One Direction

Who is listening to Yo Yo Honey Singh? Is Arijit Singh more popular among men or women? Who likes One Direction? Where are youngsters discovering music? The first edition of the Sony Music Segmentation Study has thrown up intriguing answers to some of these questions. A nationally representative sample of more than 7,000 consumers aged 13-plus were asked a series of questions on their usage and consumption habits of music. Shridhar Subramaniam, president, India and Middle East, Sony Music, helps t2 tune into the study, which will be conducted every 18-odd months.

What prompted the study?

Historically, record companies had a group of tastemakers who would say this or that artiste is good and then he/she would be signed up. Then there would be radio stations and music channels where music would get played. It was like a very small club of people who determined popular tastes. Ten-odd years ago, the Internet changed all that. Suddenly, artistes had direct access to consumers through YouTube and social media. In this direct conversation, the role of the editor became less and less involved.

So, what is our relevance? There is a lot of conversation happening around artistes, fans, brand and media…. If you look at the top 10 people on Twitter or Facebook, most of them are musicians.

It’s not right to look at listeners as a homogenous group. The first thing we need to do is categorise people with a similar attitude towards a certain genre.

Yo Yo Honey Singh

Yo Yo Honey Singh

There is a TV show (India’s Raw Star) around Yo Yo Honey Singh on STAR Plus. Do we believe that Yo Yo Honey Singh has got that kind of a national appeal for a GEC channel, which is normally used by women to watch particular shows? Such a question requires a massive study to understand what works for the artiste, for the channel and the audience.

Saturday Saturday

Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania

Saturday Saturday and Samjhawan. Both these songs had been released earlier. We promoted Saturday Saturday as a party song, which is now a craze among the youth; earlier it used to be an item song. Earlier, whatever the song, we went to a channel and asked them to play it. Google search optimisation tools help build preferences among various groups.

Arijit Singh

Arijit Singh

The study, first of all, helps us market our music better. Second, it helps start artiste careers and build a roadmap for them. Let’s take someone like Arijit Singh. He is known for a brand of songs… they have an emotional quality. His songs have this quality of sadness or loss. But guess who his biggest fans are? Men. Eighty per cent of his fans are men. Indian men feel a certain kind of romanticism, they feel a certain kind of loss…. If we were to build his career and grow his market, what we need to do is increase his appeal and introduce women into the equation. How do we do that? Perhaps there is a styling issue. Maybe there is a certain kind of song he needs to sing. Maybe he needs an uptempo song.

One Direction

This research can be used to understand a band like One Direction. They are originally a boy band and now they have grown up. They are no longer 16/17-year-old kids and some of them sport a stubble. Imagine how girls would react to that. We have to put ourselves in the shoes of a 13/15 year-old girl. Every five-seven years this generation grows up. A 15-year-old girl will follow the band for five or seven years and once she turns 20, starts going to college, she begins to look for something like rock music. They move on. Before them there was Backstreet Boys. In fact, the Beatles were the first boy band.

Little Mix

Little Mix

We are waiting for another Spice Girls. There is a band called Little Mix which is coming up. The band is behaving more and more like Spice Girls and you will see them around.

Mumbai verses Calcutta

There will be fanatics in Mumbai and fanatics in Calcutta. Now the fanatics in your city may like rock bands and those in Mumbai might prefer electronic music. Then there are the black T-shirt-wearing guys who exist everywhere… they are urban metal music lovers.

Left to right

If I take young fanatics… for women One Direction is a phenomenon that’s unfathomable. Then there is Ed Sheeran. For young men –– and moving from fanatics to casual listeners –– a Pitbull comes in, then there is Enrique Iglesias. They have instant appeal. If you move further right, there are artistes like Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and people who are more established. On the local front and far left, there is a strong, though small, community that likes indie acts… Raghu Dixit, Sky Rabbit and others. More to the right, there is Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal. And then comes A.R. Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. There is no rocket science to the process but the research allows us to place an artiste on a spectrum.

FF (Follow Friday)

Age: 18-21

Music discovery: Internet streaming sites, social media on mobile devices, listening to music on video websites, browsing music on file-sharing websites, watching bands at concerts, gigs

Moods: Funky, powerful, up to date, sexy, fun, dance-y, exciting

Family Guy

Age: 30-44

Music discovery: Internet streaming sites on mobile, watching music videos on websites, watching ads on TV for new albums or tours, hearing music while travelling abroad

Moods: Original, emotional, relaxing, moody, inspiring, spiritual

Supermoms

Age: 30-44

Music discovery: Hearing music that’s played at home, Internet radio on mobile phones, reading interviews with artistes in magazines, watching ads for new albums and upcoming tours on TV, hearing a song played during an episode of a TV show

Moods: Sophisticated, expressive, dance-y, relaxing, dreamy, spiritual, traditional, fun, romantic, calm, soulful

Culture Nawab

Age: 45+

Music discovery: Internet streaming sites, Internet radio on mobile phone, hearing interviews with artistes on the radio, recommendation from an online music store

Moods: Intelligent, authentic, mellow, challenging, traditional, spiritual, innovative