MUMBAI: The world is a stage! Literally.

From the divaesque performers like Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Beyonce, Adele, Lady Gaga, Camilla Cabello to the dynamic Bruno Mars, Shawn Mendes, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, this list can go on and on.

Whether it’s the international singers or the DJs, there is no dearth of artistes who consistently deliver electrifying performances across the globe.

They travel miles and earn millions!

Even if one went back years, there was the very God like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Elton John, Freddy Mercury, Prince, Jon Bon Jovi and dozens more.

India too has over the years churned out hundreds of singing and stage talent too. From the now revered Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle to KK, Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal they have all been amazingly talented.

Today we have Arijit Singh, Badshah, Diljit Dosanjh, Guru Randhawa, Neha Kakkar all very talented and busy artistes when it comes to stage performances and their ability to entertain audiences globally with their chartbusters,

Having said the above, how many artistes does India have today that would mesmerize the world with their stage presence, live wire performances, larger than life persona? Have women go weak in the knees and hold men in awe?

The honest answer is not as many as we would like to.

And what could be the reason for this? Dearth of talent is surely not one of them. We have been regularly churning out powerful singers from across the regions here.

Be it Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and even Bhojpuri. They are ruling the Youtube views and streams globally.

Then why do we not have as many stage superstars as we would like to showcase to the world from India?

There could be many reasons for this.

The most basic one being the genres and languages most of them perform in. Global superstars perform mostly in English, that’s a universally accepted language. So are genres like pop, hip hop and dance which form a major chunk of music heard globally. Not all Indian languages and traditional sounds have a global stage audience.  Streaming platforms have laid open the global canvas for all languages but the consumption could be slow and steady yet.

They say in the music business that creating content is half the job done. The remaining half is the marketing around it. The same applies to any music brand and the singer himself is a brand, no less.

It is so important how he or she is marketed by his label or he markets himself along with his marketing team or agency. Are they standing and singing, does he want to be this singing and dancing star, what clothes, what styling, how interactive? Want that amazing six pack or curvaceous body grabbing eye balls or just the music talent is what you need to concentrate on?

It’s a decision you take as an artiste. Nobody else can take that for you.

In this world of reels and shorts, is it helpful?  Tricky question.

For example both, a Lady Gaga or a Adele have very distinctive performance styles and both have their die hard global audiences. But maybe with a highly stylised and electrifying dancing performance, Lady Gaga captures the early teens to late twenties audience too? Aren’t they the ones most vocal on social media platforms?

In our country, who really comes close to creating the Lady Gaga and Rihanna magic. None I guess. Yet.

All Indian music labels do not have the deep pockets like their international counterparts to ensure unlimited exposure and recognition for its signed artistes. It would make sense for a label to do that in case of their exclusively signed artistes only of course. As it requires huge investments over a period of time. Though in India, for majority of the signing talent, Bollywood songs is the ultimate destination, not so much of being the next Rihanna or Justin one feels.

Never was there a better time to create the global Indian singing star though!

With music reaching the world instantly and simultaneously thanks to OTT releases and streaming distribution, the global audience is waiting to lap up the next big song or the next big star!

If a label can take a bet on a talented artiste who could tick the above boxes and the artiste commits and dedicates his time and talent to what the world is consuming and liking there is enough and more place under the stars for the next Indian singing star performer!

All it needs is a committed and focussed plan to market a talent as a brand the world would want to consume. To plan and chalk out the As to Zs.

The icing on the cake? The artiste and the label laughing all the way to the bank for years to come.

Ms Rajitta Hemwaani, the author, is a music business stalwart having started and led multiple music labels as Chief of Business and Content.

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