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Music Today may market DD, AIR’s archival music
NEW DELHI: Private enterpreneurship is spreading its wings into Prasar Bharati, the body that oversees the function of All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD). Still, it is not that the winds of change would change things completely.
Unable to take advantage of its library and the rich archival music at its disposal, Prasar Bharati has decided to join hands with a private company to commercially market archival music.
Music Today, a division of The India Today Group, has come forward to help Prasar Bharati market works of legendary performing artistes in the form of CDs, audio cassettes and, may be, even DVDs.
According to Prasar Bharati sources, a proposal from Music Today has been received, but a final view on it is yet to be taken.
The financial modalities have not been ironed out and discussions are going on over the minimum guarantee money per CD/cassette that Music Today would give Prasar Bharati.
Prasar Bharati had earlier tried to market the works of the likes of Begum Akhtar and Pannalal Ghosh on its own by bringing out CDs and audio cassettes. However, such initiatives, despite launched amidst much fanfare, has had limited success.
Prasar Bharati wants to commercially exploit the archival material it has, but ironically no valuation of the library has ever been undertaken – something that players in the private world say would be worth millions of rupees, considering rare footages and performances that both DD and AIR have accumulated over the years.
