Home ›› 23 Apr 2022 ›› Front
The year-old movie studios are no longer appealing to the movie enthusiasts; motion pictures in cinema halls seem to be on back foot amidst new entertainment companies that have taken the lead nowadays.
The tendency to go to cinema or obtaining digital versatile disc (DVD) or audio CD for recreation has died down. The earlier golden age of traditional form of amusement has been conquered by digital forces.
As a result of digital drive, entertainment source has changed a lot. From DVD-audio CD to now YouTube and Facebook, entertainment platforms are advancing while professionals involved are also aligning themselves with the cutting edge technology.
Sources said once there were around 8,000 whole sellers and 20,000 retailers across the country to sell audio album.
“Due to digital transformation, we have uploaded more than 1,800 movies and thousands of songs to YouTube and other channels including Facebook,” G-Series CEO Muhammad Khademul Mushfeque Jahan told The Business Post.
A lot of drama and playback music producers, artists and audio recording centres have tuned to digital platforms to entertain public and make money.
Besides, armature content creators who focus on multiple categories of recreational items such as fun and remix have vastly entered the digital sources.
The sector people say currently content creators earn hundreds of crores of taka through viewing video-sharing contents in Bangladesh while the government is deprived of a huge amount of Vat.
The professional users of content communities, i.e., You Tube and other social media platforms, are evading Vat very technically while opening an account for the media sites with the info of foreign country of origin.
During filling account information, the account holders select a foreign country as the country of origin that commands high value of their income and that subsequently deprives the Bangladesh government of realising a mandatory 15 per cent Vat from the entertainment professionals.
NBR sources say many Facebook accounts and YouTube channels are opened without selecting Bangladesh as the country of origin.
If the country of origin is any foreign land whose currency is of higher value, then the online communities earn higher revenue.
Besides, several channel owners and local agents of social media are involved with Vat evasion, sources close to the matter said.
According to Social Blade, an American website that tracks social media statistics and analytics, Exclusive Shorts 4k, a creative channel, is the country’s top revenue earner which is an A+ category YouTube channel with 25.4 lakh subscribers.
Its revenue earning is approximately Tk 27.2crore to Tk 438.4 crore yearly which is not an exact figure and the channel owner also refused to disclose his real income.
The country’s 3rd YouTube channel with 84 lakh subscribers Anupam Movie Songs’ revenue goes approximately Tk 3.9 crore to Tk 63.2 crore annually.
Md Anwar Hossain, proprietor of Anupam Recording Media, told The Business Post that, “Bangladeshis mostly watch old movie songs represented by the pair Salman Shah-Shabnur, Salman Shah-Mouhsumi, Nayeem-Shabnaz and the like.
“They don’t seem to watch a movie a second time. So we are focusing on remaking old movie songs and trying to seize their interest,” said Anwar.
“We are fine with YouTube, Facebook’s Copy Right Act, and a strong act will prevent piracy,” he continued.
The sector people say Bangla movies’ storytelling idea is changing; movie focusing on social issues was common during 90safter which came romantic period represented by Salman Shah-Shabnur, Salman Shah-Mouhsumi, Nayeem-Shabnaz, many more.
After the ‘death’ of Salman Shah, the era of Bangla action movie began where Manna and Dipjol were the household names followed by Shakib Khan’s mixed action and romantic acting, they argued, saying Bangla film is now going through a copy-pest system.
CMV, G-Music, G-Series Bangla Natok, G-Series Bangla Movies, G-Series Movie Songs, CD-CHOICE, CD-CHOICE Drama, Sangeeta Music, Eagle-Music Video Station, DhrubaTV, Soundtek are the country’s top YouTube channels uploading daily series of new contents including fresh drama, songs, old movies’ exclusive songs, dialogue and action clips. The country’s 9th channel CMV which is based on drama and music earns Tk 1.6 crore to Tk 18.4 crore per annum.
G-Music, G-Series Bangla Natok, G-Series Bangla Movies, G-Series Movie Songs and Agnibeena are under G-Series collectively making approximately Tk 2.8 crore to Tk 44 crore per year.
G-Series CEO said they also intend on making kids’ content and drama to catch up with the current viewership trend.
Fear for OTT platform
The entertainment professionals say they have already coped up with the digital revolution, but are apprehensive of the rising threat from the OTT (Over-the-top media service).
The owner of Anupam Recording Media said OTT may occupy the Bangladeshi entertainment market within the next five years but they are not well-prepared.
Artistes concerned over Copy Right Act
Artistes Asif Akbar, Tahsan, BappaMazumder, Habib Wahid, Ankhi Alamgir, Mehreen, ElitaKarimare are currently top-ranked YouTube channel owners in Bangladesh.
But the country’s most prominent singers like Mahmudun Nabi, Mohammad Ali, Bashir Ahmed, Syed Abdul Hadi, Abdul Jabber, James, Andru Kishore, Bari Siddiqui, Sabina Yeamin, Momtaz Begum, Ayub Bacchu and Subir Nandi have hardly created their official YouTube channels since they are not aware of the digital transformation while some of them have passed away.
Asif Akbar known as the prince of Bangla song told The Business Post that most artistes were not aware of the digital revolution.
“Our existing Copy Right Act is very old that needs to be reformed to protect the interest of the artistes. The musicians have to create new songs for their official channels to survive this digital era,” added Asif.
Vat evasion at random
Vat officers say not only the viewership of contents but also commercials on social media are also increasing day by day.
However, the NBR is not being able to realise Vat in the same proportion as the Facebook and YouTube account holders are dodging Vat in a smart way by not selecting Bangladesh as their country of origin, and sometimes they area opening accounts from abroad.
The National Board of Revenue received Tk 19.86-crore Vat from Facebook between May 2021 and February 2022 while Google paid twice the amount in the same period. YouTube is a platform owned by Google.
Moinul Khan, director general, VAT Audit, Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, told The Business Post that foreign credit cards and Bangla channels originating from overseas pose a real threat.
“We are working on this issue in collaboration with Google, Facebook and other media platforms to prevent Vat evasion and money laundering,” he said.
Who are top viewers?
The content creators said the average age of YouTube and Facebook viewers ranges from 18 to 24 that account for 50 per cent and from 25 to 34 comprising 33.1 per cent.
Of them, male viewers hold 82 per cent and female 18 per cent.
In addition, Bangladeshis represent 64 per cent, Indian 22 per cent and other nations the rest.
