India's Vinyl Revival Finds Its Groove
Faizan Hashmi Published November 17, 2024 | 10:00 AM
Mumbai, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Nov, 2024) Melting plastic pellets into chunky discs then squashed flat, a worker presses records in what claims to be the first vinyl plant to open in India in decades.
Warm music with a nostalgic crackle fills the room -- a Bollywood tune from a popular Hindi movie.
"I'm like a kid in a candy shop," grins Saji Pillai, a music publishing veteran in India's entertainment capital Mumbai, who began pressing in August.
The revival of retro records among Indian music fans mirrors a global trend that has seen vinyl sales explode from the United States to Britain and Brazil.
Pillai, 58, entered the music industry as "vinyl was just going out".
He spent the last few years importing records from Europe for his music label clients.
But he took the decision to open his own plant -- cutting import taxes and shipping times -- to focus on Indian artists and market tastes from Bollywood to indie pop after recording "growing interest".
Retailers including Walmart have embraced the retro format, and megastars including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Harry Styles have sent pressing plants around the world into overdrive.
In India, the scale of revival is far smaller -- in part due to lower household incomes -- but younger fans are now joining in the trend.
Pillai admitted the industry was still "challenging" but said the market was "slowly growing".
