Should makers release ‘full song promos’ of films?

There was a time, about a decade or so ago, when the audio version of popular songs actually helped sell tickets. Times have changed and the audience of today get to hear the song and also watch the full song promo – for free, without paying for the movie ticket.

While releasing song promos does help in increasing revenue for music companies – who earn from YouTube advertising, etc – it takes a lot away from the experience of watching a full film in theatre.

The audience can no longer listen to ‘Phir Bhi Tumko Chahunga’ or ‘Baarish’ from the upcoming ‘Half Girlfriend’ and wonder how the songs have been picturised on-screen.

Infact, the picturisation of songs isn’t even a talking point after the release of a film, because the audience has already watched it multiple times and there’s a good chance they are bored of it – weeks before its theatrical release.

A song like ‘Kala Chashma’ doesn’t even feel like it was a part of a film called ‘Baar Baar Dekho’. The song has been heard and watched by all, but noone has watched the film.

In 2013, Aditya Chopra decided not to release the song promos of ‘Dhoom 3’. The result? Each song in the film was a surprise for the audience and it added more value to the ticket too.

Not a single song of ‘Bahubali 2′ was released online. The result? Those who want to listen to the songs or watch the visuals again – are purchasing tickets to watch the film for the second and third time. This was the case before too – a section of audience would watch films just for the songs.

Ticket prices have increased, but value, unfortunately, has gone in the opposite direction.

Could ’full song promos’ be one of the reasons for decreasing footfalls in theatres? Should makers release shorter song promos or only release video versions of one or two songs from the film? Why does a Salman / Aamir / SRK film even need full song promos when almost everyone is going to watch their films in theatres?

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40 Comments

  • I agree with Indicine. There was a time when we used to download every damn new album of Bollywood on our phones. Now I hardly care of songs and album, the last complete album I downloaded was Ek Villain. Only selected and popular songs from Khans movies. I am yet to listen to a single song of HG.

  • No .not at all today’s songs one minute promos are unbearable and intolerable. Then how we will bear full songs like baby ko bhains pasand hai or fevicol se or jumme ki raat hai.

  • Stop putting srk in the same frame as salman n amir.nobody is interested in watching srk’s movies now a days..

  • waa indicine kaha kaha se laate ho aise ideas.. good article, the best thing would be to release a short promo instead of whole vedio like dhoom makers did

  • “Times have changed and the audience of today get to hear the song and also watch the full song promo – for free”

    Disagree, we are paying for the internet.

  • @incidine bahubali has broken the 2nd wk collections 111.5crs of dangal n currently stands at 112.5crs wit 2days still left to go n u hv ot posted a article on dat.ur busy posting this shuts weras other sites r posting about bahubali(The greatest film of Indian cinema).

  • they shouldn’t release full song promos, if they want, they should release small song promo less than 50 seconds or shouldn’t release any. I hate full song promo, after release of films they can directly release full songs. no need of promo songs.

  • Your logic doesnt make sense

    Dhoom-3 and Baahubali were huge brands!! Why do u think Aaditya Chopra released promos of Sultan/Fan and Befikre butnt Dhoom-3? Because the name of the brand was enough to pull even the neutral audience!!

    These songs maintain the buzz

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