What India's music industry can teach us about paid YouTube views, musical regionalism and the productive uselessness of charts
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View this email in your browser (|ARCHIVE|) http://hotpodnews.com/presents.... A Newsletter about Big Ideas in Music and Technology, by Cherie Hu This is issue #69, published on November 26, 2019 Happy Tuesday! For those in the U.S., hope you’re gearing up for an enjoyable and restful Thanksgiving holiday.
I spent the past few weeks in Shanghai, going to my first-ever wedding (!) for my cousin as well as meeting with some local music-industry folks. I’ve gotten a lot of new subscribers since the last issue, so as always feel free to introduce yourself if you’re a new reader by replying to this email — it’ll go straight to me!
I’ve also written and appeared in a bunch of new stuff since the last newsletter sendout, so I encourage you to scroll towards the bottom of this issue for full updates on my recent activity across freelance writing, press/interview appearances and my Patreon page (http://patreon.com/cheriehu) .
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Thanks as always for reading, listening and supporting! What India’s music industry can teach us about paid YouTube views, musical regionalism and the productive uselessness of charts This is a recap of the latest episode of the Water & Music podcast, which you can stream via Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/water-music/id1454221845#episodeGuid=bd15c27f-3d98-427e-8dfb-a886e9d1f123) , Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/5feM1ZGEfASTDKqbIVuYJ3) , Overcast (https://overcast.fm/+Q4VclmfcE) , Pocket Casts (https://pca.st/d1aN) and most major audio listening platforms (https://waterandmusic.transistor.fm/subscribe) . You can also access a full transcript of this episode here (https://medium.com/@cheriehu42/what-indias-music-industry-can-teach-us-about-paid-youtube-views-musical-regionalism-and-the-7008bc4cea99) .
Back in July 2019, artist Badshah (pictured above) and his label Sony Music India caused an uncomfortable stir in the global music business when they revealed that they bought millions of views (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-30/bollywood-rapper-sets-viewer-record-youtube-isn-t-talking-about) on YouTube for the artist’s video “Pagal,” in an attempt to “break” the platform’s record for most views in the first 24 hours (https://www.getrevue.co/profile/cheriehu42/issues/why-are-none-of-the-top-10-music-video-debuts-in-youtube-history-from-hip-hop-artists-173643) .
Shortly thereafter, YouTube formally banned (https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/13/youtube-music-cracks-down-on-rampant-chart-manipulation-with-new-pay-for-play-ban/) paid views from counting toward any of its charts (why didn’t they explicitly state this any earlier?), and additional reports (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/buying-youtube-views-trueview-ads-adwords-878239/) surfaced about other labels spending six-figure budgets trying to juice up potential hit videos with paid, inorganic views.
To what extent was the Badshah/Sony fiasco indicative of wider marketing practices in the local Indian music market? And what are the potential ramifications of the controversy for Indian artists, labels and streaming services, particularly for the independent community?
For the 14th episode of the Water & Music podcast, I had the pleasure of chatting about these and many other questions with guest Amit Gurbaxani (https://twitter.com/thegroovebox) — a Mumbai-based freelance music journalist who contributes regularly to publications including Firstpost (https://www.firstpost.com/author/amit-gurbaxani) , Billboard (https://www.billboard.com/author/amit-gurbaxani-8508732) and Music Ally (https://musically.com/2019/11/05/bollywood-losing-dominance-indian-music-industry/) .
In July 2019, Amit was one of the first writers to report on the Badshah/Sony controversy for Billboard (https://www.billboard.com/amp/articles/business/8520387/indian-rapper-badshah-video-one-day-youtube-record-sony) , and has reported extensively on music-streaming trends in India — particularly on services like YouTube, Spotify and JioSaavn — ever since.
I met Amit in person at the All About Music conference in Mumbai later that summer, and wanted to invite him as a guest on my podcast to dive deeper into the implications behind his Sony/Badshah/YouTube reporting.
We also ended up expanding to discussing wider industry issues, including but not limited to how language might be more important than genre in determining an artist’s success in the Indian music market, why the terms “non-film music” and “independent music” are both flawed and vague in an Indian context and what the first-ever India charts for Spotify and YouTube, both launched this year, reveal about local music-industry consumption preferences.
