Lloyd Mathias Shares His Views On the Indian Music Industry

Lloyd Mathias is an Angel Investor and a Marketing & Business Strategist who has held Senior Leadership roles in sales, marketing & business development in Fortune 500 companies, across India & Asia-PAC in Consumer Goods, Telecoms and Technology. Until June 2017, Lloyd was the Marketing Head of HP $2.2 billion Consumer PC business across Asia Pacific & Japan, based out of Singapore. In previous Corporate Roles, he was President & CMO at Tata Docomo and Senior Sales Director for Motorola Mobile phone business in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Lloyd had his basic grounding in consumer goods spending 12 years with PepsiCo. His last role was Executive VP Marketing and Category Director for PepsiCo’s beverages in India. He has been Chairman of MRUC, the publishers of the Indian Readership Survey IRS, Co-Chair of the Device Strategy Council of the Worldwide Mobility Development Group, and Asia Board Member of the CMO Council. In 2007 he was named among the world’s top 15 marketers, by International list magazine – a list that celebrates those international marketers behind outstanding cross border campaigns. After his Music Inc Panel 'Tech, Data & Design in Music', we got to sit down and ask him a couple of questions.

1. What was your take away from Music Inc 2.0?

   An exciting conclave that got together music industry leaders, brand marketers, and artists. The event also was an interesting mix of keynotes, panels and performances that made it engaging for the audiences.  My big takeaway: the music industry is on the threshold of change and may be on the way to robust growth again.

2. What do you think is the state and scope of music in the present scenario in India?

   Music in India is seeing a revival thanks to streaming with the spate of OTT brands ad the worlds’ lowest data prices. Bollywood music has always been the core driver, but now increasingly regional music is beginning to gain in popularity.  As far the scope goes, the sky is the limit.  However, importantly, I see structural change with independent artists now having the ability to record, publish and grow their following independent of promoters and labels.

3. How do you think different industries/government can contribute to the music culture?

   Music is already a big part of our culture –so, minimal interventions in areas like rights protection, ensuring artists get rewarded for their creation, and provision of better venues for live entertainment.  Music powers many industries like Radio, Streaming services and most celebratory occasions; but unfortunately, so what accrues to music creators – the music companies and artists are a very minuscule percentage.  This needs redressing for the long-term health and prosperity of the industry.

4. How do you think live music can integrate into different sections of the industry?

   Live music can give music and artists a whole new monetizing opportunity given advancements in technology that can make live performances more engaging and cost-effective.  Also, with millennial consumers keen to take in real experiences, live performances are well poised.  However, issues pertaining to organizing live performances - quality venues, fewer hurdles from local authorities need sorting.

5. What direction do you think the music industry is heading in, in the future?

   I see the music industry headed toward a bright future with the focus shifting back to the performer.  Also increased use of music by brands as they see music as a critical element to enhance brand communications and appeal in an increasingly distracted world.