Digitalisation of music was meant to democratize access to it: Sona

People paying money to gain fame and be perceived as successful is commonplace,” says singer Sona Mohapatra adding that this practice is not limited to Badshah. After the singer was summoned by Mumbai police for buying likes she termed it as “building an empire using matchsticks”.

Mohapatra adds that the practice is “dishonest and marketing fraud”. The singer adds that it puts everyone under pressure. Moreover, at times, the money which can be used to pay composers and songwriters for their creativity, is being put to use “for inflating digital figures to proclaim millions of views and a ‘hit’.”

“It has proven to be the death kneel of the creative output of the entertainment industry,” says Mohapatra, adding, “The movie production houses and music labels are in on this scam as well and digital platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are overwhelmed by the amount of checks and balances required to clean this mess up. The digitalisation of music was meant to herald the democratisation of access to music; instead it’s become the opposite and the ones with deepest pockets seem to have monopolised the digital media space.”

Mohapatra says that “it is for the people of India to stop evaluating success basis these numbers and for corporate India to set up a common body that audits such databases regularly before paying these artistes”.