HIMESH AND THE SAD INDIAN POP INDUSTRY

I suffer from himeshophobia !!! My worst nightmare is to get caught in a room with Himesh reshammaiyas songs on and the doors get jammed. Damn I can’t even imagine what I will do in that situation… ill definitely need a shock treatment later in the morning!! So heres a post dedicated to all the crap happening n the Indian pop music scene… its fighting with baba sehgal in the late 1990’s and decline in the early years of this decade

I remember my brother used to have these huge stacks of cassettes filled with pop songs and Indian pop industry was at its peak with players like Shaan, Daler mehndi, Sunita Rao, Anamika . Bollywood music was badly hit by the arrival of this genre of music. Singers like lucky ali, silk route, euphoria were like a real rage. But then Punjabi birds flocked together – Sukhbir, Mika Singh … it was as if Punjabi was our national language and every where, all kinds of people popped up to become a pop singer … it felt really awful, well being a Punjabi my self I could never relate to Punjabi music reason being it all sounded so same !!!

Then came along something that ruined music as a whole “REMIXES”. It seems Indians always run behind things which are easy… just put some bass, increase the tempo, and here you have the song ready. Get some half clad women dancing and it’s a major hit!!. So the pop industry has failed … we rarely hear some strings, euphoria, lately heard silk route is all ready to come up with its new album… Mann I am a big fan of them and all the best to the crew.. I believe they are the most modest and the best group band India has ever had!!

The biggest reason that can be attributed to the fall of pop industry is PIRACY. I read some where that the music industry was reduced too 500 million from 1000 million in one year in 2005. so who are the culprits its “us” . Where do we get our music from nowadays? Internet, prated Mp3’s and no where else and mainly who is the major target audience these pop singers is “the youth”. If their main target audience is lost out, for whom would they make music then? That’s why these pop singers are left with no option to either get into playback singing or get into production. So that’s why we saw this huge eruption of remixes. Who bought them Auto wallas and Truck wallas they are quite loyal to their singers and they buy original cassettes!!!

One more reasons that could be attributed here is: easy money in the playback singing world. Most of the pop singers have ran into that kind of world. Likes of KK, Mohit Chauhan, well they are paid well here and also the risk of taking the whole album on their shoulder doesn’t lie here, so less risky and more money .

SO the next time you buy a pirated CD or download music from the net ...think of the sad state of indian music scene ...think of the west and artists like enrique, madonna, metallica, bob dylan and compare it to the quality of music produced here, Himesh Reshammaiya awful comparison, isn't it ?

SO bottom line is “either become pop singers urself or reduce piracy or Himesh Reshammaiya, hang him till death!!!

INDOVATION at its best !

Yes its right India is shinning, our country is really beginning to glow like a neon bulb, high growth rate, higher disposable income, huge market to reach.. I believe everybody would be reading this since a long time now. Yes it’s true to some extent we are getting bigger and better with every month but we still have a long way to got, not in terms of the size but at the mental sphere as well, its time we got a bit more professional in our approach. So while sitting idle last afternoon with less work at hand I was wondering at some things that have made quite an impact in the last few years, some business that have done quite well, surprisingly!

So the below listed businesses have caught my attention not because they are new in terms of the novelty in the concept but also the face that it is really startling to see these kinds of businesses really doing well in a not so innovation friendly country like ours . I believe that INNOVATION has been the corner stone of the success of our country and any country to do well has to be open and ready to face and accept innovation, it really helps a nation to reach new heights in all respects. To name all the business they are

· ONLINE NAUKRI PORTALS- timesjobs.com, naukri.com, monsterindia,com there are so many and almost every one having a 25 lakh users under their kitty, that’s huge user base and huge money as well.

· ONLINE MATRIMONY- Imagine getting married in India on the net, yes it’s possible and it has a huge market too. Shaadi.com has around 7 lakh success stories; bharatmatrimony.com has 7 million registered users. This is probably the logical assumption that this generation is a lot innovative and we rather easy diffusers of innovation.

· RETAIL BANKING – The banking revolution would not have taken place without this, bank has become a grocery story, e-banking, home loans, car loans, personal loans, debit cards, credit cards all in one stop… money everywhere. was banking so prevalent a decade ago ? Now my dad goes to a bank almost everyday, while a couple of years ago it was merely a weekly affair.

· SALON’- we all want to look good, feel look so in the age of makeovers we have seen a heavy makeover to the hair cut n styling industry, its added dimensions, now u get facials, body massages, make up’s and every cosmetic giants have put their act together n now got in. Lakme, L’orea, Marico’s etc. ask your mother if she ever wanted to become a hair stylist, their parents would have laughed it away

So what I mean is all these businesses that have more than a Rs. 100 crore market each wouldn’t have done well at all say 10 years ago. The above mention business were also light on investment .INNOVATION is here to say and more we innovate more we get ahead. So we still need innovation in infrastructure, governance, human resource operations and I guess we are slowly getting there. Think about it and list down more businesses you think have done well which couldn’t have proliferated say a decade ago.