What’s on the Gen Z and Millennial playlist? We decode some indie music trends

Independent music across genres and languages are steadily seeing takers among Gen Z and Millennial listeners in India

The beeline at the brick-laden, gabled, Snowball Studios in Worli, Mumbai is inviting some curious questions. “What’s happening here? Is it an audition?” a passer-by asks. No. It is in fact a long line of young (mostly Gen Z) audience who are waiting to be let into an indie music showcase. Hours later, on stage, an enthused Siddhant Chaturvedi sings bits of the latest single ‘Itefaaq’, produced together with musicians OAFF x Savera, to hoots, cries and synchronised foot taps. His surprise appearance was preceded by independent acts by alternate musicians from different parts of the country. 

It is no news that Mumbai is home to a dedicated audience for homegrown, indie music. At Spotify’s recent showcase that celebrated four years of their global emerging artistes programme RADAR, indie music that span genres and languages took centrestage. The line-up featured Boys from Marsss (Himachal Pradesh), Burrah (Delhi), Marshall Robinson (Chennai), Hansika Pareek (Ajmer), Swastik the Band (Chandigarh), Ranj x Clifr (Chennai/Bengaluru), among others. 

“RADAR is a global programme across multiple countries and four years back, we brought it to India as well. It is essentially there to support emerging artistes. While everyone knows the big stars, emerging artistes find it difficult to break out. Supporting them is very critical to the growth of the music industry as well,” says Dhruvank Vaidya, head of music and podcasts, Spotify India. From 2020 till now, RADAR India has featured over 40 emerging artistes. Apart from being a playlist, the programme also features an ‘artist of the month’ who appears on the playlist cover, and goes on to become a part of their live performances which increases their visibility. 

When Spotify launched in India, 70% of the music that was streamed was international music. Today more than 70% of the streamed music is local. Within this gamut, as indie music sees steady growth across genres and languages, the listenership for non-film music has also catapulted. Millennial and Gen Z listeners are keen to experiment and explore, says Dhruvank. In the last year alone, RADAR India created 2.4 million new user-artist discoveries. 

“There are a lot more artistes now who are more confident to put out music now. There is democratisation of access. Now, an emerging artiste does not have to depend on creating a music video. Even if they just have an audio track, they can upload it and build an audience. From an economic point of view, that works for them. Another big trend we are seeing is that short video platforms create visibility and then the consumption happens on Spotify,” says Dhruvank. 

Having performed at over 300 colleges, classical and alternative rock collective Swastik the Band, formed in 2011, is in the thick of a changing music ecosystem. Rohit Joshi, lead guitarist says that while the audiences are evolving, artistes should be honest about the music they produce. He adds, “I feel that music is a cycle, it is going to repeat itself after a few years and making music that is only relatable to that particular period of time, does not do justice to the sound.”   

Dhruvank observes that Indian listeners typically tend to listen to music in two languages.