Film music is finding new ways to reach homes. Moving away from the conventional music release of mainstream blockbuster movies in cassette and audio compact disc (CD) formats, Karan Johar’s latest multi-starrer Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (KANK) is being offered only in the audio CD format. By doing away with cassettes, at least in the initial stages, Sony Music is banking primarily on big audio CD sales of KANK across the country. The results seem encouraging.

Sanujeet Bhujabal, general manager, marketing, with Sony BMG Music Entertainment India Pvt Ltd, said the aim was to cash in on the growing consumption of music in the digital format. “Consumption of music in the Indian market has changed drastically in the last few years thanks to the huge surge of CD/VCD/DVD players in every household in the SEC A, B and C cities. We took a strategic decision of making the album available only in the audio CD format initially,” he said.

The audio CDs have been priced attractively at Rs99 for a copy and are being primarily distributed in the metros and mini metros with plans to introduce the cassette format at a later stage.

The main idea behind the pricing strategy is to make the first-time cassette buyer go for an audio CD by paying an extra Rs44 for the digital content (cassettes tend to be priced at Rs55 each).

The cassettes of the movie are expected to be introduced 7-10 after the CD launch.

“This will not only curb piracy but also register increased sales considering that people will turn to buying original music at a very reasonable price,” said Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Dharma Production, the banner that has produced KANK.

Industry sources reveal that specialised music retail chains like Music World and Planet M stores across the country have sold over 6,000 copies each in the first two days since the launch on June 16, 2006.

And with shelf space for cassettes ebbing in most music outlets, are cassettes soon going to get obsolete? “Not necessarily,” feels Bhujabal. “Cassettes will stay but not in the same proportion as before. The numbers are coming down drastically.”

Industry sources said, the ratio of music cassette to audio CDs in terms of sales has already reached 1:3 in metros and 1:2 in non-metros.

Saregama India’s Kanwaldeep Singh said, “We will be watching the response very closely and if the market feedback is optimistic I don’t see a reason why other music companies and production houses will not follow suit.”