Entertainment
Don’t forget artistes beyond film, indie music: Shubha Mudgal
Mumbai, Sep 18 (IANS) Celebrated classical vocalist Shubha Mudgal on Monday urged the music community to pay attention to genres and artistes beyond the film and independent music scenario in the country.
Mudgal, known for her power-packed voice, stressed on the need to focus on artistes from special genres like classical, ghazals and qawwali, saying that they should get equal opportunities to get exposure.
At All About Music, a two-day conference on various aspects of the music business here, Mudgal said: “We must not forget about the fact that apart from film and independent music, there are various genres of music and musicians who are contributing to the bigger canvas of Indian music.
“They do not have the so-called ‘marketing sense’ and, therefore, they remain ignored and voiceless.”
She cited the example of qawwali, ghazal, Hindustani classical and Carnatic musicians who are trained for years and specialise in a certain kind of musical genre.
“I think these genres are contributing to Indian music and are a crucial part of independent music scenario, but that is not even taken into consideration. These artistes do not know how to project their talent for marketing and how to pitch to the music distributors,” Mudgal rued.
Asked about why they don’t reach out to the music labels, the “Ab Ke Sawan” famed singer said: “That is more tragic. These artistes go to different music labels for distribution of their music and they are told to change the style and upgrade their sound by adding some guitars and drums.
“Well, I think fusing different styles is no crime and it should be encouraged. But to cut out those artistes who do not want that by saying there is no platform to that, is tragic.”
Mudgal had in 2003 created a music label along with her husband to distribute the work of independent musicians.
“We created a platform called underscorerecords.com where we are providing a platform to a simple distribution of music of those artists.”
–IANS
aru/rb/qd/bg
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
Content provided by Adverloom