Raftaar: The music industry has forever failed to innovate

As live concerts and music festivals have largely been put on hold and the world is adapting to the changing realities, singer-rapper Raftaar feels the music industry is losing a chance to innovate. And that, he says, is something that’s disturbing the career rhythm of artistes as well.

“The music industry has forever failed to innovate, and its failure has nothing to do with lack of technology. There are a gazillion different ways for the music industry to modernize every single thing that we’ve been talking about if it wanted to,” Raftaar shares, 32, who is challenging the status quo by embracing emerging technologies.

He has become the first Indian artiste to accept cryptocurrency as his fee for a performance in July.

“In India, it’s very nascent and there’s so much that can be explored. Maybe streaming platforms can come up with their own cryptocurrency and when an artiste publishes music, he or she can receive compensation on a pay per play basis,” asserts the musician, who is a strong proponent of blockchain and feels it can benefit immensely.

“Let’s be honest, why would a music company want to pay somebody every single day, if they can hold onto the money for six months at a time, they can earn interest on that money? Why would they want to modernise? Unlike previous technology shifts in the music industry that benefited music companies looking to augment their bottom line, blockchain is artiste-centered from the very start, allowing artists to sell music directly to fans via smart contracts; eliminating the need for these middlemen,” he explains.

However, the rapper, whose real name is Dilin Nair, rues that blockchain-ready artistes remain a small minority despite the presence of technology.

“There needs to be acceptance from the juggernauts of the music industry… Currency is just one tiny little aspect of cryptocurrency. It’s about changing how we interact in a business setting,” ends Raftaar, known for numbers such as All Black, Swag Mera Desi and Toh Dishoom.