Below is a summary of Amit’s most interesting takes; you can read the full transcript of this interview on Medium (https://medium.com/@cheriehu42/what-indias-music-industry-can-teach-us-about-paid-youtube-views-musical-regionalism-and-the-7008bc4cea99) . Please feel free to respond directly to this email with any feedback or additional questions you have! Paying for video views blurs the boundary between promotion and consumption, to a fault.
CH: “When I was in Mumbai, I talked to a local music/tech executive about this issue. I won’t say his name, but he did come from the major label system, so he was evidently biased. In fact, he was in support of this practice of buying views, because he saw it for what it was. His take was something like: ‘Views are just a matter of sampling. Views are a reflection of how many people sample a given video or other piece of content, regardless of whether they end up watching the whole thing, let alone rewatch it. And if you have the legal means through advertising to increase that sampling pool, you should use it and invest in it.’
I’m not necessarily sold on that argument — especially because it still has enormous implications for any artist or label that’s not a major, in terms of how much they can compete with this practice, especially with lower budgets. I would love to get your thoughts on that argument that buying views is valid because it’s just a matter of sampling, and that view counts on these videos are a reflection not so much of popularity per se, but of how many people sampled a given piece of content.”
AG: “I’ve spoken to label executives and they all have this argument that, hey, this is the same thing as TV … that this is just another legal means of promotion, and there’s no reason why anybody should have a problem with it.
My view — and my thing with YouTube, especially — is that it’s problematic that the [paid] view counts are actually being counted. They’re paid views; call them paid views. If it’s a promotion, let it be explicitly known and treated as a promotion. I certainly don’t think that this means promotion should be banned or prohibited or anything like that … but don’t let it be included in your view count. Don’t say that 100 million people have actually ‘watched’ the song or have consumed the song, because they haven’t. They have been sort of force-fed it, in a way. YouTube is called an ‘on-demand’ streaming platform for a reason.
And the argument with TV is — firstly, two wrongs don’t make a right. Secondly, you don’t see that number on TV. It doesn’t say that this song has been ‘viewed’ so many times on television. So it’s not exactly the same thing.” Paid views can’t solve for bad content.
AG: “I think that [Sony] really misfired, because they chose the wrong song. If it had been a better song [than ‘Pagal’], the views would have increased organically. People would have been playing that song on their own, and the difference in activity between the first-day views and the first-week views would not have been so stark.
It’s not like Taylor Swift’s label or these K-pop groups don’t use some amount of paid promotion. They all do. I think the difference is that the proportion of that going to paid views is far less, right? The number of people actually genuinely watching is far higher.” India’s highly visual, Bollywood-centric culture has led to an unmatched obsession with view counts at large…
AG: “YouTube is the biggest music consumption platform in India right now; we are their fastest-growing market (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/india-is-youtubes-largest-and-fastest-growing-audience-in-the-world-ceo/articleshow/68798915.cms?from=mdr) , and I think also their largest market. And music is a big part of that …
One of the biggest marketing tools here in India is that little thumbnail that you see for a YouTube video [in recommendations and search results]. Labels will put the number of views for the video in its thumbnail. That’s very common for Indian music videos, where they’ll put ‘169 million views’ or ‘357 million views’ or ‘956’ or some random number, just to show you the number of views. And sometimes they will combine the views from the lyric video and the official music video, add them up and then say in a single thumbnail, ‘okay, this got over 500 million views.’
That number has become a huge kind of advertisement for songs. The idea is that if something’s got so many views, it must be good, and therefore people would want to click on it. So definitely the labels have a vested interest … in paid views being included in the view count.” … but not every Indian artist sees music videos as important to their career.
AG: “In India, I think when you talk about emerging artists, you need to separate between emerging artists on labels, and those who are not on labels and who are truly ‘independent.’
If you look at the independent artists, as in the ones that aren’t signed to a label — apart from hip-hop acts, a lot of the indie acts have never really bothered with making music videos. They have relied on other free platforms, like SoundCloud or Bandcamp, to spread their music.
A good example is the electronic music producer Nucleya (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiOCRcSMr5CCjVH_p5vPyJQ) , who’s probably one of the most popular independent acts in the country. He has always given out his music for free, and he’s barely made any music videos. I think that the strategy there is that, look, it’s super expensive to produce a music video, and we make most of our money from live, so we’ll just spread on music through these other free platforms and we’ll upload audio tracks onto YouTube.
