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

A few verses, a guitar, and an Instagram Reel were enough to catapult Anumita Nadesan into the national spotlight.

- Prasannata Patwa

Today's 'democratized' music scene requires artists like Anuv Jain to build a fan base, grow and monetize their audience.

(MINT)

Her candid song video, posted about a week ago, has already crossed 20,000 views. Singer-songwriter Anuv Jain—whose virtual lockdown concerts forged an emotional connection with listeners—now has over 3 million YouTube subscribers.

With Indian audiences stepping out after months of lockdown, Nadesan lent her voice to Jigra’s (2024) track Tenu Sang Rakhna alongside playback singer and musician Arijit Singh. Though Jain was not a part of any film soundtrack, she went on to perform sold-out shows across India.

Tenu Sang Rakhna has been streamed 78 million times on Spotify and had 8.2 million views on YouTube—numbers that would make Nadesan one of Bollywood's top female playback artists a decade ago, when a single film track could propel singers like Arijit Singh, Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan into overnight stardom.