Paid views in Hindi music scene: What does the industry think?

It’s not uncommon to see songs garnering 100 or 200 million online views within hours of release these days. And while some may genuinely earn such traction, it cannot be denied that the culture of paid views exists, too. An instance was witnessed recently, when the Mumbai Crime Branch filed a chargesheet against singer-rapper Badshah for allegedly paying ₹74 lakh to get 72 lakh views for a video.

Wondering for how long this practice has been prevalent, we speak to various musicians from the fraternity. Singer-composer Arko Pravo Mukherjee says, “This was not a surprise. This norm is not really prevalent in the West. When big artistes like Rihanna or Bruno Mars release a song, they never have such views in one day, it grows slowly.”

Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya says this is not just corruption, but “terrorism” in music. “Yeh kya ho raha hai? Jo cheez bina talent mil jaati hai na, uss cheez ko aap respect nahin karte ho. We are lucky hum uss samay nikle hain ki humne jo create kiya, woh aaj hai aur chalega. Badshah jaise log aayenge aur hum ko bada baadshah bana denge,” he says.

Some musicians, however, are not aware of this practice of buying views. Singer Amit Mishra of Bulleya (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil; 2016) fame, says, “I was completely unaware. I just knew about the boost we can do on social media. I believe in my music growing organically. I am a fan of Badshah and collaborated with him in the past. I practise my vocals every day… audience ko gumraah karne wali baat alag ho jaati hai.”

Singer Dev Negi, known for rendering Sweetheart (Kedarnath; 2018) and the Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017) title track echoes the same sentiment: “I focus on my song, kaam milna chahiye.”

Mukherjee, in fact, reveals that artistes in the West have sued YouTube for allowing such malpractices. “A few artistes started this in the last few years, because they wanted to have a false image. Artistes sued YouTube, rightfully claiming that if fraud happens, how would artistes be actually judged. It is wrong to them who are not buying views,” he shares.