There is broadcasting through radio and TV. It is now extended to over-the-top (OTT) streaming services or music apps. In the Copyright Act, there is section 31 D which does not extend to internet broadcasting. It is to protect the artists who were signing away their rights to dodgy agreements. At present, a radio station can pay as royalty 2 percent share of its ad revenues, and use the repertoire of music of any company. Thus a music industry worth Rs. 3000 crore pays just Rs. 60 crore as royalty to be distributed among record labels, authors, composers and publishers.

The licensing of interactive services at many places is voluntary which means the buyer and seller negotiate and agree on a price.

In 2016, a circular form IPP states section 31 D covers internet broadcasting too . In India almost 70 per cent of revenues in music industry come from digital or streaming / downloaded music. Digital advertising is growing at the rate of 28 percent. The issue is whether to have statutory licensing at more than 2 per cent or have voluntary licensing.

It all started with compression technology in the late 1990s. But start ups such as Napster threw many take aways. The revenues in the music industry fell, but since 2014, they are on the rise again. Both film and TV are experiencing disruption on account of OTT services. What happens in music industry will be a lesson for them.

Movies are being shown on OTT channels such as Netflix or Amazon Prime. Thus apart from cable and satellite rights, these days even the digital rights of the movies are being sold. It has emerged as a new distribution channel. Movie premieres play an important role in the overall content catalogue of the OTT channels. It may be inferred that this may affect acquisition costs of the satellite rights. This is not true . Big budget films still get high viewership on TV and they are key to programming. The reach of TV is much higher than that of digital. Digital provides higher monetisation for the movie producers. The footprint of digital streaming and cable TV is incomparable. The scale on which satellite channels and advertising operate is far higher than anything OTT can offer.

Brands, instead of focusing on reach, focus more on quality engagements that are immersive. They do so through stories. SnapChat uses vertical disappearing videos. It is there on Facebook too. Stories have become the primary way to share things with family and friends. Social media is shifting from text-based communications to truly mobile networks. They capture in-the-moment experiences.

In India, the digital agencies mistakenly believe that the visual stories of TV are being seen on smart screens. They are digitally shot and are released on YouTube and later viralised on Twitter and WhatsApp. They are at times promoted on Facebook and Instagram too. But these are different from the stories of the social media.

Clients too do not understand the medium. Most creatives even today are shot in horizontal format. However, the content is eventually viewed and consumed in vertical format. Therefore the content must be shot vertically.

Social media offers a combination of video, text, pictures, blurbs, emojis, doodles and animations. In India, we concentrate on video. Then there are features like ‘highlight’, ‘swipe-up’ and ‘UTM codes’. These provide greater interactivity and brand push. Most digital designers ignore this. Story telling is passe. They should be brand-centric and interactive. They highlight ask-and-sell (tell the travel destination), pre-sell and sell-out.

Griffiths has written The Creative Thinking Handbook. There are three takeaways from the book.

First, creative thinking is ‘thinking outside the box’. How about removing the box altogether? The metaphorical box is made up of our assumptions and biases. To be creative, it is necessary to remove them.

Secondly, more parts of our brain light up when we are daydreaming. There is link between creativity and daydreaming.

Thirdly, optimism is associated with a creative mindset. If you are positive, you are open to take chances. You are likely to get support and you carry on after a mistake occurs.

Creativity and innovation are linked. Creativity is applied in innovation. Apple envisaged a phone without a keyboard — this is a creative idea. The actual creation is an innovation, i.e. an iPhone.

Xerox was highly creative and they had pioneered many elements associated with a P C. Xerox did not publicise these. Steve Jobs realised the potential of their research.

Creativity is difficult to pin down — it is in flux, something transient. It is better to have a definition that makes sense to you. The new ideas are born out of existing knowledge. They are incubated and cultivated. They are combined to form a new neural pathway in the brain. That leads to a personal original thought. The essence of creativity is thus the way existing pieces of knowledge are fused together to bring forward new original ideas.

Advertising business consisting of agencies, brands and advertisers is in a state of flux. It has bright future provided it redefines and reinvents itself. Business is becoming globalized. Communication technology has changed and media has become personalized and fragmented. Big data has entered the scene. Demography changes as the overwhelming young or geriatric population are seen. The metrics of effectiveness are emerging. The content is becoming two-way which was traditionally one-way. It is being measured in real time. Advertising holding companies are reinventing. They add new capabilities and integrate diverse skills. Brands matter, but brand building has changed. Social media and direct distribution can be used to build brands.

Print media ad revenues stand at Rs. 22,121.8 crore in 2018. It is expected to grow to Rs.22,424.3 crore in 2019.

Print is growing because of the credibility it offers in this era of fake news. It continues to be dominant in India, though elsewhere it has suffered. Another reason for growth is the language editions of print media. Print gives well-researched and authentic content. It makes the medium credible.

As India has general elections in 2019, print will attract a larger pie of political campaigning. There is growth in education and real estate advertising. It is a non-intrusive medium. It has higher engagement and thus has better power to influence and drive change. Readership has grown across all age groups.

English newspaper face competition from online media. There is a drop in readership but it is compensated by growth in languages.

In print, we do not press a button, and still it allows us to pause, rewind and fast forward. It engages the power to move with the written word or headline remains intact. Print is sanity and allows sober conversation with the audience.

However, it goes without saying that print is changing fast. A daily newspaper at the door step becomes dated since the digital and electronic media outpace it. It, therefore, has to focus on views, opinions and editorials. It should have entertainment content. Instead of news, we desire its understanding through a newspaper.

It is not possible to scroll, swipe or click away from an interesting ad. People would spend time on it. They should carry back a good, clear impression of the message and brand.