Music forum focuses on life beyond Bollywood
The recently concluded All About Music was a two-day all-inclusive knowledge sharing and networking conference for the Indian music industry, held in Mumbai (August 27 & 28, 2019). The conference addressed the challenges facing the industry and its artistes, and the potential growth opportunities across the global industry, by inviting national and international speakers for panel discussions, keynotes, workshops, masterclasses, connect corners, networking opportunities, and beyond. Since its inception in 2017, one of the most important objectives of All About Music is to empower artistes who create original content, and this focus was prominent throughout sessions held across both days.
While registration on day one was nothing short of chaotic, with no clear indication that the tables being manned by organiser personnel had participant badges listed alphabetically, the scenario soon turned into a pleasant sight as it validated the “sold out” appearance of the conference, indeed a rarity in this recession bitten market. While each of the sessions had their relevance, the focus on artiste rights and the growth of non-film music was adequately supported too. Similarly, the rise in the consumption of regional content was effectively focused on with the presence of Mame Khan, a folk singer from Rajasthan who has since made inroads into film playback with his vocal strength being reiterated on live platforms, none better than at the annual Paddy Fields festival.
However, the break-out sessions that were simultaneously held often resulted in missing out key discussions at the multiple venues identified but, all in all, it was well organised despite cramming in as many topics of discussion into the two-day event as was possible. While the highlights were several, among the more noticeable ones was the session on copyrights held by industry veteran Atul Churamani, who turned micro on what defines sound recordings and musical works and the support being provided by collection societies in terms of monitoring artiste royalty payments, including a much required session within the session handled by a representative of The Indian Performing Right Society.
The Connect Corners – coordinated by Hinal Rajawat from organiser Truly Musical’s Special Projects – was certainly another highlight at All About Music as it provided delegates, essentially independent artistes [some even accompanied by their parents!], an opportunity of having one-on-one sessions with industry personnel.
In all this, if one believes that live music was ignored, think again, as YouTube Music’s initiative at the end of day one was welcome, although the millennial artists showcased were best viewed/heard on the platform itself as their vocal abilities took quite a tumble while attempting to reproduce their talent from [on]line to live.
While sleep deprivation is part and parcel of most conferences, especially at All About Music, it was certainly worthwhile accepting this lack of necessity as the key throughout All About Music was networking — conferences such as this are few and far between, even globally – providing an opportunity for the industry and its stakeholders to meet under a single roof in the heart of Mumbai’s premier western suburb, Bandra.
Taking forward the vision of a musical life beyond Bollywood, All About Music engaged over 950 content creators through unique workshops with top Indian and International brands, supported by speakers and representatives from across the world. This third All About Music conference was unanimously considered to be the pick of all by those who attended it at Mumbai’s Taj Lands End on August 27 and 28. Organised by Truly Musical, an initiative of Tarsame Mittal, founder of TM Talent Management, All About Music has quickly built itself as India’s premier forum for the music industry.
No doubt, this initiative is a welcome annual event with more than a little help for the media courtesy of Sunny and Priyak, both from Music Plus, yet another Tarsame Mittal initiative, and it appears to be only a stepping stone for taking All About Music from India to international.
