How did Lata Mangeshkar dominate the Indian music economy?

Barring just one instance, she never endorsed a brand in her lifetime. But her death united all the brand leaders in grief. Her volley of work not just gave them momentary escape from the everyday hassle, but also offered lessons in creation and brand building.

Leading industrialist Anand Mahindra tweeted: “What can you say when you no longer have your voice...? Om Shanti.” While Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said, “The voice, the charm, the melodies will live on for generations to come.”

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the executive chairperson of biotechnology major Biocon, said, “Lata Mangeshkar will eternally cast her large shadow over us n remind us of he us of her eternal legend.” 

Her voice will indeed eternally cast a large shadow over this subcontinent’s music.

 Despite her massive celebrity status, which stretched across decades and beyond India's borders, Lata Mangeshkar, unlike most other celebrities, shied away from endorsing day-to-day brands. 

There is no consolidated figure on what her songs earned. However, there a mountain of evidence on how much her voice drove the Rs 1,800-crore Indian music business, which is now dominated by streaming. More than 192 million Indians tune in to some streaming app or the other every month.

India’s oldest music label, Saregama is home to 130,000-plus songs. Every time any of these is played on streaming apps - YouTube, Spotify, Gaana-- used by short video apps (Moj, Josh) or on TV (ads, shows), Saregama gets paid.

In the financial year 2020-21, the company earned Rs 284-crore, or three-fourths of its revenue, from such licensing of songs by Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar et al. Songs from Saregama’s catalogue were streamed 85 billion times in the last financial year.

“Lata Mangeshkar was the tallest singer we had,” managing director of Saregama, Vikram Mehra said.

Mangeshkar’s songs were streamed 6.7 billion times on her YouTube channel in the last 12 months. This figure can shock even the star influencers.

The top songs on it are “Didi Tera Dewar Deewana” (Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, 1994), “Yeh Galiyan Yeh Chaubara” (“Prem Rog”, 1982), and “Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko To Pyaar Sajna” (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge, 1995).

She has remained on the YouTube list of top 10 Indian artists along with many of her younger colleagues such as Alka Yagnik or Arijit Singh. And she has been at number 11 on the top global artists chart, for over 294 weeks now.

Mangeshkar’s songs or videos are streamed millions of times from a variety of other platforms -- Shemaroo, Saregama, Spotify, Gaana, to name a few.

In 2013, Mangeshkar endorsed a brand, breaking her lifetime resolve. She appeared in an ad for cough syrup Glycodin. The others who come in from the cold included Bismillah Khan and Bhimsen Joshi. When asked why Glycodin, she replied, I can afford anything except a sore throat!”

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