Raftaar: The music industry has forever failed to innovate

The singer-rapper hopes that the music industry adapts to the new technology and get on the path of change.

As live concerts and music festivals have largely been put on hold and the world is adapting to the changing realities, singer-rapper Raftaar feels the music industry is losing a chance to innovate. And that, he says, is something that’s disturbing the career rhythm of artistes as well.

Singer-rapper Raftaar says that there needs to be acceptance from the juggernauts of the music industry.

“The music industry has forever failed to innovate, and its failure has nothing to do with lack of technology. There are a gazillion different ways for the music industry to modernize every single thing that we’ve been talking about if it wanted to,” Raftaar shares, 32, who is challenging the status quo by embracing emerging technologies.

He has become the first Indian artiste to accept cryptocurrency as his fee for a performance in July.

“In India, it’s very nascent and there’s so much that can be explored. Maybe streaming platforms can come up with their own cryptocurrency and when an artiste publishes music, he or she can receive compensation on a pay per play basis,” asserts the musician, who is a strong proponent of blockchain and feels it can benefit immensely.

However, the rapper, whose real name is Dilin Nair, rues that blockchain-ready artistes remain a small minority despite the presence of technology.

“There needs to be acceptance from the juggernauts of the music industry… Currency is just one tiny little aspect of cryptocurrency. It’s about changing how we interact in a business setting,” ends Raftaar, known for numbers such as All Black, Swag Mera Desi and Toh Dishoom.