It’s a long way to the top: How Indian indie musicians are trying to live the dream

When Michael came out last month lakhs of fans and nonfans alike united in the cinemas Michael Jackson is not just the king of pop mdash he is the human form of the wideeyed dream many of us had as kids to make something that somehow connects millions in one go to make a sound that transcends languages and cultures to be a musicianBut would Michael Jackson have made it today Rising cost of living and the oversaturation caused by the Internet is making the craft too expensive todaySanchit Khosla is one half of band KhoslaRaghu with Rishabh Raghuvanshi He says ldquoThe economics of the industry only work in favour of the top 001 per centrdquo He got online to break down exactly how much it cost him to make the new album from his band Their EP Aawara 2025 which contains five tracks took them around R10 lakh to roll out mdash R4 lakh from their own pockets and R6 lakh from their team Though they saved money on recording since they have a home studio the musicians had to spend money on mastering songs shooting promotional content and music videos and marketing ldquoThis is peanuts compared to how much money bigger artistes spendrdquo says KhoslaAfter investing Rs 10 lakh in their EP KhoslaRaghu only recouped Rs 4 lakh in streams PicShadab KhanAnd how much money did they make back Despite having 38 lakh streams on Spotify they made only R4 lakh back ldquoItrsquoll take us a few years to recover all the money that went into this recordrdquo says Khosla ldquoBut this is the cost of being independentrdquoKhosla moved to Mumbai from Delhi around a year ago ldquoI always wanted to produce or compose my own musicrdquo says the 26yearold who started collaborating with Rishabh Raghuvanshi in college He adds ldquoHe also wanted to pursue music so we ended up jamming and making a bunch of songs The purpose of music as I see it is just to bring people together So in a way it fulfilled that need alsordquoBack home Khosla has a full studio setup on which he spent Rs 12 lakh ldquoI was fortunate to come from a privileged family My father asked me to pursue music for the passion of itrdquo he says It is in this studio that they produced Aawara They speculate that their upcoming fulllength album will cost another Rs 20ndash25 lakhldquoThe Internet has democratised music in a way that you can set up a studio in R20000 also or in R12 lakh alsordquo says Khosla ldquoIndia has a jugaad for everything You can pirate software record in a closet It depends on the artiste mdash how many favours can they call inrdquoThe falling rupee has been hurting the industry ldquoAll the equipment you need for a studio has to be imported from China There is no manufacturing set up in India That means payments are happening in US dollarsrdquo says the Andheri resident The mic that he bought for Rs 21000 in 2019 now costs around R27000KhoslaRaghu just did an India tour right after finishing a couple of shows in the UK They have close to three lakh monthly listeners on Spotify So howrsquos the money ldquoInitially there is no revenue Every artiste has to hustle We sold one of our songs to a label for Rs 1 lakh in 2021 That was the first proof of concept for me You can ghostwrite ghostproduce mdash yoursquoll get a little extra since your name isnrsquot on the projectrdquoOnce theyrsquove made it we wonder how much does streaming pay ldquoNot very much Spotify is near the bottom on payouts Their subscription in India starts at R69 In the US it is 12ndash13 so streams earn less money here Generally for a million streams you get around R50000 in India But again if yoursquore signed with a top label like Universal or Warner they could negotiate a higher pay out for yourdquo Khosla says ldquoYouTube pays much higher than Spotify but generally Apple Music has the best payout for artistesrdquoSo where is the real money ldquoWedding showsrdquo Khosla answers without hesitation ldquoTherersquos a surcharge on everything and no cost from your side If I do a ticketed show for my own fans Irsquoll sell around 300 tickets at R700 each But then there are many costs band sound engineer production accommodation flights A wedding show bears all of these for yourdquoThen it seems like making music is reserved only for the privileged ldquoNordquo Khosla says matteroffactly ldquoIt is much cheaper to make music today than it was in the rsquo90s But as technology enables everyone to make music standing out becomes harder Either you make a brand out of your music or there will be 100 more artistes made from a single promptrdquo Storytelling is what will make an artiste stand out today Khosla argues ldquoA Hanumankind or a Chaar Diwari came with a certain kind of aura You need to build a world around your music Even Aawara was an effort to do that mdash