Bumped into a really old acquaintance at a marketing conference yesterday.
He used to head a big music label in north India, and I was fresh to journalism - reviewing music in my spare time.
Back in those days, there were only five serious players in the music business. And his company was the biggest with a massively rich catalogue. The trouble was making a mark with the current trends and music.
This is where Mr Music came in. He was very talented - and often very loud - marketeer. Through acquisition of music rights for films and bringing together artists from across the border for albums, he helped bring the company more in sync with times.
I met up with him every week to collect the week's releases for review. While the company arranged for the cassettes, Mr Music would talk about all the clever things he had done and how he was the messiah of the music industry.
On one such visit, he was quite angry. What have you written about the album of Dogri devotional songs? he thundered, as soon I walked in. Just that it was an average album, as I said. To be honest, it was much worse than that but I couldn't say that. Who do you think you are? If I had to get the music reviewed, I would have given it to someone else. That hurt but I wasn't willing to take it. I expressed awareness of the politician, but said he was a bad singer - even of devotional songs.
That was the end of my interest in reporting music and entertainment. The buzz of seeing the music industry from this close was great, but I was determined to work on my own terms. And at that time, there was simply too much compliance. For a free cassette. For a free movie ticket. For an exclusive interview. For a junket to a film shoot. For invites to parties.
So, where do you work now? he woke me up from my flashback. I mentioned my current workplace. You were too serious for that tabloid and I knew you would move on. This was the first time he was being complimentary to me. Had the man changed? Did he have some kind of transformative experience?
I was wrong. He was soon rattling off his achievements. I left that music company many years ago. Music business is doomed. Moved on to start the first Punjabi language channel. Recently, I have written coffee table books on 'Collectors of Modern and Contemporary Art' and 'Clubs of India'. You know, each of those books is worth 15,000 INR (approx £220). Soon I am starting my own publishing house.
The conference was about to start, so I walked away to my table.
By lunchtime, he was with me again. So, the lunch has been sponsored by your company? That is what the list of sponsors said, but I wasn't sure who in my company had paid the money.
Do you still write? I said that being in a managerial role meant the writing was done more for love than for work. Most of the time it is boring documents and proposals that I write.
So, did he miss the music business? Not at all. I did lots of things that were trail-blazers. I made stars out of many singers. I initiated the process to get public establishments to pay for music they played. I got my own company to come up with a competitive pricing strategy.
I am an entrepreneur. I did music. I launched and sold a TV channel. I have written and published books. Now, I am keen on starting my own publishing house. Possibly a marketing magazine and another magazine for expatriate Indians. Don't you miss writing?
I knew where this might lead, so chose to stay quiet. He continued. I don't know why these people waste time exchanging cards and networking at these events. You can call anyone and get to meet them. I have never had problems of access. The topmost industrialists and art-collectors opened the doors to their collections for my book. For my Club book, I have a rare picture of cricketer Sunil Gavaskar that even the club wasn't aware of.
There was a time when I could walk into the room of Sonia Gandhi. For those not aware, she is as close to royalty as modern India comes to. The trouble with these young guys is they have no enthusiasm. They call themselves marketeers, but don't have a rounded understanding of the business.
Thankfully, the lunch break got over soon. After attending a couple of sessions, I got out before he could catch me again.
No comments:
Post a Comment