Late 2007, Justin Bieber’s mother uploaded home videos of the blonde teen on YouTube. Less than two years later, Bieber is a global music phenomenon. With two albums released within 8 months of the other and female fans stampeding his every public appearance, ‘Bieber-fever’ is certainly on outbreak mode.
Justin Bieber is all of 16 and the youngest to have 7 songs from his debut album on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The question on every music fan’s mind is whether it’s his music or his age that’s driving this chart mania.
To be honest, it’s a little bit of both. Bieber at 16 makes music that appeals to teens in his age bracket.
This opens up the interesting angle of the music audiences getting younger by the day. “As the younger audiences abroad have proved to be excellent record buyers, we began targetings kids in India and it worked wonders,” says Rajasekhar D. who handles marketing for Universal Music Group, which promotes these teens.
Television has been a launching point for teen musicians in recent years. Miley Cyrus is synonymous with her on-screen avatar Hannah Montana. Cyrus, who was cast in the series because of her ability to sing and act, has now moved on to making serious music. Demi Lovato shot to fame after her role in Camp Rock. Quite evidently, acting in kid-coms ensures an amount of popularity that makes teen audiences buy their music when they take that step. The Jonas Brothers also made it big through the same show and have now tallied four music albums.
Closer home, a lot of today’s crop of playback singers are starting remarkably young. A lot of Indian talent is being recognized through Indian reality shows.
Tanvi Shah, the 19-year-old Jai Ho singer who was discovered by A.R. Rahman says, “I don’t think age holds a candle to talent, as far as music is concerned. It’s all about the fan following. Once you have a set amount of fans, that’s when the fame factor will help your music sell.”
Indian record labels have always been frugal with the number of young bands and artists they have signed. In recent times, there has been a spate of bands like Bengaluru-based Swarathma and Delhi-based Advaita (aged between 19 and 25), who have been signed. “There is a distinct marketing angle with talents that are young, but it’s mostly about innovation. How much of a difference they can make in the music scene ranks more than whether they’re 9 or 90,” says Anand Srinivasan, Head of Operations for EMI Music India. “If they can sing really well, then nobody’s going to object to the age.”
Be it through television, talent shows or YouTube, these young musicians have captured an entirely different audience. If the stars are getting younger, who can blame the audiences!