ABSTRACT
Since the coming of sound, virtually all commercial Hindi films have contained songs, and these songs are seen as central to the commercial viability of a film. This chapter examines the technologies of distribution, the marketing, and the profitability of film songs during four periods: the first few years of sound film, the early 1930s to the mid-1980s – The gramophone era, the 1980s-2000: The cassette revolution and the spread of commercial television, and 2000 and beyond: From boom to bust. An examination of these four periods charts how the variables of audience taste, technology, business enterprise and markets have played roles in a vast expansion of film and film song audiences. The advent of cassettes in India paved the way for realizing the commercial potential of film music on a whole new scale. While film songs have become more important in commercial terms, they have done so within a symbiotic relationship with films.
