Composer-singer Salim Merchant, along with brother Sulaiman Merchant, utilised the Coronavirus pandemic time quite constructively. Since the duo (also known as Salim-Sulaiman) didn’t have any gigs during the last two years, they utilised the time to fulfil their long-pending dream of making independent music under their own label. “Every song was a reflection of our emotions. This phase gave us the time to complete the tracks that were lying unfinished with me for a long time. Working on the singles became like a nasha for me, and every week, I’d create a new song,” says Salim, who turned 48 yesterday and had a low-key birthday with close friends and family.

After completing the singles, the duo made the most of every unlock opportunity to shoot the music videos. “The only challenge was to film the videos, because of the restrictions that Covid-19 brought along,” says Salim, as he goes on to highlight another area of concern.

“Budget was a worry, as we funded the singles ourselves during the pandemic. At that time, we didn’t know when we would perform next and where our next revenue stream would come from. But there was a saving and we decided to go for it. There was a sense of satisfaction and liberation when we spent that money for shooting the music videos,” says Salim.

Ask the Chak De! India (2007) composer if working on independent music felt any different from film music, and Salim says, “Sulaiman and I have been making independent music since 2013, and I never felt any difference between film and non-film music, because even for movies, we made very indie kind of songs. For instance, Ainvayi Ainvayi (Band Baaja Baaraat; 2010) has an indie vibe.”

While many artistes crib about the monotony that the pandemic brought along, for Salim, it was a different story. Calling it a learning phase, he shares, “The fact that the pandemic went on for so long gave us the time to make more music. It empowered us that way. I learnt the importance of being consistent, pushing myself to a creative world, disconnecting myself from watching any movies or shows and creating music. It was a learning phase for me.”

Before their search to collaborate with the appropriate trading company bore result, Salim Merchant, along with brother Sulaiman, had been prepping to launch his non-fungible tokens (NFTs), for a while. The duo had been investing in cryptocurrency since a long time, and making their art accessible via NFTs was only a natural extension of their investment in digital portfolios.

“It is an interesting space to explore. As an artiste, you can make an exclusive art — be it music, or a painting — and fans can remember you by this work. We know how things in the crypto space work,” says Salim, adding that it was while breathing life into his passion project, Bhoomi 2021 that the brothers simultaneously began work on preparing exclusive content for their NFTs.

“These are exclusive things that fans can own; they are not available anywhere else. There are certain songs, and music pieces that we thought will fit this [investment]. The process has been on since four months. We were going to launch it in Diwali, but are finally bringing it out now, before Christmas.”

Concerns over copyright issues kept them from entertaining the idea of making their film music available as artwork on the platform. What they have dabbled in is pop music. “Some of the stuff is funky, the rest is futuristic. A lot of creative hard work has gone into designing it,” says the musician, who is also eager to purchase NFTs of other musicians whom he considers “my heroes”.

The duo is the latest to join the league of artistes who have been turning to digital currencies as a new income stream. Rapper Raftaar, Ritviz, Nucleya, and Mika Singh are some of the other names who have also reportedly launched NFTs to capitalise on the digital currency boom.

Nishad Neelambaran (HINDUSTAN TIMES; June 24, 2020)

Singer Sonu Nigam recently put out a vlog where he was seen talking about favouritism in the music fraternity and also called out the “music mafias”. Now, Salim Merchant from the composer duo Salim-Sulaiman, has come out saying that he agrees with what Nigam says.

“It is not just the singers, the composers are also going through a tough time. The record labels he is talking about has certain music directors and singers they work with. There are certain artistes they have signed. There is definitely that favouritism,” he says.

Throwing more light on the topic, he shares, “There are a lot of composers like me, who don’t want to do just one song in a film. But there are others who are comfortable with the record label’s terms and conditions. Whatever Sonu has said is the truth. There are singers who get called and get dumped later on. There are so many directors who want to work with us, but when it reaches the record labels, they have their own conditions.”

Ask him if they’ve ever been asked to change any singer, and he says, “No, we haven’t. However, we’ve got feedbacks from directors and producers to try another singer. And we tried, but it has been done respectfully. These decisions have been taken mutually. For instance, for Ainvayi Ainvayi (Band Baaja Baaraat; 2010), we had recorded with Master Saleem, who has a folk touch in his voice. And Aditya Chopra wanted a lighter voice for Ranveer Singh, so we tried my voice. But this decision was mutual. Yet, we kept Master Saleem’s name in the credits.”

He points out that the creative process getting hampered is just one level, but there is more to it. Sharing a personal experience, he says, “Sulaiman and I had worked on a project with a new director. The music turned out to be so good that it helped them get a really big actor on board. Then the director took it to a big production house/record company, and the label said, ‘we love the film, but please change the composers’. They have some personal vendetta against us, I don’t know why. It is about time that people find about it.”

Tanvi Trivedi (BOMBAY TIMES; August 21, 2015)

BOMBAY TIMES (May 18, 2015)