That ship has long flown for the fans who responded possessively on the 2020 video of the song ‘When We Feel Young’ by Kochi-based rock outfit When Chai Met Toast (WCMT). ‘When We Feel Young’ has over 2.2 million views on YouTube, and the song was added to Spotify’s worldwide Radar list in January (number 55 at the time of writing), which features emerging artists from across the world. WCMT’s ‘Firefly’ is used in the teaser for Farhan Akhtar’s next film Jee Le Zaraa, which is directed by Farhan Akhtar.
Fortunately, there are plenty of other hidden treasures to hunt for in Instagram reels, YouTube channels, and Spotify playlists for music enthusiasts who seek the thrill of discovery as much as the next popular melody. The independent music industry in India has enjoyed a long-overdue rebirth in the 2020s, after it looked to have rolled over and given up in the 1990s, leaving desi playlists dominated by overproduced Bollywood songs.
The phrase “independent music,” or simply “indie,” refers to music that isn’t produced under the auspices of a major record company. Indie musicians are individuals that make music outside of the film business, which has a stranglehold on the music industry and a flair for co-opting creative people in India.
Live performances, ranging from tiny gigs at private venues to big concerts, are frequently the primary source of income for indie musicians. This scene did not go away like Lucky Ali’s solo career, but Covid limitations halted live performances for lengthy periods of time, forcing many performers to focus more aggressively on internet exposure and alternate money streams, resulting in an increase in their fanbase.
A simple count on Spotify’s Indie India playlist reveals that the top 10 indie artists have more than 1.50 crore, monthly listeners. Prateek Kuhad, best known for the break-up ballad ‘Cold/Mess,’ which topped Barack Obama’s yearly list of favorite music in 2019, is one of the most popular among them (the song was released in 2016).
On Spotify, Kuhad now has over 19 lakh monthly listeners. He has approximately 650K Instagram followers—in comparison, Pritam, who has been active for two decades and has a string of Bollywood successes under his credit, has just about 420k followers.
Several up-and-coming artists hail from small towns, such as Anuv Jain, who started his YouTube channel as a schoolboy in Ludhiana in 2012 and went on to win thousands of fans with his breakthrough single ‘Barishein (Rain)’ in 2018; he has over 500K YouTube subscribers and over 10 lakh Spotify listeners. Then there’s Suzonn from Guwahati, whose soulful ‘Sun Lo Na (Please Listen)’ has racked up 63 lakh views on YouTube, and Indore’s Osho Jain.
Source:the print
