A Beat to Remember ; the Media and Entertainment Boom has Resulted in More Avenues for Music Bands with New Software and Marketing On the Internet Making It Easier to Acquire a Fan Following.

Summary

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If Subir Malik had not been the keyboardist and the manager of the most successful rock band in the country-Parikrama, he would've probably been wedded to his motor spare parts business in Kashmere Gate. After all, it was only a chance public performance by a band that was perfunctorily thrown together as part of a four-month arrangement but the accolades that followed led to the birth of India's first rock band. Thankfully, one cannot attribute the birth of all other Indian bands like Indian Ocean, Pentagram, Them Clones, Mrigya and many others to providence.

Music bands are no longer just surviving against all odds, they are living their own brand of music and making a living out of it as well. There are many bands like us who make money by just gigs and music and not doing day jobs and we feel it will only improve, says Susmit Sen, lead guitarist, Indian Ocean. Of course it is easir to survive if you want to do commercial work like jingles the market for these has grown by leaps and bounds but if you want to do your own music, there's a bit of a struggle there. Moreover, a lot depends on your lifestyle. In the beginning, one coudn't really hope to be making money out of something that usually started as a weekend jamming session in the garage.But today, Parikrama charges anywhere from Rs 2.5 lakh per show to Rs 3.5 lakh for a corporate show. The four-year old Delhi-based eclectic band Advaita started out with Rs 5,000 per show and today, charges close to Rs 1.5 lakh for a performance. Says lead singer of Advaita, Abhishek Mathur, There is much more demand for music today, there is also a media boom which means you could be playing on multiple radio channels, documentaries. This means a lot to those who are just about starting out. It might is easier to tell whether you'd like to make a career out of music live performances, drawing out the music score for films, making jingles for advertisements, concerts etc, what's more difficult is to choose your brand of music. Says Subir Malik, The biggest decision you take is which language you will be singing in. If it is Hindi, the road to recognition and success is not that arduous. You would also be catering to a larger audience in this case. However, if you are fond of Deep Purple and Iron Maiden, it is unlikely that you would enjoy performing a 'Kajra Re'.It is important to blend passion with whatever you opt for. For Mathur, who would toy around with a lot of music softwares in college and dream of forming his own fusion band, being into music was all about having raw drive .Another important prerequiite is longevity which is simply being able to 'hang in there' because it takes time for the market to respond to your brand and style of music. This is often not such an uphill task because usually those who are musically inclined are already playing in school as well as college and might form their own bands as early as 18-20 years of age. In that sense, people do start off early as compared to other professions.The good news is that the media and entertainment boom has resulted in many avenues for potential performers and the demand for new sound and music is escalating every day. Innumerable softwares have also made creation of new sounds much easier on the pocket.

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A Beat to Remember ; the Media and Entertainment Boom has Resulted in More Avenues for Music Bands with New Software and Marketing On the Internet Making It Easier to Acquire a Fan Following.

Add to this, some sincere marketing efforts such as releasing your...

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