The Ministry of Bland Futures

Deep Dive 01 | The proposed Broadcasting Bill (BiBi) needs a vibe check

Hi folks

Happy Tuesday! Welcome to The Industry Playlist 🎵

This is an out-of-turn post - also a different format from the usual editions; touching upon a subject that demands immediate attention. Who would’ve thought I would be exploring the nuances of regulation in the creator space as my first deep dive. Having spent nearly half a decade working in public policy from a past life; the topic of the Broadcasting Bill sits neatly where I have been and where I am right now (writing this Substack).

Besides, I’ll be attending the All About Music conference this week in Bombay. If any of you are attending and have thoughts/reactions on the piece, why not do it in person? Drop me a DM here. Looking forward to meeting!

Now, let’s get to it.

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Edit: The government on Aug 13th withdrew BiBi after pushback from independent content creators publicly, and big tech companies privately, over fears of government overreach. Yay!

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The Ministry of Bland Futures

Hypothetical news headlines in the post-BiBi world

Absurd, right?

Imagine living in a world where this was commonplace. We’d no longer be wanting the "Acche din" then. Am I wrong?

While these headlines are clearly hyperbole, they portend genuine concerns about the potential impacts of the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill 2023 (Let’s call it BiBi for convenience sake 👀). Our cultural landscape might inadvertently become its biggest casualty, especially since much of our culture is now articulated, presented, showcased, remixed, rebooted, and reimagined by good people across the country on digital platforms. Now, I know laws and regulations might not sound like the most thrilling topic, but bear with me.

BiBi aims to regulate the broader digital media landscape. Content of any form shared on digital platforms is game. So much of our (fragmented) attention is digitally captured, so much of our information diet is digitally consumed, and so much of our (elite) lives are digitally shared. Some reach more than others, but fundamentally we’re all behaving like broadcasters. Tough luck, because BiBi proposes to impose compliance requirements on broadcasters (aka content creators) operating on social media.

Read: How India’s Broadcast Bill will muzzle content creators

Naturally, BiBi has raised questions about how it might affect creative industries. For this discussion, I'm particularly concerned about the 'music creator' and their artistic expression. BiBi has some serious implications for the world of music, creativity, and culture, and it’s worth taking a closer look. While it might seem premature to sound alarm bells about stifling creativity, it’s a consideration worth exploring to avoid unintended consequences down the road.

Music is more than just sounds and rhythms; it is a reflection of our identity, a canvas of innovation, and a powerful medium for expressing our ideas and emotions. It is a dynamic and evolving art form wherein artistry thrives on freedom and experimentation.

Imagine if BiBi didn’t like Macklemore’s Hind’s Hall and had the power to censor it - a protest song in an era of apolitical music. Are you sure you want to give BiBi that power? 🍉

BiBi might throw a spanner in artistic expression, leaving us writing obituaries for the human-led creative dynamism currently flourishing on digital platforms. The government might as well let AI music prevail; why bother regulating artistic expression?

Winston Churchill once said:

“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us”

Nearly 80 years since he said this, and nearly 30 years of the digital boom, no one has come up with the digital equivalent of this delicious maxim, to the best of my knowledge. It’s about time.

Think of it this way: BiBi is out to erect a metaphorical building that will shape creativity and opportunity in the digital landscape. Once erected, it will influence how we live, work, and create within them. My best wishes to India’s burgeoning creator economy.

Digital Creators are also our best bet to #KillTheBill

Just to be clear, I am not suggesting regulation is bad. Or that we must oppose regulation in any form. But when it comes to artistic expression, I’m willing to err on the side of caution. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

This new building will likely have an ever-expanding scope, potential for overreach, and high-handedness, not to forget the snail-paced bureaucracy powering the enterprise. Of course, it’s easy to pass judgement on what I think the building will look like. I trust that better logic and sense will eventually prevail, and that reasonable minds will ultimately guide us to what is best for the creative industry.

Signed, sealed, and approved by the Ministry

So what’s the deal with BiBi? At its core, this bill aims to regulate broadcasting services, ensuring content quality, protecting public morals, and maintaining ethical standards. Sounds good, right? Its interpretation and implementation is where this will get really messy.

I can see three drivers why BiBi in its current form is being proposed -

1. There is a legit reason (public good objective) - Things like fake/false news are rampant so there’s a push to regulate all public broadcast across mediums. However, BiBi sounds like an overkill. My advice would be to start with holding algorithms to account and regulate them.

