Episoder
-
Until recently, a film song would break through on the charts either ahead of or around its parent movie's release in cinemas. These days, like this week's chart topper, tracks are entering and reaching new peaks soon after the films premiere on video streaming services. In this episode, we discuss why this is happening, and whether it's something we're increasingly going to see in the future. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on May 31, 2024.
-
Since Spotify launched in India at the end of February 2019, the listenership of music in Malayalam has grown a whopping 5,300% globally. With tracks from the blockbuster 'Aavesham' dotting the charts, we examine the hows and whys behind Malayalam music's phenomenal rise. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on May 17, 2024.
-
Manglende episoder?
-
In a country with over half a dozen international and local music streaming services, marketing a track requires a multi-pronged approach On this week's episode, we speak to the founder of Artiste First, the label behind surprise hit "Ishq" by Faheem Abdullah and Rauhan Malik, to find out how they tailor their strategy for each DSP in order to maximise traction. As always, we look at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on May 3, 2024.
-
In a testament to her current status as the biggest pop star in the world, Taylor Swift's new single "Fortnight" has debuted higher than any other international track has in India so far this year. On this week's episode, we talk about the superfandom she enjoys on our shores, how she has managed to garner such a large following, and which other foreign acts come close to matching it. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on April 26, 2024.
-
Bollywood music is back and sitting comfortably in its old spot at the top of the charts. But this year's Hindi film hits exhibit that little has changed in terms of its sound. The segment remains dominated by remixes of recent pop hits, recreations of older smashes, "inspired" tunes and deja vu-evoking power ballads. In this episode, we examine why the film industry is so averse to taking risks, and how true evolution is always the result of constant innovation. As always, we look at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey dated March 28, 2024.
-
With Sanju Rathod's "Gulabi Sadi" scoring this week's highest new entry, we interview Vishnu Iyer, A&R Manager, Artist Services & Development at Believe India, which has been working the track, about why the Marathi pop smash has managed to cross over into the national chart. We discuss the characteristics of the regional language's music industry, and how Rathod capitalised on the success of his breakthrough smash "Nauvari" to push his new release. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey dated March 21, 2024.
-
Even in this singles era, albums remain important for both artists and labels. To grab the attention full-length releases need, musicians and their teams have been devising innovative marketing strategies. In this episode, we discuss some recent campaigns, the best practices for upcoming acts and the pros and cons of investing in an album. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey dated March 14, 2024.
-
With the Indian music industry moving to adopt the term 'I-Pop' in place of 'non-film' to denote a certain kind of Indian popular music, we look at how such new genre names come to be and what it will take for the term to stick. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey dated March 7, 2024.
-
The Tamil music industry is even more dominated by film soundtracks than its Hindi counterpart. That's slowly but surely changing with the surprise success of hits like "Katchi Sera" by Sai Abhyankkar, which has zoomed into the top ten in just its second week on the chart. On this episode, our guest Magesh R., the creative head at Think Music and the A&R lead at Think Music Indie, which released the track, talks to us about the digital marketing strategy for "Katchi Sera" and explains how it's achieved what few non-film Tamil tunes have done before. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on February 16, 2024.
-
The past year has been a great one for women on the US and UK charts and at award shows such as the Grammy where they took home all of the big four trophies. On India's charts, however, hits by solo female acts are conspicuous by their absence. In this episode, we look at how our surveys compare to those in the west, why there's such a huge gender imbalance, and what it will take to have more women in the national top ten. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on February 9, 2024.
-
This week's highest new entry - a hit 2022 track by the independent pop music duo Mitraz that they've reworked for an upcoming Bollywood film - inspired us to sink our teeth into the sync business. We get our guest, Alick Sethi, the founder of music supervision agency Retox Music, to take us through the different types of sync opportunities available to artists today, what they should look out for, who should they approach to land such deals and how to ensure you price your music right. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on February 2, 2024.
------
Learn more about Retox Music :https://www.retox-music.com -
Anuv Jain’s "Husn" is officially at #1 on Spotify's daily Top Songs India chart, making it his first release to reach the pole position and a landmark moment for independent music (though the single is distributed through Universal Music). We couldn’t think of a better time to revisit the conversation with Aayushmaan Sinha, the founder of Represent, which manages Anuv, to break down the singer/songwriter’s streaming success. Through a combination of community building and a sharp focus on measuring metrics that matter in the long run, this analysis of Anuv’s success is a masterclass in how artists can build a fandom.
-
In this week's episode, we step away from our usual programming to discuss a topic that isn't directly related to but is intrinsically connected to the charts - the state of the music industry, both worldwide and within India. We highlight data from two recently released publications, Luminate's Year-End Music Report for 2023, which has some eye-popping figures, and EY India's The Music Creator Economy, which includes the results of a survey of 500 musicians. They tell us that listeners are streaming more music than ever before, and also that the average artist might be making less money from their releases than ever before. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on January 12, 2024.
PS: Keep you pen and paper/note taking app handy. There will be a LOT of data.
-
On our first episode of the new year, we gaze into our metaphorical crystal balls to make five predictions for the upcoming months, including which independent artist we think could have a King-sized career; whether the resurgence of Bollywood music will be even stronger; and what Indian regional languages will garner more listenership. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on January 5, 2024.
Our favorite music festival Control ALT Delete is back and taking place this weekend! You can 'pay what you want' and attend the festival (but we hope that you pay generously, all profits are split equally amongst the performing artists). Contribute here: https://www.skillboxes.com/events/control-alt-delete
-
We take our annual deep dive into the most-streamed tracks of the year and discuss the genres, artists, languages and labels that dominated the charts.
-
On this week’s episode, our guest Aayushman Sinha, the founder of music-centric entertainment and management company Represent, helps us break down the massive streaming success of the most popular artist on his roster, singer-songwriter Anuv Jain whose new track "Husn" has debuted on the charts within just a week of release. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on December 8, 2023.
-
This was the year Bollywood music finally bounced back in a way with several box-office smashes, many of which spawned top ten tunes. On this week's episode, we discuss how and why even though the number of chart successes from Hindi films increased, the soundtracks as a whole generated fewer hits. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on December 1, 2023.
-
On this week’s episode, we talk about how Diljit Dosanjh and Sia’s track “Hass Hass”, which has broken into the top five, stands out among similar collaborations between Indian and international acts. As always, we look at key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on November 24, 2023.
---------------------------
Link to the Hivewire episode mentioned in the episode here : https://bit.ly/47BF5Kf
---------------------------
Check out Women of Music India, a women-ed community emerging from the Indian music industry. Become a member today : https://www.womenofmusicindia.com/ -
In March, we reported how the previous week's chart topper "Apna Bana Le" from the movie 'Bhediya' went AWOL from the chart after Zee Music Company's catalogue was pulled off Spotify. Three weeks ago, the track re-entered the survey, indicating that the service and the label have renewed their licensing agreement. This week, "Apna Bana Le" is at #58, all the way up from #98 making it one of the biggest climbers. Its disappearance in March kicked off a discussion on whether #1 on charts truly means #1 in the country. In India’s case, the answer is: not necessarily. We dive into why on this week’s short.
-
In the week that went by, the 2024 Grammy nominations were announced so we thought it would be timely to revisit a conversation from February 2023 in which we discuss the Grammys, why Indian artists aspire to win them and if such awards continue to hold the relevance they once did. PS: If you are listening on Spotify, we have a poll about just this. If we get some interesting answers, we will share them during next week’s episode. We will be back from Diwali break next week, until then, happy listening!
- Vis mere