Again, it’s very different for the hip-hop community … you also have to look at the sociocultural context of Indian independent music. The rock and pop stuff have always been for the slightly more upper-middle-class, English-speaking community. Hip-hop is more broad-based, it’s always in Hindi or in a regional language, and so the hip-hop community really uses YouTube as their main medium, because [the platform] is free and it’s easy to access. But for other independent artists working in different genres, I don’t think it has ever been a big part of their plans.” Language is more influential than genre in determining an artist’s positioning in the Indian music market.
AG: “More than whether your music is ‘film’ or ‘non-film,’ or whether you’re signed to a label or are independent, I think that the dividing line is decided by language first. If you’re singing and performing in a Hindi or a regional language, that automatically separates you from a whole bunch of independent artists that will never be embraced by the mainstream in India. As time goes by, maybe you’ll have an English-singing artist being able to cross over to the mainstream. But for now, that’s basically how it is.
There obviously will be exceptions, but I think it’s first language, and then maybe genre — because obviously you haven’t really had, like, a Hindi metal band really become huge. You have Hindi rock bands or folk-fusion rock bands, as they call them. There’s a big Bengali rock scene. You have the Punjabi hip-hop scene.
This is also one of the main differences between Indian streaming services and almost any other service else in the world. Anywhere else in the world, if you sign up for a streaming service, they will ask you for your genre preferences. In India you’re asked for your language preferences. It’s become sort of a marketing tool; you hear things like, ‘We have 40 million songs and 15 different languages.’” Regional Indian music thrives much more on YouTube compared to on local audio-streaming platforms.
AG: “Is everything an even playing field here? Probably not. Bollywood is always going to be the No. 1 song. But if you look at it the other way … The third most subscribed Indian music channel on YouTube is not a Bollywood channel. It’s a Bhojpuri music channel [Wave Music (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYLlkv4hivYJlOk6Lo-RHNQ) ]. [Bhojpuri] is a language that’s spoken in the northeastern parts of India. It’s also, funnily enough, a big pop market; I think 80% of that market is pop.
Earlier this year, YouTube put out the list of their https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/youtubes-most-viewed-music-videos-of-2019-so-far__26819/ten highest-viewed videos in the first six months of 2019. There were two Indian music videos on the list, and neither of them was a Bollywood song. One was a Tamil film song, ‘Rowdy Baby (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Q7c9RyMzk) ,’ which was at No. 3, and there was another Hindi pop song called ‘Vaaste (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBAyRBTfsOU) ,’ which was at No. 9.
That shows you that it’s not just Bollywood that’s amongst the most-viewed or most-consumed music in this country.” Charts have always been meaningless — and yet, they’ve also become more useful.
AG: “I’m a big chart geek. I’ve been following the Billboard Hot 100 since I was, like, nine years old.
I think that the charts have always been meaningless. The charts have always been meaningless because at the end of the day, they’re sort of the epitome of a popularity contest, and all popularity contests are ultimately meaningless. Just like awards shows.
But look, charts are fun … and I think that they are even more relevant now because there are so many ways to measure popularity. That’s just the way that music has gotten fragmented over the last couple of decades. Even before the streaming era, artists have been able to sell millions of tickets to live shows without ever reaching the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 or, you know, without ever having a №1 album …
Cigarettes After Sex sold out the [Royal] Opera House (https://rollingstoneindia.com/concert-review-cigarettes-sex-put-fans-dreamy-mood-mumbai-show/) [in Mumbai] — which was a 500-capacity venue, but they sold it out in minutes. They’re not a ‘chart act,’ but this is what streaming has done. If we had a chart that measured the popularity of live acts, that would be amazing. We don’t have anything that like that.
The other problem with pop music that I have to say, with pop charts especially, is that the pop music industry has always been ageist. Once you hit a certain age, radio’s going to stop playing you. You’re going to continue selling out stadiums, you’re going to sell out arenas, but you may not be in the chart.
