. Also, if the music album does good business, they are not entitled for a share in profits.
However, often riding on few hit songs in the film album, the music alone tends to more than recover its investments. For example, the music of recently successful film Delhi-Belly just crossed R6 crore in sales while last year box-office debacle ?Kites? managed to generate over R9 crore of revenue from music sales alone which more than covered its investments.
Also, film producers and not the music studio will have the right to continue or terminate their music contracts with BB Music Studio. Something also not practised by the big music labels. With 3-4 films getting released every week, the idea of a transparent music studio would be a game changer experts say.
When contacted, Saurabh Varma, creative producer, BB Music Studio termed it as ?need of the hour? as film music had become a private-members club. ?Producers urgently require a transparent system to know the financial of their music sales as the physical sales of music albums have almost become negligible and digital music is where the revenues are being generated. We will be choosy in what projects we promote but once that stage is crossed, it will be all transparent transactions,? Varma said. Varma has been in the film marketing and promotions business for nearly over 15-years having worked with multiplex chains like PVR and Inox among others.
According to the latest report on music industry by PricewaterhouseCoopers, by 2015 digital music will account for over 70% of the R2,140 crore music industry while the physical sales will be reduced to R140 crore. Even in 2010, digital music accounted for R440 crore outgrowing the physical sales which stood at R 330 crore in the R950 crore music industry.
Bohra Brothers Production, the promoters of BB Music Studio are the producers of successful films like ?Tanu weds Manu?, ?Shaitan?, and ?Not a Love Story?. BB Music Studio will be launched with the music upcoming Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster, which releases on September 9.