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No dear reader, don’t be alarmed!

That is not some placeholder text left behind by our designers by mistake. These are the first words of this editorial because today, I want to talk about this seemingly meaningless phrase that even Google Translate refuses to give meaning, as you can see in this screenshot.

So why am I talking about it?

Firstly, it is the most used sentence in the history of humanity. Ok, not the most ‘used’ but the most displayed/printed for sure. If you have ever made a PowerPoint deck or used an MSWord template, you must have seen it.

Saregama is one of India’s oldest music labels, formerly known as HMV. The label’s catalogue contains some unforgettable gems of the Indian music industry mostly from Bollywood. The company is one of the largest global owners of sound recording and publishing copyrights of Indian music, across 14 different languages.

Saregama has been a witness to the industry’s transition from physical copies to digital sales, though riding that tide was rough.

Helming the operations at Saregama since October 2014 is the quintessential music label man, Vikram Mehra. Under his leadership, the label has diversified into selling unique music devices under its brand SaregamaCarvaan and producing movies through Yoodlee Films.

There is no debate that Ashok Kumar, Nargis and Dilip Kumar have been some of the finest actors to have bloomed in Hindi cinema. In time, they left such large shoes that generations of actors are unable to fill them. Their imprints are studied and studied again in retrospectives of their films held worldwide.

Consider just a few films of Ashok Kumar: Mamta, Ek Saal, Raakhi, Mere Mehboob, Howrah Bridge. Dilip Kumar in Aan, Mughal-e-Azam, Dil Diya Dard Liya, Kohinoor, Ram Aur Shyam and Azaad. Nargis in Shri 420, Andaaz, Adalat and Mother India. In fact, by the time Mehboob Khan’s Mother India was released, i.e., 1957, Nargis was known to be so good that filmmaker IS Johar cast her in a very different role. She was a suffering Indian mother in a rural setting in Mother India, but in the same year she became a tomboy in an urban milieu, cleaning cars, sticking posters, and much else that men are identified with. The wit that Johar was, he called the film Miss India!

The historical divide in the Indian music industry, between film and non-film or regional music is fast disappearing. Though film music still dominates consumption, regional music industries and independent artists are taking rapid strides.

Much of this growth has been driven by the non-Hindi speaking regions of the country. The progress made over the years is due to the quality of artists and their singing. Besides there is a growing pool of upcoming talent with potential waiting to be explored.

In the north the Punjabi music industry has always been at the forefront of the regional music market. But now other states are catching up too.

In October, Desi Records released a Haryanvi song ‘52 Gaj Ka Daman’ sung by Renuka Panwar, with music composed by Aman Jaji and lyrics written by Mukesh Jaji.

Metadata is the backbone of the music and royalty business. Hence the Documentation Team plays a very crucial role in a Copyright Society like IPRS. It registers the member’s work, cleans, and matches the data, to ensure the right pay-outs to the members of the Society.

Metadata problems have plagued the music business for years now. And the problem is much bigger than a name misspelled, or missing or inconsistent song details. Wrong metadata results in considerable revenue loss to the creators and publishers of music.

Thus, the Documentation Team of IPRS ensures that all data ingested in our system is devoid of errors. The team also educates and guides the members to submit clean metadata in the desired work registration format set by IPRS.

Folk music is often referred as the source from which all other genres were created. Every region in the world has its unique form of folk music which consists of a song for every occasion and mood.

Many musicians still practice their historic and rich musical traditions. Though their styles and repertoires differ, the songs are generally about great battles, love, separation, and devotion to the almighty.

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With the Indian music industry growing in leaps and bounds, music education has gained paramount importance. The global nature of the industry has exposed us to various facets, of which Indians were unaware.

India has a rich history of education, with many globally famous universities calling it home at a point in history. Even today, education remains on the priority list. But this has largely remained confined to the fields of art, commerce, and science, which needs to change. The horizons have to be broadened and change welcomed.

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