Vichar Vimarsh with Harry: Kings of the JINGLE

The ad jingle is no longer just a 30-second tune used to sell toothpaste. It’s becoming a full-length song and a launch pad for some of the music industry’s best new talent

   When he came to Mumbai in 2001, to record a music album, singer Kailash Kher didn’t even know the meaning of the word ‘jingle’. Eight years and many hits later, Kher swears by advertising jingles. He says he loves singing them whenever he gets the chance. Why not? They played a vital role in his career.
   “While I was still looking for ways to sustain myself in Mumbai, my friends, music duo Salim-Suleiman, asked me to sing a jingle for them. My first few jingles included Nakshatra diamonds and Hero cycles and I was paid about Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 each. I have come a long way since then, but ad films have been a great pillar of support for me,” he says.
   Kher says that the jingle is always a challenge because one has to create an impact in just 30 seconds. The money too is “rather good”. Consider this — industry beginners can charge an average of Rs 20,000-25,000 for a 30-second jingle. Established singers could command any fee they wanted. The jingle is a cash cow for composers too. Even if the ad does not go on air, people are paid. And they are paid each time there’s any variation in the original ad.
   Industry watchers say the newest trend is for the ad jingle to use established composers, in order to piggyback off their reputation. For instance, when A R Rahman composes a jingle for a reported fee of Rs 2 to 4 crore, he can star in the ad too, as with Airtel. This is also true of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy, who reportedly charge Rs 35-40 lakh for a tune.
   Composer and music producer Ram Sampath says the biggest advantage of working in the ad film industry is its extreme professionalism. “It is the only organized sector for composers to be working in. It has a literate set of peo ple who are aware of intellectual property,” says Sampath. In 2008, he sued filmmaker Rakesh Roshan for plagiarizing a tune he composed for a Sony Ericsson commercial. Sampath won his case in the Mumbai high court. Roshan was directed to pay him Rs 2 crore.
   The ad film sector’s quality quotient is so high that in the last few years, they have become the launch pad for new talent. Many of the biggest names in music today started their careers with jingles, not least Rahman, Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy, Salim-Suleiman and singers such as Shaan, KK and Hariharan. Sampath says this is because of the range of work required. “From scripts to post-production, the canvas of ad films is expansive and this reflects in the music,” he says. He adds that jingles are becoming real songs too. Sampath now has the licence to release a jingle he composed for Close-Up toothpaste (‘Paas aao’) into a full-length song. Samir Chadha, vice-president, films, of Grey advertising agency says the song was first composed and the visuals followed the tune, for ads such as BSNL’s ‘Hindustan bol raha hai’. “Sound design is a huge component of ad filmmaking and we consider it right at the ideation level,” he says.
   Nirvik Singh, chairman and CEO of Grey Asia Pacific, adds that music in ad films is very important. “Ads are a reflection of society and music is very integral to Indian culture,” he says. Prathap P Suthan, national creative director of ad agency Cheil India, says he ‘sees’ any new ad film ideas with music. “When I am conceptualizing, I already have a tune in my head.”