Tuesday, July 27, 2010
interview with Shankar Mahadevan
Musician Shankar Mahadevan: Creating Means Taking Risks in 'Untapped Territory'
Published: June 03, 2010 in India Knowledge@Wharton
Shankar Mahadevan views music as a friend. "When you have music in your life," he says, "you can never be lonely." Having been trained since boyhood in the Carnatic classical tradition, Mahadevan today ranks among India's top tier of young musicians. His blockbuster hit, "Breathless," was a four-minute melody sung seemingly in a single breath. How does artistic risk compare with business risk? What can corporate teams learn from the way musicians collaborate? In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton during the recent Wharton I
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is there a difference between learning music the way you did almost like a vocation? And then turning it into a profession? What's the difference?
Mahadevan: You can definitely become a professional. You can definitely become successful. And you can become extremely popular even without learning music. But it all depends on what you want to do. How do you want to perform this art form of music: whether you want to approach it the real hard way by knowing every single technical [element] that is involved in a song? Why get into all that? Or you can just learn a few songs. If people are talented, they can just sing. But I feel that if you learn music the hard way and you know what you are doing [at] every step, you are a confident person. And you are able to face any circumstances, any situation, any form of music. You are able to absorb easily. And you will somehow stay on for a longer time because it is not superficial. You are a learned [person]. It is like any art form. It is like literature, for example. If you are well-read and you write something, there is a difference. There is an easy way out, too. But I think it always helps if you follow the path the correct way.
----------------------
-------------------------------------------------------
India Knowledge@Wharton: What I wonder is what can business people learn from the creativity that a musician has? Because there is a creative side to business as well.
Mahadevan: Yes. There is a creative side to anything. I feel that one thing that a businessman can learn is: do not follow a path that has already been successful. You will never be a path-breaker then. I would never want to create a Breathless [the album that gave him fame] again, because it will always be compared to my first Breathless. That's over. Every time you want to create something, you should look at a new or untapped territory. I'm sure there are untapped territories in music, in business, in arts, in painting, in dancing. Melodically, I am talking from a musician's point of view, you can go and compose something in untapped territories. The risk is very high of falling flat on your face. Like when I composed Breathless I could have just thrown the whole thing out saying, "What is this nonsense? How can anybody sing this song?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
India Knowledge@Wharton: That is a great piece of advice. One last question for you. Based on everything you have said, music is, of course, an art. It is a vocation. But it is also a global business. And it is a global business that has been dramatically disrupted by technology. How do you see the future of a business in which intellectual property may be very hard to protect? How do you see sources of success in the music industry going forward?
Mahadevan: Since you have talked about intellectual property, I would like to talk about the scenario in our country so that people over here (US) also realize what is happening. It is a very sad situation as far as intellectual property is concerned in our country where the composers -- that is the authors and the songwriters -- don't own any of the works. You must be surprised by this. None of the works, which are created by not only us but also the great masters [are owned by us]. This is a very sad situation. It has happened because of ignorance to a certain extent and because of the music companies and the people who are managing the music taking advantage of the situation and writing agreements where you sign off all your rights. Now the government of India is bringing out an amendment in the law and they are giving ownership of the rights to the artists, which is going to be fantastic. If the law gets passed, which we pray it will, and I'm sure it will, I think a lot is going to change. My rights are [now] gone. I am worried about piracy but it doesn't affect me. It is not the money that I am supposed to earn. I feel anyway cheated and exploited because my rights have been taken away.
India Knowledge@Wharton: Are you using technology to reach your audience directly like through your own website and things like that?
Mahadevan: Yes. We have our websites and stuff like that, of course. But I feel that once this law comes into place the authors and writers will be able to retain their own rights and quality will improve. Quality will improve because it will directly affect income. It is not like you just write anything and you get paid the same amount. So things are happening.
Published: June 03, 2010 in India Knowledge@Wharton
Shankar Mahadevan views music as a friend. "When you have music in your life," he says, "you can never be lonely." Having been trained since boyhood in the Carnatic classical tradition, Mahadevan today ranks among India's top tier of young musicians. His blockbuster hit, "Breathless," was a four-minute melody sung seemingly in a single breath. How does artistic risk compare with business risk? What can corporate teams learn from the way musicians collaborate? In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton during the recent Wharton I
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is there a difference between learning music the way you did almost like a vocation? And then turning it into a profession? What's the difference?
Mahadevan: You can definitely become a professional. You can definitely become successful. And you can become extremely popular even without learning music. But it all depends on what you want to do. How do you want to perform this art form of music: whether you want to approach it the real hard way by knowing every single technical [element] that is involved in a song? Why get into all that? Or you can just learn a few songs. If people are talented, they can just sing. But I feel that if you learn music the hard way and you know what you are doing [at] every step, you are a confident person. And you are able to face any circumstances, any situation, any form of music. You are able to absorb easily. And you will somehow stay on for a longer time because it is not superficial. You are a learned [person]. It is like any art form. It is like literature, for example. If you are well-read and you write something, there is a difference. There is an easy way out, too. But I think it always helps if you follow the path the correct way.
----------------------
-------------------------------------------------------
India Knowledge@Wharton: What I wonder is what can business people learn from the creativity that a musician has? Because there is a creative side to business as well.
Mahadevan: Yes. There is a creative side to anything. I feel that one thing that a businessman can learn is: do not follow a path that has already been successful. You will never be a path-breaker then. I would never want to create a Breathless [the album that gave him fame] again, because it will always be compared to my first Breathless. That's over. Every time you want to create something, you should look at a new or untapped territory. I'm sure there are untapped territories in music, in business, in arts, in painting, in dancing. Melodically, I am talking from a musician's point of view, you can go and compose something in untapped territories. The risk is very high of falling flat on your face. Like when I composed Breathless I could have just thrown the whole thing out saying, "What is this nonsense? How can anybody sing this song?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
India Knowledge@Wharton: That is a great piece of advice. One last question for you. Based on everything you have said, music is, of course, an art. It is a vocation. But it is also a global business. And it is a global business that has been dramatically disrupted by technology. How do you see the future of a business in which intellectual property may be very hard to protect? How do you see sources of success in the music industry going forward?
Mahadevan: Since you have talked about intellectual property, I would like to talk about the scenario in our country so that people over here (US) also realize what is happening. It is a very sad situation as far as intellectual property is concerned in our country where the composers -- that is the authors and the songwriters -- don't own any of the works. You must be surprised by this. None of the works, which are created by not only us but also the great masters [are owned by us]. This is a very sad situation. It has happened because of ignorance to a certain extent and because of the music companies and the people who are managing the music taking advantage of the situation and writing agreements where you sign off all your rights. Now the government of India is bringing out an amendment in the law and they are giving ownership of the rights to the artists, which is going to be fantastic. If the law gets passed, which we pray it will, and I'm sure it will, I think a lot is going to change. My rights are [now] gone. I am worried about piracy but it doesn't affect me. It is not the money that I am supposed to earn. I feel anyway cheated and exploited because my rights have been taken away.
India Knowledge@Wharton: Are you using technology to reach your audience directly like through your own website and things like that?
Mahadevan: Yes. We have our websites and stuff like that, of course. But I feel that once this law comes into place the authors and writers will be able to retain their own rights and quality will improve. Quality will improve because it will directly affect income. It is not like you just write anything and you get paid the same amount. So things are happening.
