30 March,2025 07:42 AM IST | Mumbai | Junisha Dama
Karun, Nanku, Saachi and Pho. Pic/SahilOnWeb
When MTV Beats and Vh1 India went off air on March 15, it felt like the end of an era.
For decades, Vh1 helped us discover music; it's where we went to investigate whether our favourite artiste had dropped their new single yet. It's where we learnt the lyrics to English songs well enough to sing along and build our cool credentials. Catching the Top 10 Countdown or Hip-hop Hustle was a ritual. It lit up our screens with the delicious visuals of our favourite music videos and expanded our world. How else could we have experienced Coldplay's visually sweet Strawberry Swing or Beyonce and Shakira's Beautiful Liar? And now, we have to bid goodbye to all of it.
Truthfully, though, we have not needed to rely on Vh1 to discover new music for a long time. Now, you can simply open an app, search for any song, and play it at will. At times, on loop. There are algorithms that will point you in the direction of similar artistes to explore. One of the features of YouTube's Premium subscription allows users to continue listening to music while their screens are off. So, is anyone even watching videos anymore?
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Ask the artistes who continue to invest in and churn out videos, and the answer is a resounding yes. It's just that the platform has shifted from TV to YouTube and social media.
"We have stopped watching TV. But the main shift is that we now decide what we want to watch and listen to," says Nanku, an Indian hip-hop singer-songwriter and producer, "When we had music channels, we couldn't pick the song and had to wait for the one we liked to come on screen."
Videos are a tool for storytelling for musicians. It's why many of them spend big bucks to make the visual experience all the more stunning. There's Hanumankind's Big Dawgs, and his more recent Run It Up, which is a cultural feast for the eyes. Metal band Bloodywood's Bekhauf, made in collaboration with the Japanese band Babymetal, has an animated video. To further their artistic expression, musicians are not only acting and performing in videos, but directing them as well. Folk-fusion artiste Raghu Dixit turned director for his song Alemaari; Tamil pop artiste Paal Dabba for Kaathu Mela, and the increasingly popular Chaar Diwaari.
"When we make songs, we're allowed a certain kind of sonic tapestry to tell the story that we want to tell. And with videos, you get to extend that world into a more sort of solidified visual world," says Saachi, singer-songwriter and producer, adding, "I believe it helps people better understand the point of what we are trying to say." "Videos showcase the quirkiness of the artiste," echoes Nanku, "And as an artiste, the most exciting bit is that you get to live out the music you have created, on screen."
Talking about the process, singer-songwriter Karun says, "When you are making a song, you see it in front of you. It's like a movie into your world."
Pho, another singer-songwriter, believes seeing the artiste perform - on video or live - makes a difference. "I performed at a private show for Amazon in Bengaluru, and the audience could not understand Hindi lyrics. But my energy helped them connect with the song's emotions. I listen to Tamil artistes, and I cannot understand the language, but through visuals, I get the context. Videos can help break language barriers," she says.
There's also a flip side wherein artistes create a video after a song's success. Karun's viral desi hip-hop number, Maharani, was first released on CD, and then Spotify. A video was later launched on audience demand, and racked up 3.3 crore views on YouTube. "We also made the video for Kamikaze [song by Faizan and Nanku] in Nanku's home, and it was just a bunch of us having fun," says Karun, pointing out that the quality of production rarely matters to the audience, as long as the song feels authentic to the artiste.
Maharani is proof that audiences enjoy consuming music visually. India is YouTube's biggest market, with approximately 47.6 crore users. The platform's global charts feature Bhojpuri numbers, Tamil film songs, and independent artistes like Karan Aujla and Hanumankind, among others. Compared to that, audio-only streaming apps have fewer users in India. In 2024, Spotify boasted seven crore active monthly users in India, Gaana had over 18.5 crore, and JioSaavn had over 10 crore.
But this is likely because of our population and the fact that "we are a price-sensitive market", Creative director and showrunner Angshuman Ghosh points out. "YouTube is free, and there's more music content on it versus Spotify. Not everyone can afford to pay the monthly subscription for Spotify either," he adds.
And how do artistes figure out what will be a hit? Ghosh says, "There's a place for all kinds of content consumption. When I started working on Coke Studio, it was a television programme. People didn't have a choice but to watch [what was aired]. But now, Coke Studio caters to regions and cultures, and that is a result of us realising that everyone is different⦠From a consumer point of view, what that artiste represents matters because people are tuning into that artiste's voice and want to see what that artiste creates."
Video just makes better business sense, says Meher Sachdeva, founder of anArtizen and head of artiste management at UnderTheRadar. "It's a combination of brand-building and personal branding. YouTube is the largest mode of distribution and discovery of music," she emphasises.
So, do artiste managers push musicians to create visually as well? "As much as audio is being consumed, the current generation is also a visual consumer. They love to put a face to a song or a feeling, and that gives them a familiarity and a little context," says Madhura Rumde, creative production lead at Represent Management.
"I have worked with artistes who have worked on a short film, short videos, or broken down content to be posted over a month. Every artiste is utilising all platforms and getting very creative with them," she adds.
Saachi feels that putting a video out on social media is also more fruitful for discovery. "The minute you have a song in video format on any social media platform, you are giving [the audience] an idea of your music and what you are," she says, "They automatically have a clearer idea and then can decide if they like you as an artiste or not. Without that, it's harder to reach out to a new audience member and convert them into an active listener."
With video still holding reign, even audio streaming apps such as Spotify have introduced this format. "With Spotify specifically, it's becoming a huge hook," says Ghosh, "It's still nascent in India⦠It's an opportunity to kind of taste-test the artiste."
Some artistes find it more economical to create visualisers - one-minute video teasers that play on loop throughout the song. "Visualisers help create some content without investing too much," says artiste manager Sachdeva.
Far from dimming, the future of music videos seems to be a little bit of everything. "Music videos will also make it to Netflix and PVRs," Karun predicts, "We have already streamed Coldplay's Ahmedabad concert on JioHotstar, so why not?"
Let's also not forget the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert movie that Indian Swifties caught on the big screen. So, music content could sway any way.
Of course, one can have too much of a good thing. "Content has spilled over across domains, and we are witnessing content fatigue," Sachdeva cautions, "When Nucleya started with YouTube, it was primarily audio content. Now, it's harder to break through the noise. As an artiste, it's not just about being discovered [by listeners], but also about building a following. The only way to build a fan base now is to have something that's shot well and has a great concept, and people will pay attention."
Rewind to the '90s, when India had little beyond film and classical music. No alternative music industry existed until Baba Sehgal, Alisha Chinai, and Colonial Cousins, among other Indi-pop artistes, graced our screens. It was around this time, in 1994, that MTV would broadcast two-and-a-half hours of programming on Doordarshan's DD2 Metro Channel. In 1996, MTV India launched an independent channel that gave music videos a push. Eventually, other channels like B4U Music, Sony Mix, and 9XM cropped up. "Abroad, this trend of videos had caught on. Big acts like Metallica, Guns N' Roses, and Madonna were known for their videos. Somewhere in the '90s, Indi-pop artists emerged, and music videos became a promotional tool," says music journalist Narendra Kusnur.
