Arijit Singh Now Charges ₹2 Crore Per Show, Monty Sharma Recalls His Early Days

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At one time, Arijit Singh had not gained recognition. In those days, he used to wait for hours in the office of music director Monty Sharma. Currently, he sings in practically every movie in the Hindi film industry, earning as much as Rs 2 crore per performance. Monty Sharma gave an interview recently about the disparity between pay for singers and composers. In the modern world, and also in the past, the revenue when a song is fully produced is about Rs 2 lakh.

Monty Sharma shared, “Everything has evolved over some time.” He explained, “In the past, we used to get a complete song done for Rs 2 lakh. This was inclusive of an entire orchestra which had 40 violins among a lot of other things. Eventually, when I created a brand name for myself after a couple of my works did well, I began to get Rs 35,000 per song irrespective of the other expenses included to make a song.”

Monty remarked, “Your brand decides your worth.” Explaining his theory, Sharma claimed, “There was a time when Arijit Singh used to come sit beside me for hours on end without any break to eat. He charges Rs 2 crore per performance now. People have to pay him Rs 2 crore if they want him to perform for them.”

He suggested that the social media platforms have increased revenue compared to the past when only radios and televisions served as means of communication.

“Audio rights were sold for crores even then, but people heard those songs only through radio and television,” shared Sharma.

He went on to say, “Now, with the rise of social media, the reach is greater, and the income is on another level. Composers now make ridiculous amounts of money. A composer might charge Rs 20 lakh per song, but in turn, he is giving away 90% of the song rights to the audio company.” In his words, it is only the audio companies that profit significantly from the situation at hand. “They are making mad money. It is because there are so many aspects to it, such as Spotify and YouTube. Imagine the kind of revenue they are generating.”

A black composer stated that although technology and other aspects of the music industry have advanced, the earning potential for a composer is still very low. The only realization of profit emerges from the singers. As the face and voice of the song, each of these emerging singers charge between Rs 1 and Rs 2 crore.

In Monty’s view, thanks to reality shows, artists now have other options to earn revenue apart from royalties.

He said, “In my days, during my reality show ‘Voice of India’, I was getting Rs 7.5 lakh a day. These days, it’s endless. There’s a lot of money now. Reality shows pay a lot to mentors. Shows pay a lot to singers too, a lot of money.”

In all these claims, Monty also acknowledged that most do not have the good fortune to get that type of exposure. There is a lot of luck involved in getting that exposure. “People do not understand their efforts. Producers ko samajh hi nahi aata unka kaam.”

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