ADITI SARAWAGI
Future of
Indi-Pop in India
Indian pop music also known as Indi-pop, I-pop, or Hindi-pop,
refers to pop music produced in India that is independent from
movie soundtracks. Indi-Pop saw a boom in the 90’s as music
on television was not restricted to Doordarshan, and music
videos took up most of the airtime on Channel V and MTV.
The 90’s saw a slew of artists, bands and songs which still find
pride of place in many playlists today. These include Shweta
Shetty, Euphoria, Alisha Chinai, Lucky Ali, Anaida, The
Aryans, Band of Boys, Bombay Vikings, Viva, Aasma, Mehnaz,
and Leslie Lewis to name a few. Not to forget Shaan, KK, Daler
Mehndi and Mohit Chauhan who migrated to Bollywood as
Indi-pop saw its decline in early 2000’s.
Many blame the film industry for the decline of Indi-Pop yet
others say it is the overkill of subpar music with everyone
releasing albums and of course the advent of the digital space
which ultimately saw a complete lull for Indi-pop.
Today, Indi-Pop is seeing a revival with Punjabi music, music
videos and artistes focusing on releasing singles instead
of whole
albums-
keeping
up with
the digital
onslaught
and
shortened attention span of the audiences. More than the
music, record labels are focusing on videos as they act as
selling points for the music. The idea to concentrate on
singles is to maximise the attention each track receives and to
increase its chances of being added to top charts, playlists and
becoming viral, as the number of plays determines which is
the most popular song at any given time.
Over the last couple of years, there has been a rise of Indi-Pop-
music is no longer restricted to Bollywood and this is mainly
due to the rising regional music culture and the underground
music movement along with indie hip-hop which has taken the
country’s music lovers by storm. Indi-Pop is also on the rise
due to the fact that it has become a huge trend amongst urban
India. This has also made way to a number of music festivals
such as the Bacardi NH7 Weekender which started in 2010
and essentially is an annual music festival hosted in multiple
cities across the country and hosts pop artists and bands such
as Indian Ocean, Faridkot, Swarathma, Midival Punditz,
Indian, Fiddler’s Green, Azamaan Hoyvoy, Dee En, and Easy
Wanderlings. There are numerous smaller organizations as
well which organise gigs like Boxout.fm and Sofar Sounds,
which are being able to promote these events simply due to the
growing popularity of Indi-Pop.
Coming to the brand value of Indi-Pop artists and bands, a lot
of brands are looking out for independent artists instead of the
clichéd Bollywood celebrity faces. Brands like
Absolut, and Red Bull have a strong presence
in the underground music scene as do Bira
and Kati Patang who invest heavily into live
music shows. Budweiser has tied up with
hip-hop sensation DIVINE to emphasize on its
promise to give a stage to emerging talent while
redefining the local music narrative.
The social media presence and consumer
engagement of today’s Indi-Pop stars add to
their accessibility and increases their reach via
digital streaming platforms which has become
a major revenue source to the artists as well as
the record label involved. This in turn leads to
further fame both online and offline leading to
live music gigs and even brand partnerships.
This direct-to-fan model is a major reason for
the success and growth of Indi-Pop.
24
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
The Indi-Pop industry has become self-
sufficient in its own right due to a multitude of
factors and the future looks bright. The success
and popularity of the genre shows that Indi-Pop
is here to stay.