A trio of Indian TV industry professionals have launched PayList.music, a monthly gig series that combines elements of user-centric payments and reality TV talent competitions with gamification.
At the inaugural event, which will be held at Mumbai venue antiSOCIAL on 25 November, seven upcoming Indian independent music acts will perform a track each. Attendees who buy a ticket, priced at Rs2,200, will get Rs1,500 worth of digital coins loaded into their ‘PayList’ wallet, which can be activated by scanning a QR code at the show.
During the gig, they can pay any or all of the artists any amount from that sum. If they choose not to distribute it all, it will be divided equally among all seven of them. The proceedings will be live-streamed via YouTube, where a recording will remain available to view.
Described as “a new model for the live music eco-system”, PlayList.music cuts into the recording side of things as well. Artists retain ownership of the underlying works but the rights to the masters of the specific live audio and video recording from the concert will belong to the company that has conceptualised the series.
That’s BRKthrough Media, who will also distribute the tunes to audio DSPs and share 50% of all streaming revenues with the artists. The track stays exclusive to BRKthrough Media for two years, after which the acts will be able to re-record and release the same song or new versions of it.
A “digital-first content lab, building original IPs at the intersection of tech and culture”, BRKthrough Media was co-founded by Bimal Unnikrishnan, the showrunner of Shark Tank India; and Rahul Hotchandani, the head business consultant and startup manager for the show; along with Komal Thakur, a former creative director in the TV industry.
Their plan is to stage 12 PayList.music gigs over the course of the year, in cities across the country, and for the YouTube channel to serve as a source of discovery.
Music Ally’s take: While any initiative devised to put more money in the hands of creators and cut out the middlemen is commendable, a possible stumbling block would be the pricing of the concerts.
When the average cost of a ticket to a gig by an independent music act is Rs500, PlayList.music is likely to appeal to the most passionate music fans who deeply believe in the philosophy behind the project.
As the line-up is revealed in advance, they might also show up to support their friends and favourite artists, and decide to allocate all or most of their coins to them. That would turn Playlist.music, like most reality TV competitions, into a popularity contest, which is among the things that currently besets the streaming and live music economies. Perhaps having fewer artists perform longer sets could help ensure that both the fans and the musicians are rewarded more evenly.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source musically.com ’
