MUMBAI: The two-day MixRadio 6th Music Connects kick started with IndianTelevision.com Group’s founder Anil Wanvari and Branded Ltd’s CEO and co-founder Jasper Donat’s welcoming speech and opening introduction, respectively. This year’s agenda for the conference focuses on shaping the digital future and is being held at Taj Lands End, Mumbai.

It was followed by IMI president, Viay Lazarus, highlighting two hurdles for growth and investment that the Indian music industry faces. The first one, the most talked about topic, was piracy. “Consumption of music has gone up, but monetising techniques have gone down,” Lazarus stated. He further added that monetisation is down by single figures, implying the growing changes in the music industry. According to him, the second barrier in the music industry is the division between stakeholders, especially with artistes and entrepreneurs. “Overcoming both the hurdles can help us grow fairly,” he stated.

An insight into the industry was next presented by India and Middle East Sony Music Entertainment President Sridhar Subramanium. He pointed out the declining revenue in the Indian music industry stating that there has been a fall of 10 per cent in the industry even though streaming revenue is witnessing growth. “The industry is healthier now. Everyone in the eco-system is running a profitable business model,” Subramanium pointed out.

Subramanium, in his presentation, stated that India has been aping the west, which is why India has still not been able to create a profitable business model. He mentioned how India waited for iTunes to come to India and how India is dependent on the west to initiate technologies that they could be used in the Indian market.

Looking at a positive growth, Subramanium concluded by saying that the Indian music industry is moving towards growth.