In an industry that measures success in terms of virality, ghazal singer Vipin Aneja offers a counter-narrative. His song, Jaane Tere Shehar Ka, didn’t explode overnight when it released in 2015, but slowly found listeners who keep returning to it even a decade later. Such is its popularity today that the singer is set to release its reprised version this month. “Many music company heads approach music as a business metric, not as an evolving art form. As a result, ghazals are quickly labelled niche. Ironically, the longevity of songs like Jaane Tere Shehar Ka tells a different story,” argues Aneja.

The singer is critical of how platforms use the excuse of “audience preference” to boost one genre over another. According to him, the term is nothing but a shield against artistic courage. “Today’s music platforms and labels often claim they are responding to ‘audience preference,’ but in reality, they are actively shaping taste while using the audience as a convenient alibi to avoid artistic risk. Streaming platforms reward what performs fast, not what lasts. When similar-sounding songs are repeatedly promoted, listeners aren’t choosing them freely. They’re being conditioned through repetition,” he asserts.