December Music Season needs structural changes

-- by Sriram V

It has been around for 97 years, for the first such season was in 1927. Since then, this annual fixture on Chennai’s social and cultural calendar has had its ups and downs, more ups than downs – that is until the COVID pandemic. Since then, technological leaps and drastic changes in the modes of offering entertainment have precipitated a steep decline. The December Music Season that just got over witnessed drastic reduction in concert attendance at all venues and none but the most stellar among performers managed to pull in audiences at their various concerts. If the December Music Season is to survive its first century and confidently step into its second, it has to seriously rethink its model.

It was the COVID pandemic that really changed everything. Audiences began receiving the bulk of their entertainment at their homes. Carnatic music, faced as it has always been with an ageing audience, was hit far more and for far longer. Much of its fan base thereafter preferred to stay at home and listen to concerts being dished out for free, even after restrictions were lifted and events began for an in-person audience. Artistes sensed this change before the sabha-s. Many resorted to YouTube channels and a couple of front-rankers even ran their own sabha-s online. As to how these latter forays fared we do not know, but suffice it to say that the YouTube route has come to stay. That its revenue model is tailored to pay miniscule amounts is something artistes seem prepared to live with. They have at least managed a connect with their audiences.

This is exactly what the sabha-s were offeringin the good old days. Each had its membership base and when it presented a concert or a series, attendance was assured. Tickets sales too were and this way, most sabha-s flourished, for long. Most in reality managed just about a small surplus, given that the last such organisation to build an auditorium of its own, managed to do so in the 1980s! But as long as audiences were coming and a surplus was made, you could coast along.

Sketch of Music Academy, by Aafreen Fathima.

The 1990s-2010s were the golden age of the Season and the sabha-s, when they made that surplus. That was when their numbers proliferated and so too that of the audience – fed by NRI-s. And it was a win-win – the sabha concerts became talent-spotting events and musicians who impressed could hope for a concert tour abroad, and many teaching assignments, apart from arangetram invites. The venues were also where CDs of the musicians were sold, as were books and other merchandise. We of the consumer class may have scoffed but it was this economic model that kept the Carnatic music world afloat. We may not realise it, but musicians too need to earn.

Direct to Home offering of Carnatic music via YouTube and other channels has bypassed the sabha-s altogether. Who needs them when all of the above can be managed through a good presence on social media and streaming of concerts online? That the latter has not been cracked commercially (all musicians are offering concerts for free) is a deterrent but time will offer a solution and then what of the sabha-s?

It is very likely that only those that are perceived to add value – by way of listening comfort, curation of content and quality of venue will survive. And that will mean the Season will probably go back to what it was in the 1980s – a handful of organisations conducting it. That may not be such a bad thing after all, quality may triumph over quantity. But even the survivors will need to sort out many things if they need to survive- the most important being considered by artistes to be venues where it makes sense for them to perform.

Artistes too need to do some soul-searching. For how long will they offer their art for free? How will this encourage youngsters to take to Carnatic music if earning possibilities continue to dwindle? And will AI swallow what little there is? At present there are no answers. But these questions need to be faced squarely.

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