| In India, they have a vibrant Entertainment Industry, and it has a strong cultural tradition, which means that music attracts a lot more people, and they have a pathway to make it a career.... But since Bollywood is the heavyweight, it therefore creates a gravitational effect, where successful musicians tend to gravitate towards the type of music that would better fit Bollywood's needs, instead of taking risks. And Bollywood in turn heavily promote the music, which tends to drown out all the competition. This means that for the average Indian, despite having a diverse set of musicians, the usual youtube/spotify recommendations tend to become the "same old". ---- Meanwhile, In Pakistan, the more conservative/religious background meant that there was far less cultural acceptance for a career in music. Ofcourse, the old great musical lineages still exist, but the industry has stagnated some what. Cinemas have started to close, and there isn't much a film industry anymore. Most singers were of the safe "pop" variety that could be played on state owned TV. Any chance of making a fanbase by concerts vanished when terrorists started threatening to attack venues post 9/11. Singers changed industry to either acting in TV dramas, or left it altogether of other ventures. ( You can find Pakistani Rock stars running a dollar store in Scranton or running a radio Channel in Houston) This mean that there is more risk taking, since most people making music are doing it out of passion, not because they believe this could lead to a career. And they take to social media, and have an equal chance of getting on your recommended list as some one who is already established. This means that Indians looking for some "fresh" music are getting some interesting choices from across the border, since these tend to not be drowned out by music labels. Also, now Brands are using the social media scene to make their own channels. Coke, Pepsi, Nescafe, Walls ice cream, heck even Strepsils have their own small music scene, just make a small music studio, hire a house band and invite singers to jam and essentially create a musical ad I feel that these new programs have now also devolved into a same old routine where singers are now, instead of creating new music and taking risks, are just taking old popular songs and covering them with a new twist, the title of the old song providing an incentive to click. ++++ Still, Pasoori was a good song, it was not just a cover of an old song and it was not just a jam session with the house band, so good for Coke Studio to encourage some thing beyond the routine |