Bollywood Music industry

I can see that the BW music industry is monopolized by Arijit Singh who sings almost in every movie regardless of the genre. A lot of xenophobic singers like Sonu Nigam etc said that the only reason they are not getting work in BW is because of Pakistani singers but now Pakistani singers have not been singing for past 2 years yet he's still sitting at home. Why? The reason is Arijit Singh. Most of the songs are sung by him and he has his own PR which makes his songs more successful than the songs of Zubin Nautyal who i think is a better singer than him and a lot of other singers who are not getting chances.

music industry mostly depends on muse before and nowadays too

The only time bollywood music was truly independent was 1988 to 2004 than also gulshan kumar dominated

But music directors had independence and many singers thrived and no one person dominated. Many music directors and many singers became a success

In 1960s to 1980s asha bonsle and lata dominated

In 1940-50s there were many shamshad begum, geeta dutt, suraiya etc but after mid 1950s or 60s no one was allowed to thrive

Asha bonsle got singing oppt because of OP nayar and than RD burman whose muse she was

So its all about a music director liking a singer and than giving them opportunity after opportunity and not allowing others to grow since starting days of industry only

That also is a kind of nepotism only favoritism to a singer because of personal liking or some personal relationship not allowing others to thrive

So this has been going on from 1950s only

This is not to say lata/asha had no talent, but they (music directors) never allowed other talented to come up

But atleast after 1990s many more are getting opportunity than 2-3 singers like before kumar sanu, udit narayan, vinod rathod, abhijit, ropp kumar rathod, sonu nigam, shaan, arijit, zubin, vishal dadlani, hariharan etc so many came

In women alka yagnik, kavitha krishnamurthy, sadhna sargam, sunidhi, anuradha paudwal, shreya, shailaja etc came

It is up to viewers to ensure that they demand variety otherwise cartels will get formed which do not allow others to enter or thrive

Its bigger than that. Monopoly was always there, but talent was respected greatly in the past.

In the 40s there were singers like Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt who also sang substantial number of songs in 50s. They were all given respect by actors, producers, directors. In fact music industry had more respect.

Music directors like Shankar-Jaikishan, SD Burman, OP Nayyar could call the shots. You can read incidents where SD Burman had legit sent Dev Anand away saying ki tum abhi idhar nahi aayega, mujhe mera gaana banane do. In another one he saw the trial of a film and did not like the picturization of a song so he wanted his song back. Even the music directors were given alot of izzat and their opinion mattered. And there was no monopoly when it came to composers- another incident is that SD Burman was offered a film in the 50s called 'Shiv Bhakt'. Burman Da refused because he used to do only a certain number of films every year. But he told the producers to get music director Chitragupta to do it.

Later we had Kalyanji-Anandji, RD Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal who were also very revered and respected. They called the shots in their song. If they wanted a particular singer, the actors or directors or producers were no one to interfere which was the right thing to do. Why should someone who knows jackshit about musical the shots?

However Lata Mangeshkar did not allow any new singers in the industry for decades. In fact she would blackmail saying that if you take anyone else then I will never sing for you. And you know Lataji was a huge deal. Legends say that she tried to prevent Ashaji from getting into music too. Only L-P took the risk with then newcomer Alka Yagnik.

The monopoly was due to only Lata ji and then label HMV (Sa Re Ga Ma) started acting stupid. They had legit made dubbed versions of different songs and released them without the knowledge of the music directors. You can YouTube the song 'Chal Udh Jaa Re Panchi' and you will find two versions: One by Md Rafi and second by Talat Mehmood.

After a terrible music decade in the form of the 80s, QSQT came as a fresh breath of air. Gulshan Kumar was a saviour basically who broke the HMV monopoly. He actually did a lot of good for music. In a time when private albums did not have budget, he came up with one called 'Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka' that had the budget and sound of a film album. The only problems he created was wanting Anuradha Paudwal in every song. You can read about the controversy during Dil, when Paudwal dubbed the songs that had been sung by Alka Yagnik.

The main monopoly and politics started when Bhushan Kumar took over. Also, music directors like Anu Mallik, Aadesh Shrivastava made it very easy for him by asking for one song per film, they became guest composers or would enter a film where the music director was already decided. These guys started the multiple composer trend, which I hate to the core.

If you notice the pattern, he does not let anyone sustain for more than 3 years. Its as if he wants to be the biggest name ever. He got Pakistani singers like Atif so that Indian singers can be replaced who were asking for their rights and royalties. After those artists were banned, he made Atif's singing style as the new norm that you see Arijit, Armaan Malik, Jubin Nautiyal follow. That same draggy, goat-y, nasally voice. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Rahat saheb, Nusrat saheb and in the young generation Shafqat Amanat Ali, but Aslam's style is not the greatest.

All in all, in today's times you stand up for what's right you will be made to sit at home. You follow what the label says, and they will make you a star...but how long you will sustain will depend on Mr. Kumar.

Now every movie producer wants an Arijit Singh song in their movies coz they know it would be a hit even if its a flop. The case when Pakistani singers were allowed especially Atif or Rahat wasn't the same. If you take out movies in which Arijit and Atif sang a song, in most of the movies, the songs of Atif became more popular than Arijit's so the ban on Pakistani singers have only helped Arijit and not lalloos like Sonu or Abhijeet who used to whine the most.