So, I agree and disagree. I feel that music charts have always been meaningless. And to say that the charts were more ‘meaningful’ back in the day when we had only one chart … remember there were so many problems. We didn’t have SoundScan until the ’90s, and there was no way to accurately measure what people were actually buying. Now we have more charts, but they’re far more accurate, and they tell you much more and newer things and give you granular data that you never had before.” 🌊 ✨ If you’d like to support even more thoughts and conversations on music and tech, I encourage you to become a paying member of the Water & Music ecosystem on Patreon (http://patreon.com/cheriehu?utm_campaign=Water%20%26%20Music&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter) . For as little as $3/month or as much as $40+/month, you can access a wide range of perks including: * A closed, members-only Discord server * Exclusive essays * Previews and bonus material for my freelance articles * Monthly video hangouts with me
You’ll also be supporting the expansion of the Water & Music team as it continues to grow in the coming year. Thanks so much for reading! ✨ Patreon updates
I’ve published three new posts on my Patreon page:
Exclusive database — non-music companies that have started a record label. (https://www.patreon.com/posts/31709414) As a way of offering patrons a deeper window into my writing process, something I’m going to try to start doing more often is sharing music-specific company databases that I compile for my own research purposes, and that are not available publicly elsewhere. This is the first such database, for an upcoming piece about corporate, non-musical brands that have started their own record label over the past 15+ years (e.g. Toyota, Starbucks, Hard Rock, Red Bull, Build-A-Bear).
What does it actually mean to “think globally and act locally” in the context of music? (https://www.patreon.com/posts/31331194) Partially inspired by recent Spotify press as well as my trip to Scotland, I wrote a post about how artists and tech corporations are approaching the balance of globalization and location from opposite angles. In short: while corporations would do good to “think globally and act locally,” a lot of artists end up “thinking locally and acting globally” — and those two approaches are looking more and more similar to each other anyways.
Book Research: Is Jazz Improvisation Really A Helpful Blueprint For Business Strategy? (https://www.patreon.com/posts/31689079) I wrote an analysis of an interesting academic paper (https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/STRATEGIC-CHANGE-AND-THE-JAZZ-MINDSET%3A-EXPLORING-Bernstein-Barrett/4751a425f2132be3c398d4de799cfa3ecc7a202d) about what jazz improvisation could teach business about innovation and digital strategy, and where I think the authors’ original arguments potentially fall short. Freelance writing updates
DJ Mag — The future of gaming in electronic music (https://djmag.com/longreads/future-gaming-electronic-music) . I wrote a feature for the latest issue of DJ Mag about how electronic artists are pioneers in experimenting with immersive performance and fan experiences that incorporate gaming mechanics. Featured companies in the article include Wave (http://wavexr.com/) and Auxuman (https://auxuman.bandcamp.com/) .
Music Business Worldwide — Spotify needs to make a decision about its future, based on whether it actually believes its own mission statement. (https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotify-needs-to-make-a-decision-about-its-future-based-on-whether-it-actually-believes-in-its-own-mission-statement/) I wrote an analysis for MBW about the stubborn gap that still exists between Spotify’s artist-driven mission statement and its actual business model, and how it needs to make a decision about which side it’s on through its future acquisitions. Press/interview appearances
Resident Advisor — The Changing Economics of Electronic Music, Pt. 2 (https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3533) . I was asked to speak for a recent podcast episode from Resident Advisor about the evolving role of brand partnerships in independent artists’ careers.
Byta — #HowWeListen interview (https://byta.com/blog/howwelisten-cherie-hu/) . I did this quick and fun interview for #HowWeListen, an interview series hosted by private music-sharing site Byta (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwje0_XJvYTmAhWquVkKHUGwCCoQFjAAegQIBxAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbyta.com%2F&usg=AOvVaw2fDdtXTZHzfP2PMHRKwifj) . I shared a bit about my favorite artists at the moment, how I discover new music and what I’m frustrated about vis-à-vis the digital music listening experience in general. What I’m listening to * Hether — Hether Who? (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi6mfTXu4TmAhXwt1kKHUI9BdoQFjAKegQIAxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fopen.spotify.com%2Falbum%2F4U5EhQq161gJSUVFaEgrGA&usg=AOvVaw35xSBvKj78idtXYUA0RrQZ) * Bill Evans & Jim Hall — Undercurrent (https://open.spotify.com/album/3b2s2A8DPISbaQNxhrEsGQ) * Kikagaku Moyo — Masana Temples (https://open.spotify.com/album/0tOFzVQMbTIUzzWGscve93?autoplay=true&v=L)
Epilogue
Did you know live podcast events now comprise a $55 million industry (https://medium.com/glow-fm/podcast-live-events-will-bring-in-over-55m-this-year-e84032387fbe) ? The music industry would do well to participate in at least part of that growth (and vice versa).
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