Does Playback Singing Need To Be A Thing Of The Past?

In this fast-paced world, sometimes we forget to be fair. I mean, how fair is it that singers and artists in India are judged only on the basis of songs they sing in the movies (playback singing), making the market strict, rigid, and very unjust, to be precise.

THE ALBUM CULTURE ABROAD

In the west, artists are judged by their albums, collaborations etc. All of us have heard of the recent music albums “Divide” by Ed Sheeran and “Reputation” by Taylor Swift, such is its popularity.

Whereas India does not have a prominent album culture. A lot of people who have what it takes to “put the stage on fire” don’t get a chance to break through.

Where is the progress and development in this field?  Obviously, not all artists are fit to be playback singers. Give it a rest! We need a blend of both worlds.

Playback singing has never worked in favor of independent artists who want to make it big.

1. Give artists other than the playback singers a chance to entertain you:

Talk about Abhijeet Sawant, the first Indian Idol singer. He was incredible, but who googles him up now? All his album episodes went flop. Why? Because “Janta sirf movie ke gaane sunti hai dost, album ke nahi!”. How much ever mind-blowing they are!

Look at Rituraj Mohanty, Mohit Gaur, Darshan Rawal, Vipul Mehta or any other reality show winner! How far did they get? And look at Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal! Legends, we call them, right?

A classic example of playback music versus album music would obviously be Sona Mohapatra: Ambarsariya, from the Movie “Fukrey” versus Bolo Na, an original Sona Mohapatra song. Following is the data obtained from Youtube:

Ambarsariya – 5,732,049 views

Bolo Na- 502,956 views

Even though Rituraj Mohanty, Abhijeet Sawant, and others are talented enough to reach the heights as reached by playback singers such as Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal, they aren’t getting their big break because we, the audience don’t listen to their albums and independent songs released by them. This needs to change. Talent must be brought forward and utilised.

 ALSO READ: Some Not-So-Mainstream Regional Folk Music From Across The Country You Should Know About

2. Say ‘no’ to Piracy of good music albums:

Let’s see the truth here, do we buy music or go to Google and download it for free? The latter, of course. Even the iPhone users hardly buy it on iTunes. The same people who have spent Rs. 50,000 or more at one go to get their gadget, can’t spare a nominal amount of money to buy good music.

All the independent singers or bands are signed up by a record label/producer who simply wants to earn profits. That is why they invest in the artists (production charges, signing charges etc.), they want returns.

However, the independent singers and bands fail to make any money because we, the audience, are not willing to buy the music, but want to download the pirated version for free.

Thinking about it from the artist’s point of view, inability to provide any returns leads the producers to not fund them in future. Talent=wasted.

3. The Ever-increasing platforms:

The days of playback singing being the only option to get one name, fame and recognition are limited. YouTube, Doopaadoo.com and other such free public portals can make you an overnight star now.

The sort of break which, a few years earlier, was possible only through playback singing, can now be brought about in from such other platforms. Famous YouTube singers such as Shirley Setia and Shraddha Sharma have definitely proved this point, already.

Let’s break the limits and start experimenting with music. It’s time now, that we open our ears to all artists willing to entertain us.

Sources: Quora

Image Sources: Google Images

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