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RIDING THE SOUND WAVES

and had the option of working on the Microsoft account because of his success with IBM, but bit the music bug and went back to his home country India to set up a music label?

Most people would term his 'calling' as absolute foolishness and a rash decision, but Aditya Gopal is made of sterner stuff, "Mine is a level-headed decision," he says, "I never wanted a desk job. I've always had an ear for music and with my market knowledge, business qualifications and the fact that the music industry is booming, I know my success is a foregone conclusion."

The label he has started, Dnuo, is not just any label. He plans to take on only established artistes and give them a premium platform to excel in and not join the multitude of singers who are vying for the music companies to launch them.

"There is a clear gap in the market for a premium music label," Aditya says on a confident note, "Successful artistes like Daler Mehendi, Adnan Sami, Hariharan or Alisha Chinai go back to the music companies that launched them, but those companies are busy searching for new talent and cannot give them priority in recording time. What we do is take on only these established artistes and concentrate on them. Over time, these successful artistes know where to go when they want exclusivity."

Not bad for a guy who has just entered the big bad world of music, with a lot of talk flying around in the market about losses due to rampant piracy and illegal downloads, but then, this young man has thought of that too. "My labels will be marketed only through premium stores. Music buyers are aware of the added value they get when they buy a genuine product — colour booklet, lyrics, information about artistes etc, whereas with a pirated CD or cassette, they get none and cannot complain too."

Questioned his scruples on entering the music industry at a time when there is a lull and not many hit songs, he says, "That's not a problem, there is always the brighter side. There are up's and down's in every industry but I strongly feel music and food are the two industries that will never die. They've been there all through the history of man."

"Music is such an industry where creativity and talent come to the fore and not the number of years spent in the industry, as in a banking job," Aditya says, referring to his lack of experience in the music industry. Though the label is new, he has managed to create history of sorts with his company's first album by bringing together established singers as opposite as Daler Mehendi and Hariharan in a single album, Destiny. The company, he informs will bring together many such artistes for a fresh new listening experience.

"The strength of this label is that we are concentrating on only one area in Indian music from the plethora of options available — Classical, folk, pop, mainstream pop, national films, regional films, art films, mainstream hindi films — focussing on one area is what makes us unique," he says, "And there was also a feeling amongst the established artistes that they were not being accorded the necessary importance in terms of priority releases, so we are exploiting a clear niche."

This young man's confidence is not misplaced, it comes from the fact that Magnasound, one of India's most successful labels belongs to his father Shashi Gopal and most of the big artistes know him on a personal level.

So he is starting with an unfair advantage and a clear road ahead of him in terms of being the only premium label available for demanding artistes, puts him bang in the middle of a musical tsunami of success that will surely decimate the music industry. Look out for this guy.