NH7.in and fast growing popular e-commerce website, Flipkart have become tag team partners in disseminating independent music of Indian origin: here and also here
NH7 has been taking the Music business by storm with Events, shows and various other activities. Now, it would be making available (otherwise not so accessible) releases from established and upcoming talent of the country. Flipkart would help in the plan by providing its logistical skills and stable e-commerce system. This would be a great medium for fans and supporters to gain access to music and that too at prices that wouldn’t make one think twice.
Similar such venture was initiated by Flipkart.com with Flyte – digital music store earlier this year. This would be one step further for them towards tapping into this highly unpredictable market. Vijay Nair, CEO of Only Much Louder, the parent company of NH7, informed that the initial plan was to independently launch its own store, however, following the launch of Flyte, the company felt that it’s better to align with a player like Flipkart which could offer more scale as it’s already a trusted brand. He also mentioned that Flipkart had existing deals with labels, while NH7 had access to independent artists, so it made sense for the two companies to come together. He added that in independent music nearly 20% artists are aligned with labels while the rest, specially rock and metal artists, release albums on their own, so NH7 would act as an aggregator and curator for Flipkart, and will help in connecting Flipkart with indie artists. The companies are following a revenue sharing model with the Artists , NH7 and Filpkart being the stakeholders.
The store is open for business and is offering DRM free releases from more than 50 Indie artists ranging from Pentagram, Midival Punditz, Swarthama to Dualist Inquiry. A shortfall is that they offer only digital music. This will not allow fans to buy cds or merchandise of their artists. Flipkart.com’s famous and popular cash on delivery mechanism would also not be put to use due to this. Digital sales also makes the music on offer more susceptible to being made available for downloads as compared to the traditional medium. The linking to the NH7 store on the website too is weak, to say the least. One might have to use Google to find the page. Apart from these loose ends, this is a great initiative for the music industry as a whole. Though there exist other e-commerce store, which provide similar services, the tieup has allowed and provided people access to larger and much diverse catalogues since the Times Group pulled the plug on Planet M. Much more to be on offer has been promised in the next three months including a music player that would allow previews on the website