everything from the music videos to the artwork to the promotions revolved around being aawarardquoRs 27KCost of one mic today which used to cost Rs 21000 in 2019Rs 700Average hourly rate of a jam room in Mumbai25ndash3037Of a musicianrsquos revenue comes through streamingRick BeatoMusician and widely popular American music educator Rick Beato recently made a statement saying ldquoIn my day you could afford to have a regular job pay the rent and still make music Now in 2026 invariably the artistes that are popular almost all of them are from wealthy familiesrdquo He gives examples of artistes like Taylor Swift Gracie Abrams Sabrina Carpenter ldquoHistorically bands like The Beatles Black Sabbath ACDC The Kinks Nirvanahellip were all working class bands But now only those with wealthy parents can afford to be musicians There is no money in the music business like there was Yes people can make millions of dollars doing it but itrsquos such a small number of people that can do thatrdquolsquoRock music isnrsquot going to put food on your platersquoRock musicians new and old tell us the struggles they faceAvan Roy finds that it is even harder to make it as a rock musicianWhen Avan Roy was 11 years old he came across a film called The Doors 1991 based on rock legend Jim Morrison At his home in Jaipur Roy grew up around three older sisters who first introduced him to English music But it was Morrison who opened his eyes to the world of rock and roll ldquoThe Beatles Pink Floyd David Bowierdquo says Roy now 20 ldquoI didnrsquot just want to listen to this I wanted to be able to play it as wellrdquoRoy has never stopped making music since In 2024 he moved to Mumbai to enroll in HR College as a mass communication student while exploring the cityrsquos rock scene ldquoIrsquove played multiple venues like The Stables and The Finchrdquo he says Right now he has two singles on Spotify and is working towards a selfproduced selfwritten selfperformed multigenre albumAt home he has set up a studio that cost him in the lakhs over the years Gigs and musicscoring are his only source of revenue but gigs are becoming a costly ordeal ldquoIn Delhi jam rooms cost around Rs 100ndashRs 300 an hour mdash you can make a margin But in Mumbai they start at R600ndashR700 an hour The band spends more money preparing for the show than they make from itrdquoLive recording gets too expensive too ldquoIrsquove learnt to programme my drums I spend four hours making a drum track for a song when a drummer could do it in five minutes Irsquom saving money but time is moneyrdquoHow does he hope to make it ldquoIf yoursquore performing in Mumbai itrsquos surely not going to be a big moneymaking scheme Bands like Peter Cat Recording Co can make money but that comes after years of namebuilding mdash theyrsquove been around since 2009rdquo says Roy ldquoIrsquom choosing to make English rock music when I could make much easier money doing Bollywood or Punjabi rap But this is what I loverdquo He is hopeful still ldquoIt is a developing market Go to Instagram mdash rock music has been coming back in India after its initial wave in the 1990srdquoSidhant KadadiWe hit up Sidharth Kadadi guitarist for one of the cityrsquos most adored metal bands Zygnema about what the scene was like in his day ldquoRock music isnrsquot going to put food on your plate in Indiardquo he says plainly When they started Kadadi had just quit a dotcom job of 10 years Other than Zygnema Kadadi also started a band called ldquoKover Thatrdquo ldquoWe used to play hard rock at Bonobo Wersquod play 10 shows every month paying an average of R20000ndashR30000 each split it all and we werenrsquot left with much But wersquore all born and raised in Mumbai so we werenrsquot paying rentrdquoKadadi now runs a music school called Guitar Garage Inc and argues the situation today is still better than before ldquoItrsquos just that social media has made it look dire People are chasing online views over real communityrdquo he says ldquoWhen we had to promote our first show wersquod write gig details on A4 paper in pencil make Xerox copies and hand them out When you put in that kind of work the community gets stronger You canrsquot just send emojis saying lsquofull supportrsquo You have to come out of your house and do the hard labourrdquolsquoYou need contacts to make itrsquoRosemary Fernandes Founder Rosemary and the HerbsRosemary Fernandes started her band after six years of corporate life PicAtul KambleMusic is something I always wanted to pursue I just didnrsquot think I could do itrdquo says musician Rosemary Fernandes After being in a corporate job for six years Fernandes decided that it was time to pursue this lifelong dream and started a cover band Rosemary and the HerbsAlthough initially Fernandes was afraid of the instability of living gigtogig soon ldquoI was