Every decade since the 1940s has seen a rapid evolution in the way music is created and consumed. From vinyl records, casettes, CDs and pendrives, there has been a large array of hardware used to store music, but all that changed in the last deacade with the advent of online steaming, which wiped out the need to store music. This phenomenon single-handedly changed the ways of the global music industry and how!
RISE OF RAP
Rap has taken a different direction, moving away from objectifying women and boasting about one’s riches, to becoming the voice of the ordinary citizen and talking about their issues, calling out the government and putting society under a spotlight. The rap fever spread across the country after the release of Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy in February, which was based on the lives of Mumbai rappers Divine and Naezy.
Many other rappers came to the forefront with their fresh verses including Prabh Deep, Emiway Bantai, Enkore, Brodha V, Swadesi and more. Rahul Dhande aka Blunt says, “Right now, gully rap is popular because the lyrics typically have lot of slangs. But hip-hop goes beyond all this. Good news is that there are a number of rappers now who talk about real issues, without stressing on catch phrases or cuss words that make the track go viral. As time goes by, the genre will filter out those who succeed only because of such antics. Those who are true to their verse will persevere.”
MUSIC FESTIVALS
Today, the word ‘festival’ itself has a different meaning for millennials and Gen Z. It has become somewhat of a norm for music lovers to attend the music festival they like, and such events occur across all genres, throughout the country. While Pune is the homeground for Bacardi Weekender NH7, Goa has Sunburn, Kohima has Hornbill, Bengaluru has Storm, Ooty has GoMAD and so on.
These music festivals introduce audiences to new independent music, as well as provide a stage for budding artists — and all this happens live.
Of late, Indian classical artists such as Mahesh Kale, TN Krishna, the Norran sisters, Wadalis and so on, who have jumped at the chance of performing for a crowd that is totally different from their regular audiences.
ONLINE STREAMING
Platforms such as Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, Wynk and others, have affected the way music creators release content. In November, when global pop star Katy Perry came to India, she spoke of her plans to only launch singles henceforth, because ‘nobody listens to albums anymore.’ Listeners are spoilt for choice by the exhaustive libraries provided by online music streaming platforms, which eliminate the need to go out, buy an album and listen to all the songs on it.
But in the rare scenario when one chooses to release an album in this day and age, it has to be an experiential one. For example, let’s take Taylor Swift’s Lover, which was released with videos and messages for listeners by the artist on Spotify in August, or even Beyonce’s 2016 visual album Lemonade.
Closer home, composer and singer Qaran Mehta shares that the online streaming sites have become a hit due to affordable data plans available throughout the country, enabling streamers to reach out to a widespread audiences. “The internet is democratising the entire music industry. Now you no longer need to wait to get discovered. All you require is a smartphone or computer to publish your recording,” he says. Examples include the boy band Sanam who present reprised versions of Bollywood classics, Vidya Vox who does Indian-Western mash ups, and Shirley Sethia with a number of original Hindi compositions on her YouTube channel.
Hindustani classical vocalist Pt Sanjeev Abhyankar says that it is important to make the optimum use of social media platforms and online streaming platforms. “When we put out new compositions, people share it in their groups and on different platforms. That’s how it reaches larger audiences, which results in maximum views on social media too. When I upload a new composition on YouTube, which is connected to other online streaming platforms, it is shared there as well.”
