Singer Sonu Nigam has opened up about the “cruel” machinations existing in the music industry. Sushant Singh Rajput’s death prompted the singer to post a video explaining the dirtier side of the industry. Sonu Nigam, 46, captioned his vlog as, “You might soon hear about suicides in the music industry”.
He said “Sushant Singh Rajput died, an actor died. Tomorrow, you can hear the same about a singer, or a composer, or a lyrics writer. Because the music scenario in our country… there are bigger ‘mafias’ here that in the film industry, unfortunately”.
Sonu Nigam points out the “mafias” of the music industry. He said, “The power rests in the hands of two of them… just two from the music industry. They own companies. They have the power to make someone sing or not sing”.
Through his video the singer has requested the “Mafias” to be kind and considerate towards the new comers. He said, “Everybody wants to ‘rule’ the business….Don’t do this! This is not right…..It’s very difficult for the new kids, very difficult… I speak to every one of them. They are troubled that the producer wants to work with them, the director wants to work, even the music composer wants to work with them but the music company will say: ‘This is not our artiste'”.
Sonu talks about his own self too, “I was lucky that I joined (the industry) at a young age, I escaped the clutches”. He added, “I got out of it. I don’t have any wish to sing for the last 15 years. It’s ok. I am happy in my own world. But I have seen the frustration in the eyes, in the voice, in the words of new singers, new composers, new lyrics writers… tears of blood, sometimes.”
Talking about the ill-treatment towards singers, Sonu Nigam made an oblique reference to Salman Khan. He said, ” He’s done that with Arijit Singh.” During making of Sultan movie in 2016, Salman Khan had tried to drop a song recorded by Arijit Singh.
Sonu Nigam spoke about how replacement of singers are done in the music industry. He said, many a times he was called for song recordings but then his songs were dubbed by different artists. “If you can do this with me, then what you guys must have been doing with the newcomers………..Hope more people don’t die by suicide.”