Mumbai: Music is a universal form of expression that holds cultural significance across the world. Every region and culture has its own distinct musical traditions, instruments, rhythms, and melodies that reflect the local identity and history. These forms of regional music are deeply rooted in the cultural fabric and are often passed down through generations.
In recent years, there has been a noticeable rise in the popularity and recognition of indie artists. Independent musicians, often referred to as "indie artists," are those who create and release music outside of major record labels. This movement has gained momentum due to the increasing accessibility of technology and platforms that allow artists to produce and distribute their music without the need for extensive financial backing. Indie artists often experiment with different genres, sounds, and styles, which has led to a diverse and vibrant music landscape.
In this context, platforms like Damroo have emerged to cater specifically to regional and indie artists. These platforms provide a space for artists to showcase their talent and connect with audiences on a global scale.
The entry of platforms like Damroo has also played a pivotal role in boosting the visibility of regional music. These platforms have provided a platform for artists who may have previously struggled to gain recognition beyond their local communities. As a result, the music scene has become more diverse and inclusive, with listeners having the opportunity to explore and appreciate a wide range of musical genres from various parts of the world.
Delving deeper into it, Indiantelevision.com in conversation with Damroo founder and MD Ram Mishra discussed further on the streaming platform’s progress, fair compensation for artists and much more.
Ram Mishra set foot in the Indian music industry more than two decades ago, around a time when the world was celebrating the dawn of a new millennium. Having started as an executive, he swiftly went up the ladder to not just produce and manage grand-scale TV reality shows, live events & top artists, but also spearhead leading music labels & media production companies across India and middle east, before introducing Damroo, India’s first and only regional & independent music-oriented ecosystem that caters to the poorly-served richest Bharat.
Edited Excerpts:
On Damroo’s creation and its progress since its inception
I have been a part of the Indian music and entertainment industry for more than 25 years, gathering experience across diverse streams and verticals. During my professional journey, I have closely seen the various challenges faced by regional/independent artists, consumers as well as brands. I also discovered that it was indeed quite ironical, for it wasn't due to lack of any resources. In fact, the realisation was that the Richest Bharat was poorly served, and it was a zeal to fill this gap that led to the inception of Damroo. My experience gave me enough courage to build a platform that can support/empower regional artists live off their art, earn to make quality music and connect with fans, so that the local listeners’ community get served in a much better way. With this mission, Damroo took its first step in Feb 2021.
Damroo has since its inception created a 360 degree ecosystem where we are now able to connect the artists to audience, distributors and also regional brands. Damroo has equipped the listeners with music from different genres like classical, devotional, folk and contemporary in more than 20 Indian languages. Currently streaming more than 2.5 lakh licensed regional tracks, Damroo has emerged as Bharat's first B2B2C audio platform to offer one-stop and affordable solution to artists, listeners as well as brands. Today, Damroo stands tall as a funded homegrown music-oriented ecosystem that is redefining what music streaming entails traditionally.
On ensuring the fair compensation of artists for their work and safeguarding their copyrights
Most regional artists understand that YouTube is possibly the only way to make money and take their art to a wider audience and listener base. Damroo is the platform for regional and independent artists to distribute their music. We handhold them and educate them about using streaming as a way to earn revenue. By enabling them to make money through multiple avenues like -sync license, publishing, distribution and live events, Damroo is also educating artists to come under one umbrella and monetise their talent. Essentially, we are ensuring that they get fair compensation by bridging the gap between music creation and business.
As for copyright protection, we ensure that the creative work of the artist is registered across various global copyright societies. This is the very step taken when we onboard an artist. We also ensure that there is no copyright infringement, where even cover versions of their work by other artists are taken into account, and the artists receive the royalty benefit.
On the importance of having a foundation in Indian classical music before pursuing a career in other music genres and the subsequent advantages it offers to aspiring musicians in India
Indian music’s foundation is classical music, and its impact can be seen immensely on our regional songs and artists. A talented and aspiring musician is always encouraged to go back to the grassroots and learn classical music. This training hones their art, making every note of theirs error free and literally music to the ears. When our artists have this edge and can sing any song with ease, thanks to their training, they are truly ready to take on the world.
On Damroo's primary distinguishing factor compared to other music streaming platforms and its potential contribution to the platform's growth, success, and the advancement of regional artists in the future
Unlike other streaming platforms that cater to popular music and artists, Damroo focuses on serving its listeners local content in their own dialect and language, under well-curated playlists by popular artists, genres, mood, festivals and cultural celebrations. We have a very simple programming process which ensures that an artist gets equal opportunity to get discovered by special features on our home page. And this simple unbiased approach serves our purpose of offering fresh melodies daily to our listeners. In addition to streaming service, our other business verticals like Damroo Distribution Service, Damroo Live and Damroo for Brands have been created to ensure that an artist once onboarded on Damroo, reaches the success he/she deserves. Equipped with all required tools and resources, these verticals work together as a one-stop solution to build commercial viability of artists. And their success is our success!
On data and analytics offered by Damroo to artists and its aid in growing their audience as well as understanding their fans
We provide a dedicated dashboard on our app once an artist has been onboarded. Here they receive all statistics and analysis on the performance of each of their creative work. This helps the artists to understand the trends, rate their own performance on the platform and thus produce more work that has a possibility of becoming more popular. This way the artist can focus on quality as they get better insight into audience preferences, and do more work on those lines.
On the music streaming sector’s evolution in India in the upcoming years, and the potential trends that could significantly impact and globalise the Indian music industry
Technology is front & center in everything that’s happening and the next few years seem super promising for Indian digital music business. While India has now seen the rise in music consumption via legit platforms, a rise in paid user base to around four million shows that India is ready to pay for quality music and this is expected to reach around eight million by 2025. Overall, music segment is expected to reach Rs 33 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 15 per cent.
With this data giving insight into what to expect in the coming years, it is also important to understand the key growth factors. The growing adaption of music streaming platforms by the audience is definitely the catapult for this change in consumer behavior. Penetration of smartphones and internet data in smaller cities has also led to an increase in interest in the regional market.
On Damroo's y-o-y growth rate, revenue model and sustaining the company's growth in the highly competitive Indian music streaming industry
Damroo is still in its nascent stage and growing steadily, we are taking huge strides to grow and put Indian regional music on the world map. Our recent partnership with Horus Music, an award-winning music distribution company headquartered in UK, is a stepping stone in this direction. While it widens our content offering, we have been able to add more languages and content as well. Introduction of podcasts on our platform is also in the pipeline, which will increase the international fan base of the artists and increase the listenership in an organic manner. It will not just enable Damroo and the artists to stay ahead of the competition but also bring us closer to the vision of reaching the global stage that we started with.
On the key metrics that Damroo tracks to measure the success of its platform and its future plans
Daily active users (DAU), Monthly active users (MAU), play count, skip rate, customer acquisition cost, conversion rate, customer retention rate, number of contents licensed, number of artists onboarded are some of the metrics that help us at this stage. As for the future plans, plan is afoot to introduce more tools and resources to amplify discovery and reach of artists.
