I-Pop & Fandom | The Indian Music Industry's current obsession

The Indian music industry is abuzz with two words this season: I-Pop and Fandom. These concepts are pivotal to our growth story, shaping the future of our industry and market. After spending nine years building towards this moment, I can confidently say we are at the cusp of a new renaissance in the Indian music business.

Breaking Down the Buzz:

A. I-Pop

For too long, we’ve labeled our vibrant pop music with terms like “non-film,” “desi pop,” “commercial singles,” and the most ambiguous of all, “indie.” My biggest realization in this industry is our struggle to brand and market our culture effectively. Defining our own music has been a challenge, but to create a resonant echo, we need a unified voice, repeating the same message consistently.

Pop music in India cannot thrive in isolation; it needs to be interwoven with the broader cultural fabric. While product marketing by labels and distributors brings immediate revenue, investing in culture builds long-term value. We must explore intersections with general entertainment channels (the cover singer format is done to death), sports, gaming, film, lifestyle, and beyond. We’ve barely scratched the surface of integrating music into every form of consumption.

Branding our talent is equally crucial. We need to help artists narrate their stories better, position them correctly, and focus on development rather than mere representation. For too long, we’ve let songs dictate an artist’s fate. However, it’s the journey—the story behind the journey—that builds legends. Indian managers and music marketers excel at Agenting but often overlook the importance of building aspiration for their products.

Artists must also recognize that music, like any sport, demands dedication. Achieving elite status requires the rigorous commitment of 10,000 hours of hard work. This journey is marked by rejection, failure, learning, and resilience. Only a handful of Indian talents can sing, dance, act, and write, but these are skills that can be honed. Put in the hours and witness the transformation—there’s no substitute for hard work.

We stand at a pivotal moment where Indian music can make a significant leap forward. To create a lasting impact, we must aim for global quality standards and future-proof our strategies.

B. Fandom & Community

Fandom and community-building are hot topics, yet often misunderstood. Many believe they can hack this process with simple steps, but building a community is both a science and an art. The first step is having artists who embrace this vision. Currently, attempts to build fandom through access and freebies fall short. True fandom is built on a foundation of aspiration, admiration, and value addition.

Monetizing fandom is essential for creators' sustainability. Beyond traditional revenue streams like tickets and streams, we need to explore subscriptions, merchandise, NFTs, and more.

Marketers/Labels/Brands also needs to understand that an artist understands their community better than anyone else - you need them to think of how to best activate them not the other way around. The common approach of “providing access” often feels disingenuous to fans. They can tell when they’re being marketed to versus when they’re gaining real value or a sense of belonging. A mistake we all make is that we make assumptions on behalf of unrelated patterns as to what we feel the fans want rather than surveying and straight up asking them what would make them feel better - what would make them feel more engaged with someone they stan.

I don’t have the answers, I’m on a quest to figure them out myself. I do however know that if we can get I-Pop and a larger music loving community from India to work together in harmony - we’re going to be on an accelerated growth path as a pop-culture driving industry.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and understand how we can build for this together.

Before signing off - check out this video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C766j7oNGFI/

We recently launched Armaan Malik's merch store - in the AM and hosted a pop-up for the drop at Khar Social. 250 fans showed up to check out the collection - Armaan decided to show up as well and surprise fans, get their feedback real time and of course sing a few songs for them.

#PopCulture #REPRESENT