Sing, but sell too

Ahead of the upcoming season of Indian Idol that sees Kumar Sanu Vishal Dadlani and Shreya Ghoshal on the judgesrsquo panel Dadlani addresses the question thatrsquos on the lips of every audience member lsquoWhere do the popular singers go after the show endsrsquo His answer makes it evident that in 2023 an entrepreneurial spirit is just as important as onersquos skill to enjoy a lasting careerEdited excerpts from the interviewWe see reality shows coming out year after year And often months after they are over the most common question that is asked is where did the popular singers go What are the opportunities for this influx of talentThe music business has come to a place where a singer is his own opportunity In the past a singerrsquos career was dependent on the composer It was dependent on the films he was singing for That is no longer the case The participants of the past five editions of Idol have vast YouTube and Instagram followings Their shows on tours are booked out and they perform all over the world A singerrsquos career depends on the legwork that they are willing to put inmdashwhether thatrsquos about meeting composers or creating and releasing their own music Now every singer understands that they also need to be a composer just like until a few years ago every composer understood that they also needed to sing You need to be an artiste and promote your own artistry And if someone follows them they usually enjoy the work of the artiste for life A platform like Indian Idol gives these kids that head start which is significant right now The number of eyeballs that you command is your currency in 2023The importance of building a personal brand cuts across all industries But itrsquos not the easiest thing to do because one needs to have a fine sense of marketing as well Are there any skilled participants who you believe didnrsquot get the kind of attention they demanded only because they were unable to market themselvesMany of them Right from season one you could see that there were some people who promoted themselves and who are today doing far better economically than the others who didnrsquot They may not have even been the winners That is the reality of life You have to understand that music art and entertainment are in the public sphere You canrsquot achieve anything without the public Your equity is how many people love you or the work you put out Take AR Rahman as an example He has never marketed himself But his first few soundtracks were so groundbreaking that people automatically began to admire him Another example is Neha Kakkar who is one of the most popular people on Instagram in the world Shersquos built that following by actually constantly treating her Instagram followers as her friends and family She puts her life out there Itrsquos something that I couldnrsquot do but I admire that she can And people connect with her on that basisDo you believe singers must stick to their niche And what kind of training do participants receive on the showMost artistes today are known for their style of singing In the past either Sanu da Kumar Sanu or Udit ji Udit Narayan would sing every song in an album That approach doesnrsquot work anymore Now itrsquos about specialists Every singer has and is known for one style Thatrsquos also a more organic way of approaching music Before there was one voice for the hero now a hero can have six voices Songs donrsquot matter what matters is how the singer serves the song In Idol they go through all sorts of training To begin with they are very accomplished To get through the auditions you have to be pretty good Once they are among the top 15 contestants they go through grooming sessions There are classes on voice culture For instance if they have been trained in classical music they are also taught to have an understanding of playback singing They also need to learn how to pull back while singing Grooming sessions help them add a certain subtlety and nuance to their delivery