Originally posted by: Ashley.Tisdale

Its bigger than that. Monopoly was always there, but talent was respected greatly in the past.

In the 40s there were singers like Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt who also sang substantial number of songs in 50s. They were all given respect by actors, producers, directors. In fact music industry had more respect.

Music directors like Shankar-Jaikishan, SD Burman, OP Nayyar could call the shots. You can read incidents where SD Burman had legit sent Dev Anand away saying ki tum abhi idhar nahi aayega, mujhe mera gaana banane do. In another one he saw the trial of a film and did not like the picturization of a song so he wanted his song back. Even the music directors were given alot of izzat and their opinion mattered. And there was no monopoly when it came to composers- another incident is that SD Burman was offered a film in the 50s called 'Shiv Bhakt'. Burman Da refused because he used to do only a certain number of films every year. But he told the producers to get music director Chitragupta to do it.

Later we had Kalyanji-Anandji, RD Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal who were also very revered and respected. They called the shots in their song. If they wanted a particular singer, the actors or directors or producers were no one to interfere which was the right thing to do. Why should someone who knows jackshit about musical the shots?

However Lata Mangeshkar did not allow any new singers in the industry for decades. In fact she would blackmail saying that if you take anyone else then I will never sing for you. And you know Lataji was a huge deal. Legends say that she tried to prevent Ashaji from getting into music too. Only L-P took the risk with then newcomer Alka Yagnik.

The monopoly was due to only Lata ji and then label HMV (Sa Re Ga Ma) started acting stupid. They had legit made dubbed versions of different songs and released them without the knowledge of the music directors. You can YouTube the song 'Chal Udh Jaa Re Panchi' and you will find two versions: One by Md Rafi and second by Talat Mehmood.

After a terrible music decade in the form of the 80s, QSQT came as a fresh breath of air. Gulshan Kumar was a saviour basically who broke the HMV monopoly. He actually did a lot of good for music. In a time when private albums did not have budget, he came up with one called 'Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka' that had the budget and sound of a film album. The only problems he created was wanting Anuradha Paudwal in every song. You can read about the controversy during Dil, when Paudwal dubbed the songs that had been sung by Alka Yagnik.

The main monopoly and politics started when Bhushan Kumar took over. Also, music directors like Anu Mallik, Aadesh Shrivastava made it very easy for him by asking for one song per film, they became guest composers or would enter a film where the music director was already decided. These guys started the multiple composer trend, which I hate to the core.

If you notice the pattern, he does not let anyone sustain for more than 3 years. Its as if he wants to be the biggest name ever. He got Pakistani singers like Atif so that Indian singers can be replaced who were asking for their rights and royalties. After those artists were banned, he made Atif's singing style as the new norm that you see Arijit, Armaan Malik, Jubin Nautiyal follow. That same draggy, goat-y, nasally voice. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Rahat saheb, Nusrat saheb and in the young generation Shafqat Amanat Ali, but Aslam's style is not the greatest.

All in all, in today's times you stand up for what's right you will be made to sit at home. You follow what the label says, and they will make you a star...but how long you will sustain will depend on Mr. Kumar.

Yes there was a movie also about lata and asha rivalary played by shabna azmi

Asha survived doing cabaret numbers and only OP nayaar and rd burman promoted her

But also i heard lata would ask music directors to give asha songs in her movies

Many promising singers career never took off because of lata mangeshkar i had read in an article

like suman kalyanpur, leena chandrawakar etc

atleast in male there were quiet a few singers though rafi and kishore dominated

Originally posted by: myviewprem

atleast male there were quiet a few singers though rafi and kishore dominated

Thats because these two never tried to dominate anything. Kishore Da gained popularity a bit later but that was because producers, directors prefered Rafi Sahab over him. The only sad part was when Kishore Da became popular, everyone forgot Rafi Sahab.

Still there were other male singers present like Mukeshji, Mahinder Kapoor and Manna Dey who did a fair share of songs.

I like arijit's voice recorded however he doesn't sound that great live. He is always so breathy.

I think using the same singer over and over again becomes boring. After awhile it's like you are listening to the same song. The biggest issue is T-series since they distribute most of the songs coming out and like to feature the same 3-4 singers. Ahem Neha Kakkar🤔

Originally posted by: Self_Love

I like Sachet Tandon's voice more than Arijit's.

I felt the pain of lost love in his version of Bekhayali more than Arijit's and that rush of enthusiasm and zeal in Humraah .Hope he gets good opportunities.

His voice suited Bekhayali but not Humraah as his voice is a bit of idk how to say it but his voice is like galla kharab or when you're in pain which doesn't match Humraah. The original version by Asim Azhar suits it better than Sachet but I agree Sachet is much better than Arijit. Arijit is just living off the repo now.

I want to see more of Sachet-Parampara.

Originally posted by: FreeTheNipple

I want to see more of Sachet-Parampara.

Yes for sure if its anything like Kabir Singh songs