India’s music stardom has moved from film sets to feeds

Meanwhile, singer-songwriter Anuv Jain — whose virtual lockdown concerts helped him form an emotional connect with listeners — now commands more than 3 million YouTube subscribers.

As India’s audience emerged from being stuck in their rooms with devices, Nadesan lent her voice to Jigra’s (2024) track Tenu Sang Rakhna alongside Arijit Singh, a top mainstream Hindi film playback singer and musician. Despite not having featured in a film soundtrack, Jain went on to play for sold out shows across India.

Streaming surge

Tenu Sang Rakhna has been streamed 7.8 crore times on Spotify and seen 8.2 million (80.2 lakh) views on YouTube — numbers that would have made Nadesan one of Bollywood’s top female playback artists a decade ago. Back then, a single hit film track could propel singers like Arijit Singh, Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan into overnight stardom.

But curly-haired Nadesan was already a viral name long before Jigra. Her 2020 acoustic cover of Jashn-e-Bahara from Jodhaa Akbar (2008) — posted during the lockdown — now has 6.2 million (60.2 lakh) views and went on to soundtrack countless dance Reels and digital ads.

Former duo Mitraz and singer Faheem Abdullah have had similar arcs, with their voices featuring in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (2024) and the surprise 2025 success Saiyaara, respectively.

A decade ago, these milestones would have instantly pushed Nadesan, Mitraz, Jain and Abdullah into the mainstream. Artists like Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal, for example, rose to superstardom through reality TV appearances followed by cult-defining film tracks such as Aashiqui 2 (2013) and Devdas (2002).

But in today’s streaming-led music economy, a hit film song is no longer a guaranteed launchpad. The ecosystem has “democratized,” forcing musicians to build their own communities and keep them engaged — audiences that can later be monetized. Still, a successful Bollywood track remains an important accelerant for any artist looking to widen their listener base.

End of ‘full-stack’ Bollywood

Bollywood once operated on a “full-stack” model — coordinated soundtrack releases, big music videos, high-voltage promotions, and film tie-ins. That ecosystem collapsed during the lockdown, says Sidhantha Jain, co-founder of M3, a music marketing firm.

“While that’s not the case anymore, pre-Covid this full-stack approach was almost essential for a film song to break out,” he said.

“When that machinery came to a halt, there was a real dearth of new music, and that’s when listeners started exploring beyond the mainstream and discovered a wave of independent artists.”

This gap in supply pushed audiences toward indie tracks trending on Spotify, Instagram and YouTube — where Nadesan, Mitraz, Abdullah and Jain built their early followings.

“Anumita, for example, came into the limelight from her first Reel itself. Her voice featuring on Tenu Sang Rakhna from Jigra was a big win for independent music,” said Aniket Rajgarhia, independent music consultant and former senior executive at Outdustry, acquired by Virgin Music Group last year.

A shrinking Bollywood pipeline

Even today, film music supply remains thin. Many producers are remixing older Hindi hits to cash in on nostalgia. That scarcity helps raise demand for indie tracks — but also reduces opportunities for indie artists to break into Bollywood.

“Featuring in a Bollywood film is a good payday for a musician and it does help grow their listener base. But ‘listeners’ and ‘fans’ are completely different metrics,” said Akhila Shankar, music distributor and co-host of The Indian Music Charts Podcast. “All fans are your listeners but all listeners are not your fans.”

For artists, the real work begins after the film song goes viral.

Building communities

Before Abdullah struck gold with Saiyaara’s title track, he already had a catalogue on YouTube. That library helped convert curious listeners into long-term followers.

“When a musician goes viral for a song, people will look for it online. That is the point for an artist to really grow their fan base but only if they have a catalogue,” said music distributor Shankar. “Else what you developed is a fan base for the song, not the artist.”

“The artist, who managed to cultivate a digital fanbase can also monetise them in different ways,” said M3’s Jain. Doing live sessions across social media platforms, meet-and-greet with fans, dropping snippets of an upcoming track before releasing the full single and sending exclusive emails to fans, are a few ways for building a fanbase.

Superfans, in turn, buy merchandise, vinyls, early releases, and eventually concert tickets — the real holy grail for musicians in India’s expanding live events ecosystem.

With an engaged audience, an artist can be assured to at least have a community of listeners, who could spread the song further if it’s actually good. The superfans would be interested in buying anything from t-shirts to concert tickets as India’s live events ecosystem takes off.

“When Anuv (Jain) had released his single (Husn) that year Animal’s soundtrack had taken over all music charts. His single still went on to dominate the #1 position on all top music charts, the power of fandom which he has earned song after song and by playing to shows sold-out all-over India,” said Sumedhas Rajgopal, head – Independent Artist Collective, Universal Music India.

Despite film music still commanding 63% of music consumption in India in 2024 — down from 80% four years ago, according to an EY–FICCI report — the shift is unmistakable. A more artist-led, fan-driven music ecosystem is taking shape.

And for musicians today, a film song may open a door — but a loyal digital community is what builds the house.