Rahman, Sonu and Lata India's favorites

NEW DELHI: Indian youth have given the definitive verdict. Double Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman is young India’s favorite music More Pictures
personality followed by singer Sonu Niigaam and the legendary Lata Mangeshkar.

A recent twelve-nation online survey released today has suggested that while a whopping 83% Indian youth love music, this year, there has been a 23% increase in the time they spent listening to music. Overall, the Asian youth increased their time spent listening to music by 25% over last year.

Titled Music Matters, the Asia-wide survey among 8,841 respondents has been conducted by market research firm Synovate. It goes on to add that American rock band Linkin Park, singer Rihanna and Canadian artiste Avril Lavigne are some of the popular music personalities in Asian countries, that are marked by a keen interest in local music and singers who dominate their favorites list.

While his general body of work has been admirable, it could well be Rahman’s work for Slumdog Millionaire that has catapulted him as a hot favorite. So, while Rahman and Sonu Niigaam are understandably favorites with Indian youth, thanks to their recent work that has appealed to Gen Y, it is Lata Mangeshkar’s name that comes across as a pleasant surprise. Renditions from the seventy-nine year-old veteran continue to strike the right chords with the country’s young listeners.

Says Bollywood music composer Shankar Mahadevan of the Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy trio; “Lataji has left an indelible mark on music. Her contribution to Indian music is unmatchable. It is therefore no surprise to me that she appears in the favorites’ list. The fact that the youth adore Lataji also proves that they have a keen ear for stellar music.” Notwithstanding the bombardment of techno, pop, rap music, Indian youth are discerning music listeners, still loving the gentle crooner and undisputed czarina of melody.

In what would be music to the ears of mobile phone manufacturers, the survey states that mobile phones are the clear favorites with Indian youth as the devices for listening to music, with 39% respondents preferring them to TV, computers and MP3 players. For the Asian region, computers followed by MP3 Players are the preferred devices for listening to music.

India’s music industry, which complains of constantly eroding revenues (to the tune of 50%) thanks to piracy will take heart from the finding that Indians are some of the most legal down loaders of music from the internet, with 19% paying for downloaded music, as against the 11% average of paid down loaders in the Asia.

But Vipul Pradhan, CEO, Phonographic Performance India, a music broadcasting license society, begs to differ; “The number of internet music downloaders is small in India, as compared to other Asian countries. Therefore the small number of ‘paid’ music down loaders is not of much significance.”