Published By: Ishita Vohra

Why 90s singers are not getting songs these days

The era of 90s is termed as the golden era of Indian music by many. It was a time when audio cassettes where breaking record with their sales and films used to get hit because of their songs. For some people, it was Kumar Sanu’s era, for some it was the era of Udit Narayan and AlkaYagnik. People still love and sing the popular songs from the 90s as it make them nostalgic but the singers from that decade are not getting any work in the film industry today.

Gone are the times when singers used to dominate the entire market and had a career spanning over 3-4 decades. If we talk about the legends of the 50s and 60s like Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi, LataMangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, they have sung in the Hindi music industry for a long period of time. Asha Bhonsle is active even today and she sings a song or a two in a year. However, the singers of 90s who have given their golden touch to the melodious music are lost today. They are either seen judging a TV show or as a guest in of the shows. It is heartbreaking for music lovers to digest that as their time is termed as the melodious era and their songs are still popular in the country.

Indie-pop singers too - One should note that during the 90s, India was exploring different kind of music and it had resulted in the evolution of indie pop. It has given some memorable non-filmy songs and had introduced us to some fresh voices which too are not in the business today. Let’s talk why these singers are not getting work today.

Music labels – Indian music industry has its own structure. The singer is not solely decided by the music composer as it should be, there are music labels who have their big say in choosing the singer for a song. These music labels sign few singers and they put pressure on the music composers and producers to choose that singer for the song.  Earlier, it was decided by the music composers themselves but now due to the increase of thestakeholding of music companies, they choose singers.

New voices – There is a trend in the music industry to find and choose new voices. Unlike earlier times, producers and directors do not want to stuck with old voices and they want fresh voices every now and then. That is the reason why many new singers also vanish after singing few songs in the industry.