“Anything that can give us a voice, is a beneficial medium for us,” says musician Palash Sen of Euphoria. The artiste referring to the rise of independent music over the last few years, says a “musician is no longer at the mercy of a label or corporation”.

He elaborates, “His/her music is out there for the people to consume. Sadly, I am seeing a change in that as well. The internet is also governed by advertising budgets now. So, toothpastes have more visibility than music videos.”

Moreover, to make things worse, there have been reports of artistes buying likes. Sen is deeply distressed about these developments and says, “Unfortunately, all the blame has been focused on the artistes. May I know why nobody is blaming this entire system? It is a ridiculous assumption that a song must be good only if it has 500 million views.”

Sen also finds the evolution of the artiste-audience relationship funny. “We’ve come from asking the audience to pay for the music they consume, to paying money to advertise so that they listen to it for free…” he quips.

The singer says that the lockdown has been fun for him as he got to spend a lot of time with his family. “I made sure they never complain about me not having time for them ever again! I spent a lot of time alone in my studio. I wrote a lot, composed a lot and created a whole different kind of content. I discovered social media during those months and it got me closer to those who belive in me,” he concludes.