The hugely successful singer Sonu Nigam says the music industry has changed completely over the years, leaving artists like him with limited choices. The Bollywood singer, who has been around for two decades, says people get in touch with only when they need some ‘specialised’ song, not for commercial songs.
Most of the artists belong to music companies, which manage them and make sure the singers under them get the most popular track, says Sonu. “The whole music business has changed today. Most of the artists belong to certain music companies. They manage their talent. If the company has a good song, they will give it to their singers and not others. Only specialised songs will come to me,” said Sonu.
Watch Sonu Nigam’s hit song Kal Ho Na Ho here:
“If they think that this particular song can only be sung by me, then they approach me. If they have a commercial song, which they know will be a hit, they will make their own artist sing it,” he added.
The 42-year-old singer began his career by singing in the 1990 movie Janam. He shot to fame with songs like Sandese Aate Hai from Border, Ye Dil Deewana from Pardes and released his album, Deewana.
The Kal Ho Na Ho crooner says music companies give the best songs to one of “their” artists as it benefits them. When asked the motive behind music companies managing singers, Sonu said, “Because the singer will then perform the song everywhere, do concerts and a certain percentage of monetary share will go to the company. You can’t expect me to sing the songs I did 10 years ago. The whole industry has changed.”
Watch Sandese Aate Hai from Border here:
The singer is currently geared up for his latest single, Crazy Dil for Culture Machine. “For a long time people wanted to see me in the Indie pop genre of songs. This one is a dance track. It is a simple, funky song. Today even the definition of a pop song has changed and the old one has become outdated.”
The video of the song, produced by Being Indian Music, features the singer along with his son Nevaan and his close friends from the industry in cameos like Rajkumar Hirani, Farah Khan, Kailash Kher, Sunil Grover and Natalie Di Luccio.
“They were all very sweet. The experience was fantastic. In fact, it was awesome to shoot with my kid. I had to request him because he is a shy kid. He is not singing but saying a dialogue in the video. The line has been written by Raju (Hirani) and it has turned out beautifully.”
