The pandemic was a blessing in some ways for the industry, say musicians

Just like every other industry and business across the globe, the music industry too faced multiple upheavals in the last over 18 months. With live shows, concerts and music festivals completely on hold till a few months ago, musicians and everyone associated with these live events had been hit hard, not just monetarily but emotionally as well. That apart, even some studios had to shut down.
While a lot of events, shows and concerts have already begun now, reminiscing about the year gone by, music artistes agree wholeheartedly that there has been a silver lining to 2021…
‘We adapted and honed skills’
Singer Jonita Gandhi, who has given us many melodious tracks, including, ‘The Breakup Song’, ‘Gilehriyaan’, ‘Yaadon Mein’, ‘Aahista’ and others, says that the pandemic has taught music artistes to adapt. “The pandemic forced us to learn to pivot really quickly to utilize digital resources. In general, the music industry is having a very steep transition to digital in all aspects, but that still leaves many without work transitioning to other sectors or learning new trades. Fortunately for some, we have been able to adapt to virtual concerts and normalize remote recordings.”
Aaman Trikha who has had a decade-long career in Bollywood and has been a part of albums like 'OMG: Oh My God!', S'on of Sardaar', 'Khiladi 786' and 'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' among others, adds, “This pandemic time has been utilised constructively by artistes to develop and hone the skills, knowledge, exploring new dimensions of musical ideas in terms of song-writing and composing.”
‘The pandemic made us value life and music’
Known for tracks like ‘Akh Lad Jaave’, ‘Kinna Sona’, ‘Phir Mulaaqat’ and others, singer Jubin Nautiyal is someone for whom the pandemic came as an eye-opener. For someone who was used to doing around 22 concerts in 29 days, the multiple lockdowns came as a shock initially. He tells us, “The pandemic hit us suddenly, and we all had no work. I think that’s when I realised how important music was to me. When I found myself in the (first) lockdown, I realised that I hadn’t been at home like this in the last eight years! I started learning a new language and began singing in English. I did a song for the Hollywood thriller 'Initiation' titled 'Breaking The Rules' during the pandemic. Also, I decided to do my first ‘Rooftop Concert’ and then the 'Garden Concert' followed by another live-streaming fundraiser concert for cloudburst calamity in Chamoli.” While he does realise that we have lost a tremendous lot during the pandemic, he agrees that we all fought back too. “There are always two sides of the coin. I hope we'll see the light again soon,” he says.
‘Even non-film songs began garnering appreciation’
Most musicians feel that there is a completely new and meaningful change in the way music is being perceived now in the current pandemic times. Aaman says, “A good song now holds its fort regardless of the fact if it has featured in a big budgeted movie or not; it could be a non-film single, an indie or featuring in a web-series or anything else. And that has been possible because of a new digital revolution this pandemic brought with lots of original content being created and put out on streaming platforms out there, independently. Artistes are now dishing out musical content with out-of-the-box experimentations and the audience also is more accepting about it.”
‘The pandemic gave us time to release more new music’
Most music artistes believe that the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown gave artistes and singers a lot of time to work on and better their craft. Singer-songwriter and performer Mallika Mehta says, “I’ve seen a lot of artists release new music during the past year. In fact, I got extra time to write new music and release four original tracks in 2020-2021. The pandemic gave singers the time to focus on creating new music, working on skills and projects that we couldn’t make time for earlier. That part has definitely been a boon. I taught myself how to play the chords during the pandemic and I see how that has helped me create better music. Digitally we got a lot more opportunities to connect with our audience be it through Instagram lives, Facebook lives or even zoom sessions.”
'Content has been king during the pandemic'
Singer Shibani Kashyap feels that the kind of response her songs have garnered during the pandemic has been much better than the pre pandemic days. “My last song crossed the five million views mark in just one month,” she states. Apart from this, singers also collaborated a lot more on independent songs for charity during this time. “I got to sing a prestigious track dedicated to Corona warriors which is an initiative of the Central Government. It has Kailash Kher and Sudesh Bhosle along with me, in it. So, I feel that there is a lot that has been happening in the music industry content wise and I think it gave a lot of opportunities to artistes to express their music because people were really looking forward to listening to good, serious and new content.”
'Artistes of all ages became digitally savvy'
The last year and a half saw almost every musician, young and otherwise take to the digital platform. Ghazal singer Talat Aziz says, “I began interacting with my fans via social media.” The pandemic not just gave the opportunity to artistes but almost forced them to become digitally adept. “I was not digitally savvy, but this pandemic made me tech savvy and I became hands-on when it comes to the digital platforms,” says Shibani.
'Monetisation is happening slowly but surely'
Audio streaming platforms like Gaana, Spotify, Wynk, Amazon music, Apple music are thriving right now. Shibani adds, “And that is only due to the pandemic and its repercussions, too much content is being created and new content is being deployed every day. It is a game of patience and the monetisation of all this is happening slowly but surely.”
'New avenues for revenues have sprung up'
Faced with adversities like the pandemic many never-thought-of-before ideas sprung up. “There are a lot of digital collaborative platforms that have emerged wherein celebrities can give personalised video wishes to their fans and get paid for it. There are many search platforms and this is a new avenue of revenue for everyone. I feel that the industry kind of finds its way around and finds parallel ways of earning revenue and expressing themselves. I think we all adjusted and we modified ourselves and that is the biggest positive which has come out of the pandemic,” says Shibani.
Mourjo Chatterjee who has been working in the field of music for a long time now, believes that the pandemic has been a blessing in disguise. He says, “Thanks to this, people have become more aware and value the struggle. It’s taken the world a couple years behind, but the future looks brighter as everyone starts to value life, relations and commitments.”