Back in 2021, during the lockdown, India’s independent music scene took on new life. In turn, there arose a vital need for DIY artists to understand their publishing rights and how to make money from their music. Over three months, Anara Publishing hosted six sessions on Instagram covering the basics of music publishing in a series titled ‘Music Publishing Simplified’. The first season answered questions like ‘what is the role of a music publisher?’, ‘what are performing rights organisations?’, ‘how do publishers help songwriters?’ and ‘what exactly is sync licensing?’. They also brought on board several guests, including artists from their roster like Swarathama and Tejas as well as music supervisor Alick Sethi to talk about their experiences.
Now the music publishing company is back with a new season of ‘Music Publishing Simplified’ which promises to dive deeper into educating artists about their publishing rights and bringing in topics such as the job of a Music Supervisor – a role that’s still nascent in India; the benefits of collaboration through songwriting camps; and one of the hottest topics right now – working with samples and beats.
Ever since their debut in India six years ago, Anara Publishing (a sister concern of UK headquartered Horus Music) have had a huge focus on India. In addition to offering local services such as administration, royalty collection and sync, which are tailored to the Indian market, they’ve been striving to help artists navigate the complexities of the modern music industry. One such topic that needs a lot of attention is music publishing.
“The digital era of today demands that artists understand the various licenses that are associated with their music,” says Deborah Smith, Director of Anara Publishing. “Whether it’s synchronisation, mechanical, public performance, digital, or even print or theatrical, understanding these rights helps an artist delve into the opportunities at hand and most importantly generate more revenue.”
With each subject elucidated by an expert from the Indian music industry, Anara Publishing is hoping viewers tuned in will benefit from disparate points of view. For instance, they’re partnering with Rafael Pereira from TINNUTS on a session about Copyright. “As a lawyer in the music industry for many years his knowledge is invaluable,” says Smith. “Similarly, we will also be inviting music supervisors, production houses, and artists to talk on each topic from their area of expertise. We want to make sure each attendee gets as much information as possible and has a chance to clear any burning doubts they might have.”
Since the first edition of ‘Music Publishing Simplified’, Anara Publishing have steadily expanded their reach in the Indian publishing scene. They now represent 18 Indian artists on their roster – including Kidshot, Tarun Balani, Murtuza Gadiwala, Abhimanyu-Pragya and Zariya who were all signed in 2022 – while working on multiple sync projects in India specifically, with clients such as Netflix, Apple and Asian Paints. Most recently, the company inked a deal with OTT platform MX Player. “There’s been massive growth in terms of content on OTTs but we’re also seeing alongside that how influential the music on these shows is in terms of market trends,” adds Smith. “We’ve definitely entered an exciting era for music publishing for independent artists. We want to empower them further by making the most out of their publishing rights beyond sync and soundtracks.” Sessions like ‘Music Publishing Simplified’ allows information to be dissipated to artists on a microcosmic level.
Season two of Music Publishing Simplified will begin on February 28 at 7 p.m. IST over on the Anara Publishing and Horus Music India Instagram handles, with sessions taking place every two weeks.
Schedule
Session 1 – 28th February
Recap: an introduction to music publishing
Session 2 – 14th March
Signing a publishing deal: understanding copyright & contracts
Session 3 – 28th March
Songwriting opportunities: collaborations & songwriting camps
Session 4 – 11th April
Music on screen: Sync vs OST’s
Session 5 – 25th April
The role of a music supervisor
Session 6 – 9th May
Using Samples, Beats and Loops
*Dates are subject to change. Please refer to Anara Publishing’s Instagram page for latest updates.
