Music in streaming series hits the right note

Indians first saw streaming video on YouTube in 2008. Disney+ Hotstar arrived in 2015. However, streaming shows and films truly took off only after the entry of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in 2016. From almost nothing, the market has grown to ₹31,000 crore in advertising and pay revenue by 2023. Currently, over 524 million Indians watch streaming video, according to Comscore data. This growth is creating several opportunities and raising some challenging questions for other parts of the entertainment ecosystem.

- VANITA KOHLI-KHANDEKAR

For instance, how should the music within a streaming show or film be treated?

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Heeramandi — The Diamond Bazaar, an eight-episode series about courtesans in pre-partition India, landed on Netflix in May this year. It hit the top 10 in 43 countries, including the US, UK, Germany, and Australia. Its music, however, posed a challenge.

Most labels were hesitant to pay the (reportedly steep) asking price for its classically inclined nine songs. It was, after all, a streaming show and not the full-length theatrical extravaganzas Bhansali is known for, says the head of one music company. "There is a belief that series music doesn't work," adds Prerna Singh, chief executive officer (CEO), Bhansali Productions. That is when Bhansali, who had also composed the music, went ahead and launched his own label.

By September, Heeramandi's songs had been streamed (listened to) over 200 million times, says Singh.

Imtiaz Ali's Amar Singh Chamkila, a Netflix film, features the original songs that Chamkila — known as the Elvis of Punjab — wrote, composed, and sang before being assassinated in 1988 at the age of 27. Many of these songs are owned by Saregama. There are also six (superb) new songs written by Irshad Kamil and set to music by A R Rahman. Saregama came in as co-producer and therefore holds the rights to these songs as well.