A recent report by the Indian Music Industry (IMI) — the apex body that represents the interest of music companies or record labels on a pan-India basis has revealed that the Indian Music industry is in a downfall. For the third year in a row, the revenue of the industry stood at Rs 1,500 crore. The report further states that the recorded music industry continues to lose between Rs. 2,016 crore and Rs. 2,791 crore annually due to obsolete laws.
However, the truth is that the music industry has itself to blame for the dwindling fortunes. The industry, over the last decade, has solely become a marketplace of copied, muddled, and catastrophically absurd ideas.
The biggest reason is the overarching prowess of Bollywood over the music industry. Both are separate entities, but the Bollywood has dwarfed the music industry — practically swallowing it whole in the process.
The Bollywood music mafias
Sonu Nigam, a veteran singer and a well-known name in the Indian film and music industry in a vlog had talked about the menace of mafias in Bollywood. The vlog titled disturbingly, “You might soon hear about suicides in the music industry” by Sonu Nigam came in the backdrop of Sushant Singh Rajput committing suicide.
Sonu Nigam in the video, called upon the hegemons of the music industry to be more kind and humane to newcomers who enter the industry high on aspirations, dreaming to make the cut for themselves.
He also recalled how even he has been a victim of the music mafia in India, wherein notwithstanding his seniority in the industry, the singer was called to sing, and his songs were then subsequently dubbed.
Also taking a dig at Salman Khan, Sonu Nigam remarked that one of those responsible for the repeated replacement of singers was the man at whom “fingers are also being pointed at right now.”
To quote the singer, he can be heard saying, “An actor, the one at whom everybody is pointing fingers these days, has done this with me, saying I should not be made to sing, the same actor has done this with Arijit Singh also. What is this? How can you use your power like that?”
Salman Khan and other bullies of the industry have single-handedly destroyed the careers of several up-and-coming artists. Salman, at one point, was after Arijit Singh, but the latter’s singing prowess ensured that he withered the storm. However, even today, Salman’s loyalists in the industry avoid offering any project to Arijit.
Using songs for the sake of it, not for their value
Furthermore, the songs in the Bollywood movies are reduced to lazy plot devices that serve no purpose. They are used during the mind-numbing marketing and publicity spree of the movie.
Once Hindi film music showcased almost all indigenous musical genres be it classical, ghazal, bhajan, folk or qawwali. Today, all these beautiful musical genres have practically become extinct from film music.
Earlier, almost all film music composers were well-versed with ragas and were inspired by the local folk music of the place they hailed from.
The culture of Guru-Shishya in the music industry was a wonderful sight but even that has become obsolete now. The singers and composers have no nuance of the basics and everyone appears to be hacking their way through.
Some born talented singers do not need tutoring but that doesn’t mean one skips learning music and the intricate craft involved behind it.
The downside of convenience economy
The songs of the yore are used to enhance the movie-watching experience. They used to bring the audience back to the theatre. Producers pulled all-nighters practising the song with the singer. After all, in most cases, the singer had only crack at the song. And he/she had to finish it without losing the soul of the song anywhere.
There was precision, patience, and most importantly raw talent required to produce songs. However, the convenience economy has meant that people can sing and record songs at the comfort of their homes and that precisely has led to the severe degradation of the song culture of the Indian Music industry.
Remixes, rehashes, and butchering of old classics has become the norm. Bollywood and the music industry is surviving today by playing to the nostalgia of the audience.
Engulfing indie artists
The Indian music industry has been paralyzed by the disability of Bollywood. The organic, emerging artists of the country are brainwashed to believe that the final frontier for them is the Bollywood movies.
Then there is the music reality show cult which does nothing substantial but commercializes the talented artists into a money-making machine. They get a tiny amount of money for their effort while the producers and the record labels gulp the major portion.
As Sonu mentioned, these music mafias tend to look down upon Indie artists. There is a reason why the Indian music scene has very few Indie artists that manage to sustain themselves for a long period of time. The Bollywood industry engulfs them, rendering them jobless.
The presence of individual identities is the reason why music stars and bands in the West are far bigger than the actors. Beyonce, Kanye West, Post Malone, Justin Bieber, and other such artists are huge across the planet.
The only industry where singers have their separate identities is the Punjabi music industry. The singers have their own personalities, and their audience genuinely waits for their albums. The colour, glitz, and glamour of the industry is its USP, and the singers do not shy away from using it.
The music industry needs to rid itself of the shackles of Bollywood. The audience is yearning for the good, old indie songs – only if the singers are willing to break the glass ceiling and start their own renaissance.