Ignorant Indian PR & Media

Mind you! Though this blog has Michael Jackson reference, its not about Michael Jackson.

Since I was young I was facing a lot of retaliation about being in music career. One basic reason in India – Is it a career? And then there were a lot of explanations being fired whenever there was a chance to take a shot. Each time someone heard the story of some veteran or classic Indian artist, we heard about how they were in a bad financial state and struggling hard to live a decent life. My dad many times kind of highlighted these stories. Though he was extremely right about them, it was not a reason to avoid this career for I knew there were artists in the west who made a decent living for their estate/family even after they died. So what were the Indian artists lacking?

The most important thing was the business of the entertainment industry. Producers or production houses are out here to make money and profit for themselves, so its wrong to say that they are the only exploiters. The exploited are generally people who are ignorant about the music business. Artists who generally perished in a bad state when away from their hay-days were generally artists who were only dedicated to art. Was that wrong or right is a greatly debatable question but in today’s age it won’t be possible to be an artist like that unless you have a rich godfather or family in the form of producers behind you.

Many people are aware of how Michael Jackson earns from the beatles songs, but no one was ever aware about how it happened. A video of Paul McCartney of the Beatles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPAP3-6wae4 ) explains it all. The Beatles were dedicated to the art and ignorant about the music business when this happened. Same happened with our Indian legends. As explained in one of my earlier blogs, Michael Jackson became one of the highest selling artists of all the time not only because he was immensely talented but because he was an equally shrewd businessman. Coming back to India and especially sometime around the year 2000, things changed in our film / entertainment industry.

I would agree that the first person to really use not just the term PR in our industry would be the legendary BigB (Amitabh Bachchan, mentioning for those who are out of India), but then there is someone else who really refined it. It was Shahrukh Khan who actually used PR most efficiently all the way to his glory. Over the years Indian Entertainment Industry grew, grew really well to global standards. It was time for celebration with high budget productions with higher budgeted marketing / PR expenditures. But things started going overboard. Newspapers became more of advertising columns than news itself. News bought by politicians, political parties, industries and our dear celebrities.

Affairs became too boring for people so celebrities had to jump to controversial PR (again pioneered or most efficiently used by MJ). After that before every film launch, there are to be a controversy surrounding the film or its stars. All started to become a routine for people. A layman started understanding that this is all – PROMOTIONS. The people who are most influenced by this PR / Marketing of films are people related to the entertainment, media and advertising industry more than a common man. The poor results of failing PR(s) started showing lately. Promos, opening acts, events for launches, celebrity presence and freebies also became boring. Leading and prestigious newspapers since 3-4 years have now started dedicating two pages everyday for getting pervert readers. One page dedicated to news having huge photos of sportspeople in skimpy dresses and another page for celebrities who could bare their existing / non-existing assets to the max or wear the least. The spaces for these articles and photos are also bought by the PR / Advertising agencies of these celebrities or corporations (for events & product launches). They are well placed after deciding whether to put the article as a news or just a byte.

Media is suddenly jumping to some important news and then ignoring it at the same speed leaving the reader no clue of what is happening. Swine Flu doesn’t become important as a pandemic here, it is important because political parties and governments can hide easily what is not to be known by the common man. It is easy to divert attention any kind of reader to the fear of death away from the corruption that might be deadlier. This is PR for governments and political parties.

But what shocked me today was the ultimate ignorance of Indian media in its business of selling space to celebrities. This was the ultimate proof of how newspapers are not giving news but just fooling you. The global audience was reading yesterday of how Jermaine Jackson’s plan to have a tribute concert in Vienna on the 29th failed because major artists like Akon & Mary Blige are not performing. There will be only B-List (Grade) artists performing in the concert. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ghXtR_-nFJ4974elRs52F6FX6q6gD9AKHAUO1). This morning when the global audience were reading the news that Jermaine Jackson’s Michael Jackson tribute concert has been delayed to 2010, Indian audience were reading about how Jermaine wants to hold tribute concert in India. They also mention that a great Indian singer performing not only in the Indian tribute concert but also in the Vienna concert. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Sonus-ready-for-Jackson-tribute/articleshow/4994378.cms)

I think it should be embarrassing not just for this newspaper but also for the artist who PR agencies spent so much money for the space in the newspaper to get publicity. Maybe it is not the artist to blame, it is his PR agency and the ignorant newspaper that didn’t care to verify the news from the other side. It should be a huge shame for the artist and the newsgroup to see what has happened, but they will shrug it away carelessly as always. Maybe the PR bubble for India is close to burst and then things will settle down to better newsgroups or media where talented artists like these won’t loose their money or respect due to such ignorance. This A-Grade Indian artist will not realize the long-term harm of what happens when one global news agency reports that B-Grade artists are performing in a certain concert and the other reports that he is performing in the same concert.

Great artists generally perish when they start collecting people around them who only say "YES" to their views. I wish that we as Indian artists bring change and show that our cultures, our religions and our traditions have a power to give less importance to ourselves and more to the conscience that surrounds us. Maybe its time to realize that artist is not just about entertainment but a god's channel to pass some message. Let not fame and wealth get us carried away from the art we are passionate for. People who will say YES to everything you say will come and go, but what will remain is the art and not the PR.