Pay for your music: Shankar Mahadevan

C omposer-singer Shankar Mahadevan urges fans to “buy” music instead of listening to it for “free”. The 50-year-old feels that listeners need to “support” musicians, especially those who are not associated with a big record label or Bollywood.

“An artiste puts in a lot of effort to make that one song. It’s not just a four or fiveminute number you listen to. There’s an elaborate model that goes into planning it. People who are associated with big record labels or films might not feel it’s that important. But there are artistes who put in their money to make a song. They shoot their own videos, and that’s why they need money,” he says.

Shankar, who is part of the popular music composing trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, wants listeners to appreciate the “efforts” put in by musicians. “They need to appreciate that. People should pay for the content they are listening to. There needs to be a sense of motivation for the artiste, too,” adds Shankar.

He, however, is not entirely dismissive of the listeners, and feels that they are slowly learning to pay for music. “Slowly with the legalisation of downloads, people are now paying for music. Especially digitally, people are going to streaming sites, and paying for that service. That’s good,” he says.

There are artistes who put in their money to make a song. They shoot their own videos, and that’s why they need money. SHANKAR MAHADEVAN, ACTOR

PHOTO: FACEBOOK/ SHANKARLIVE