making more money in a few days than what I would in a monthrdquo she says Theyrsquore a retro classic rock pop and Bollywood cover band ldquoIf yoursquore at weddings you have to engage your audience I go up to the bride groom parents grandparents everyone and dance with them engage them with me I have a energetic vivacious personality both on and off stagerdquo she saysThe bandrsquos been making money since day one ldquoI made my contacts first and then I jumped into the industry I used to work in programming where I would curate gigs and place artistes When I formed my band I used those same contacts to build myselfrdquo she saysBut hustling can never be escaped ldquoI made spreadsheets of every single event planner in the country and outside Indiardquo she says ldquoI cold called every single one of them sent everyone an email If I couldnrsquot find their contact anywhere I went via Instagram LinkedIn Facebook to get the numberrdquoThe band is now venturing into original music ldquoWersquoll slowly and gradually start introducing our original music too I honestly donrsquot know what itrsquos like for a cover band to transition into being an original or indie band But I want to keep both alive mdash be known for my own stuff as well as for the wedding circuitrdquolsquoCost of living has made everything expensiversquoZain Calcuttawala MusicianZain CalcuttawalaZain Calcuttawala has been in the music industry since 2010 He produces engineers composes works on ads and films and collaborates with artistes Calcuttawala says there is absolutely no standardisation in the industry ldquoAs a producer you can charge anywhere from R20000 to R1 lakh for a single indie songrdquo This makes it hard for musicians to make music without calling in favoursWhat is making musicmaking so expensive ldquoLife in the city has become way more expensiverdquo he says ldquoIf you compare the cost of rent 10 years ago to what it is now a musician 10 years ago would have been very comfortable making Rs 20000 for a session But today it doesnrsquot make sense to do a session if it is less than Rs 30000ndashRs 40000rdquoWhere does this leave indie artistes ldquoIf you have a certain amount of privilege and a safety net then therersquos a little less risk For younger artistes who may not have that kind of socioeconomic advantage itrsquos hard to sayrdquo he says ldquoIn a lot of ways itrsquos always been a game of chance Not only is it about the right talent but itrsquos also about the right place the right time the right audience mdash all factors beyond your controlrdquoldquoThe value of being an artiste and a creative has really dropped down over the last few years Because we are constantly consuming and how quick doomscrolling is everything has become fleeting Budgets across the board for any medium have been slashedrdquo he says ldquoIrsquove been asked to do projects in the last year or two for budgets we had back when I first started producing around 2015rdquolsquoWhy should only a 100 artistes live a decent lifersquoRaghav Meattle Musician and founder of artiste management company firstwavRaghav MeattleRaghav Meattle has now turned his music career into working with and enabling thrive at firstwav How does a musician make money today we ask himldquoRecorded music will be about 25ndash30 per cent of an artistersquos revenue I would hate to call it this but itrsquos almost become advertising material for you to sell more tickets build a community and a brand for yourself In the long run if you hold an IP yoursquoll be able to monetise it for many decadesrdquoMeattle thinks there is a lack of infrastructure around artistes that leaves them struggling ldquoWersquore trying to build this infrastructure One is management mdash great mentorship to help them plan their careers so that itrsquos sustainablerdquo he says ldquoSecond is recorded music mdash we invest a certain amount of money or work with them to help scale their careers faster through great recordsldquoThen we have a content studio where artistes can come and make content Itrsquos paid of course but the idea is to give them marketing infrastructurerdquo he says ldquoIf you look at prepandemic Mumbai compared to today there are barely any performance venues where a young artiste can go and perform Wersquore working on a project called Discover where four singersongwriters every month can perform at Khar SocialrdquoMeattle hits the nail on the head with this ldquoWhy should only a hundred artistes live a decent quality of life through their music Can that number not scale up to lakhsrdquo he asks ldquoI keep questioning mdash if I had come to Mumbai today instead of 10 years ago would it have been harder for me to build my own career And I would say yes and no There are some things that have gotten easier some things that have gotten harderrdquo