Bhagwan Kumar Shrestha, president of Association of Music Industries Nepal (AMIN) and proprietor of Ranjana Music Industries, said digital technology has brought more adversities for the industry than the benefits. “It is true that digital technology has enhanced our quality, but it is shrinking our market,” he added.
Shrestha further informed that most of the people are downloading songs and musical albums from website and sharing them through digital media instead of buying albums. “As a result, artistes and music publishing companies are facing difficulties in recovering their investment leave alone minting profits,” he added.
According to AMIN, growth of Nepali music industry has remained stagnant after the introduction of digital technology and subsequent rise in piracy.
“Earlier Nepali music publishing companies used to release more than 500 titles a year. Now, this has come down to about 150,” Shrestha said, adding: “Artistes are not much encouraged in releasing albums these days as it is difficult to recover even their investment.”
According to the association, around 100 music publishing companies are in operation across the country, providing direct employment to about 1,500 persons. It takes an investment of about Rs 1 million to start a music publishing company.
“Our turnover is gradually decreasing due to increasing piracy,” said Rajesh Banshal (Agrawal), chairman of Music.Com, a Kathmadu-based music publishing company.
Officials of AMIN told Republica that annual turnover of Nepali music publishing companies would have been well over Rs 2 billion had piracy not shrunk the market. “The turnover is only about Rs 200 million a year,” Shrestha said. He, however, informed that the Caller Ring Back Tones (CRBT) service started by some telecom service providers has been making some contribution to the industry.
Nita Khanal, marketing manager of Music Nepal, told Republica that the company generates revenue of about Rs 540,000 a month from CRBT alone. “We have been providing CRBT to all telecom service providers in the country,” she said, adding, “CRBT sale is making a significant contribution to the industry that has been hardly hit by piracy.” Khanal told Republica that Music Nepal enjoys about 60 percent of the total CRBT market.
A total of five companies, including Music Nepal, have been providing CRBT for the telecom service providers.
Shrestha informed that the nation is collecting more than Rs 100,000 a day as Value Added Tax (VAT) and other taxes from CRBT alone.
“The figure shows how big the Nepali music publishing can be. It is high time the government took the initiatives to control unhealthy practices to save this industry.”
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