2. This is what government does (evolutionary objective) - Government is what government does. Its survival instinct is to produce more bureaucracy, rebooted for every era. BiBi is just one of those things on their plate that they must do. It’s irrelevant if it is good or bad; it just is.

3. There is systemic social engineering (Machiavellian objective) - My personal views aside, there are enough well-regarded commentators writing and documenting free speech violations.

What do I believe? It’s probably a combination of all three. The overreach of the state is getting deeper and stronger, and at some point we have to say no. Even if BiBi’s heart is in the right place, BiBi-like regulation will throw the baby out with the bathwater - an avoidable policy error in which something good or of value (creator economy) is eliminated when trying to get rid of something unwanted (e.g., fake news purveyors).

Let’s also not confuse this with a personal liberty argument. That’s for another time. What one should be protesting against is the bloated bureaucracy and red-tapism that will come with such a law. A complex institutional architecture will have to be erected which won’t be cheap to enforce, on something that no one asked for. Why not invest that same time, money, and attention in public goods like education and healthcare; not to build another License Raj?

The ‘support’ music creators didn’t ask for

You would think when we talk about ‘government regulation’, we definitely don’t mean to make it harder for the new guy to succeed. There will likely be many unintended consequences of BiBi, especially for music creators, given their audience is meant to be large and mass-media by design.

Despite there being no substantial evidence of market failure or customer dissatisfaction, BiBi is positioned as a shift towards a more modern and responsive regulatory environment, aimed at fostering growth and protecting consumer interests. Don’t fix what isn’t broken.

BiBi proposes content regulations, demanding adherence to Programme and Advertisement Codes. Imagine if every new song had to be vetted for "appropriate" content. Consider the lyrical content of protest songs or socially conscious rap. Lyrics that push boundaries, challenge norms, or address controversial topics might be censored or watered down to fit the new guidelines. These genres often tackle controversial issues head-on, using potent language and imagery to provoke thought and inspire change.

Under BiBi such content might be censored or sanitized, diluting its impact and reducing its cultural significance. Creativity thrives on the ability to explore the uncomfortable, and any content restrictions could stifle that, discouraging artists from pushing creative boundaries.

The administrative and compliance burden would kill artistry before it even gets a chance to surface. Independent and emerging artists would find such requirements onerous, diverting their time and energy away from creating music and towards navigating bureaucracy.

Independent musicians and small labels, often the birthplace of groundbreaking innovation, might struggle to comply with the bureaucratic demands, leading to a decrease in the diversity and richness of the music available to the public. Many such music creators, who may lack the resources to navigate complex regulatory landscapes, could find their voices stifled.

The music industry thrives on fresh talent and new perspectives. If these new voices are deterred by regulatory hurdles, the entire cultural ecosystem suffers. We are looking at a loss of cultural expression if this discourages new talents and diverse voices from pursuing a career in music.

Bit by bit, a bland future adds up

The cultural consequences of reduced participation by fresh talent due to dismal ‘ease of doing business’ in music thanks to BiBi cannot be understated.

One big risk is the homogenization of music. When artists are forced to conform to strict guidelines, the result is often a narrowing of the range of content that gets produced and broadcast. This can lead to a bland and unvaried musical landscape, devoid of the rich diversity that characterizes new and exciting sound.

We are looking at potential suppression of dissent. Music has always been a powerful medium for social and political commentary. The rise of Indian hip-hop in the last decade, with its unfiltered commentary on societal fissures - poverty, corruption and inequality - might have been censored or sanitized for its provocative content under BiBi, stripping the music of its powerful message. Songs that challenge the status quo, criticize government policies, or highlight social injustices play an important role in a healthy democracy.

Besides, music is a key component of cultural identity. It is how we tell our stories, celebrate our traditions, and express our uniqueness. By imposing uniform standards that are arbitrarily prescribed by who is in power, it risks eroding this diversity, leading to a loss of cultural identity.

Beyond bland futures

As we look towards a potential future under the Ministry of Bland Futures, we have to ask ourselves: is this the cultural landscape we want to live in? A landscape where creativity is shackled by bureaucratic red tape, and artistic expression sullen by regulatory compliance?

BiBi, even if well-intentioned, risks confining than nurturing our creative spirit. It’ll be a dull creative landscape for everyone, including the bureaucrats who will oversee and regulate. Let’s ensure that the Ministry of Bland Futures remains a cautionary tale rather than a lived reality.

Our musical cultural heritage, rich with diversity and creativity, deserves nothing else.

Let’s take out BiBi 🍉

#KillTheBill

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Thanks for reading,

Rohit