MUMBAI: Nothing completes Valentine's Day better than adding a little music to set the mood, especially if you plan to spend some cosy time with your better half. Fortunately, you have a number of options to choose from today. Currently, one of the most popular options is live streaming, particularly because of special channels on offer by Youtube and other audio streaming services. From classic evergreen romantic tracks in Bollywood to all the latest international songs, digital has it all.

If you look through various channels that label companies have on Youtube, you will be surprised to see the number of playlists and jukeboxes available. There is a strong possibility of getting lost in the sheer amount of content available for listening.

Label companies that have their very own channels on Youtube can offer you a variety, from old music to its remakes to its mash-ups. You will get it all. If you are Kishore, RD Burman, Rafi or Lata Mangeshkar fan, you can head over to Saregama's catalogue, which contains some of the oldest Bollywood songs. The label uses this particular strengthen every time there is a special event like Valentine's Day, or any other occasion to re-pack or remake its catalogue. This time the label brought in music composer Babul Supriyo to recreate Hema Malini's songs, which were composed by Kishore Kumar and recorded 41 years ago. Saregama Internet products and services head Avinash Mudaliar said, “Valentine's Day is an important day in our event calendar.” He also stated that they see a huge spike in romantic track consumption during Valentine's week. Saregama has seen consumption in 50s, 60s and 70s music, and has more than 25 channels created for that day alone.

During the week of V-Day, telecos also introduced special offers, with a little help from label companies which provides them with a continuous flow of content as that area sees reasonable growth as well. On digital platforms, there is 15-20 per cent more traction compared to regular days. Mudaliar pointed out that this time they also pushed content that is good, but needs to be revived through re-packaging.  

Shemaroo Entertainment director Hiren Gada said, “We use the opportunity to revive our old content as people would like to enjoy romantic tracks on Valentine's Day.” Shemaroo also concentrates on its digital platform, even though it decided to push out a DVD pack titled ‘101 Love Songs' on the day.

T-Series, the top label company in Bollywood, today, also unveiled a few jukeboxes that included original songs from the latest films and mash-ups by DJs, which is same in the case of Sony Music and Zee Music. The three label companies hold the rights to a number of Bollywood tracks that are generally launched today.

In terms of streaming there is more than 20-25 per cent streams of romantic tracks during Valentine's week.  But that is not all. If you are looking for international music, streaming services like Rdio and Guvera provide a great mix of Bollywood and international songs. Meanwhile, Indian streaming services offer a brilliant mix of Bollywood tracks from Arijit Singh to Jatin-Lalit, Nadeem–Shravan to Kishore Kumar and tons more.

Although repacking old content in a new way is merely a strategy for Valentine's Day, the truth of the matter is that there will always be a demand for this type of music. Re-packaging seems to be only option to make those extra bucks for the label company.