Viral beats: Music labels reel in social media stars to deliver the big hits

Content creators are earning thousands of rupees a month by adding the latest tracks to their 30-second reels to help them go viral. Labels including T-Series, Saregama and Sony rely on social media celebrities to make their new tracks trend.

While marketing expenses vary for each project, music labels and artists spend almost half their budgets on influencer marketing at this point, which helps them sample their tracks to newer listeners, said Sidhantha Jain, head of marketing at REPRESENT, a music talent management agency working with artists like Anuv Jain, Armaan Malik, and MC Stan to promote new releases.

“Distribution of the budget between a mixed bunch of macro and micro influencers, from various content categories, helps drive higher engagement with a larger audience," Jain said.

Influencers have a connection with their audiences and whenever they play a track multiple times on social media, their followers tend to stream those songs on audio streaming platforms. And if a song gets enough users hooked, it trends.

With billboard and print advertising barely converting to enough visibility or streams, influencer marketing to create trends and hook steps seems like the perfect option for labels increase the reach of new music releases, said Hitarth Dadia, chief executive officer at NoFiltr, an incubator for creators.

“This has a waterfall effect onto streaming platforms, which usually means the more content made on that audio leads to increased discoverability, which leads to more streams on streaming platforms where the song is present."

Spotify, YouTube Music, Sony Music, T-Series and Saregama didn't respond to Mint's emailed queries.

A viral opportunity

Social media virality is an opportunity that music labels cannot forgo. Content creators not only help them get a better reach but as the song goes viral, more creators and users select trending audios for their own content, increasing the reach further.

“The last few years have seen consumers discover music in completely new ways—from short vertical videos to algo-driven suggestions on their preferred streaming platforms," Anshul Ailawadi, business head-youth, music, and English entertainment cluster at Viacom18, told Mint.

“Youngsters follow their chosen influencers very closely. While the intrinsic quality of the music track is still paramount, it stands a better chance of being discovered if smartly integrated into influencers’ content."

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Viacom18, according to Ailawadi, prefers working with artists on a barter basis rather than transacting in monetary terms.

Music label Artiste First has partnered with over 10,000 creators across platforms for its releases.

“In today’s saturated market, it’s critical to partner with the right influencers whose style aligns with the track. This creates organic buzz, drives engagement, and boosts streams, ultimately pushing songs higher on streaming platforms," said Garishma Gandhi, head of marketing and strategies at Artiste First. “Influencers have the ability to spread music to millions of followers, making them invaluable to achieving viral success."

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A side hook

For influencers, this is an opportunity to bolster income. They integrate songs into their content, either in the form of hook steps, dance choreographies, music covers, or other ways.

“Music labels have reached out for collaborations on releases and paid ₹8,000-10,000 per reel based on my followers," said Saksham Rajput, a music influencer and live band performer having 12,400 followers on his Instagram handle @sakshamrajputlive.

Labels offer ₹25,000-50,000 “if I, as a singer, recreate an unplugged version of the song or post photo carousels and stories", Rajput added.

Shubham Singhal, chief executive officer of Dot Media, an influencer marketing company, said a considerable chunk of its creators’ income comes from music labels.

“Music labels’ marketing budgets for songs can range between a few lakhs to even a crore at a higher end, which gets distributed among influencers."

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