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| A DSO live show: Don't think twice, it's
all right |
You're
unlikely to find them listed in any encyclopaedia of popular music.
Even the more exhaustive among the music resources on the net will
have probably skipped them, but Dark Star Orchestra is a singular
band formed with a unique premise. For DSO seems to exist with just
one purpose in mind-to recreate concerts played by another band
(on this one, you'll find reams of information wherever you look),
the Grateful Dead. Everybody knows the Dead, rock's longest, strangest
trip and the vanguard of the psychedelic era. Though chiefly an
American phenomenon, the Dead became the ultimate cult band, cutting
across cultural boundaries and spawning a diehard fan following
(Deadheads) worldwide. Even in India, there are legions of Deadheads
who, seven years after the band's charismatic lead guitarist Jerry
Garcia died, are obsessed about what the remaining members of the
band-Billy, Bobby, Phil and Mickey (yes, first names are de rigueur)-are
up to. Just how successful the frenetically touring Dead was is
evident from one small piece of statistic: last year, the late Jerry
Garcia earned $5 million, from music sales, merchandising and licensing.
Why am I rambling about rock here?
Because recently when I stumbled across Dark Star Orchestra, a band
that is piggybacking on the aura of the Dead, I couldn't help marvelling
at their business model. Between August and October this year, the
DSO is booked for at least 28 concerts across the US and tickets,
which range $16-20, usually sell out. DSO's uniqueness stems from
two things. First, each of band's seven members plays exactly like
one of the Dead's musicians. So the lead guitarist plays exactly
like Garcia, the rhythm guy plays and sings like Weir, the bassist
is a Lesh clone, the drummers do what Hart and Kreutzman did and
the keyboardist can actually play like each of the five keyboard
players that the Dead had and lost in its 28-year history. Second,
DSO recreates The Dead's shows. So if you happen to have seen a
concert, say in 1972 at the Berkeley Community Center, DSO may recreate
it for in 2002, same setlist, exact same jams, the works. Given
that the market for such fare not only exists but is also growing,
the DSO model seems to work. Of course, since they're a cover band,
DSO doesn't sell CDs or tapes of their music, but only tours. In
any case, if you're a serious Deadhead, what do you care for albums?
DSO's when-the-real-thing-isn't-there strategy
is a good business model to follow. And many do. In Kolkata's puja
pandals I have seen Rabindra Sangeet singers, whose voices clone
legendary singers like Debabrata Biswas or Hemanta Mukhopadhyay,
enthrall the crowds. And in Mumbai, an Amitabh Bachchan or Dev Anand
lookalike-do-alike isn't rare, at least on the fringes of showbiz.
But seriously, is faking such a bad business
model? Probably not. Maybe that explains why an Indian brand of
casual footwear makes those ever popular boat-shoes that seem to
look and feel like Timberland. And lest you still aren't impressed,
the brand name even rhymes with Timberland! A South-East Asian carmaker
makes an upscale luxury sedan that looks suspiciously like a Jaguar
but is priced at a fraction of what a J would set you back by. At
last count, the carmaker was guffawing its way to the bank!
But cloning can work as a business model only
if you know a market exists for not-the-real-thing. Like DSO, whose
business strategy hinges on the fact that Deadheads are so obsessed
a bunch of rock fans that they refuse to give up even though the
band as they knew it is no more. Oh, for some of those obsessed
Indian Deadheads here's what you could check out: www.darkstarorchestra.net.
-Sanjoy Narayan
BONDS
Good Debt
A Karnataka government agency
is a hit with bond-buyers. Here's why.
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| BDA's Jayakar Jerome: Good man; good
debt |
A
month back, the Bangalore Development Authority, the organisation
vested with the responsibility of developing Karnataka's capital,
raised Rs 100 crore from the debt market through the issue of five-year
bonds with a coupon rate of 8.5 per cent. There's nothing unique
in that; several government agencies raise debt the same way. Only,
credit rating agency ICRA rated the bonds LAA+ (high safety), a
notch higher than the LAA rating issued to Government of Karnataka
bonds; the bonds weren't accompanied by a sovereign guarantee from
the GOK, as in the norm; the bonds will be traded on National Stock
Exchange, a first for a state-owned developer; and the issue was
completely subscribed.
That's a significant achievement for an organisation
once termed the Bangalore Dead Agency. Much of the credit should
go to 56-year- old Jayakar Jerome (although the man himself claims
he has instituted systems to institutionalise the revival), appointed
to the post of Commissioner of BDA in 1999.
Since then, the BDA has developed 30,000 sites
(between 1991 and 1999 it did 3,400); seen its turnover zoom from
Rs 181 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 842 crore in 2001-02 and profits,
from Rs 90 lakh to Rs 174 crore; and become a leaner (workforce
is down by around 200) and more productive organisation-employee
productivity, around Rs 20 lakh in 1999, nudged the Rs 1 crore mark
in 2002.
Jerome is hoping the debt issue will do something
else as well: "If BDA is exposed to market forces it will keep
a steadying influence on how the money will be spent.'' Much of
the money raised will go towards developing the city's infrastructure.
With its choked traffic and bad roads, Bangalore needs all the help
it can get to boast infrastructure that befits India's IT capital.
-Venkatesha Babu
SPICE
Too Hot To Handle
The Modi telecom venture runs
into trouble.
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| B K Modi: He's apparently willing to
sell |
It
never rains; it pours. Just ask B.K. Modi. First it was the issue
of 'improper payments' made by Xerox Modicorp. And now, it is about
his telecom venture Spice's inability to pay its vendors. Following
a complaint from Siemens, the Delhi High Court has attached five
bank accounts of Spice Communications for non-payment of dues amounting
to Rs 250 crore. And Motorola has already sued the company for the
same reason.
Spice's total outstanding to vendors is reported
to be in the Rs 1,000 crore range. Analysts believe the B.K. Modi
Group is ready to sell Spice. ''But these developments will make
it difficult,'' reckons one. Shorely, if B.K. wishes to sell spice,
he'll have to shore up its balance sheet some.
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