In India, they have a vibrant Entertainment Industry, and it has a strong cultural tradition, which means that music attracts a lot more people, and they have a pathway to make it a career....<p>But since Bollywood is the heavyweight, it therefore creates a gravitational effect, where successful musicians tend to gravitate towards the type of music that would better fit Bollywood's needs, instead of taking risks.<p>And Bollywood in turn heavily promote the music, which tends to drown out all the competition.<p>This means that for the average Indian, despite having a diverse set of musicians, the usual youtube/spotify recommendations tend to become the "same old".<p>----<p>Meanwhile, In Pakistan, the more conservative/religious background meant that there was far less cultural acceptance for a career in music. Ofcourse, the old great musical lineages still exist, but the industry has stagnated some what. Cinemas have started to close, and there isn't much a film industry anymore.<p>Most singers were of the safe "pop" variety that could be played on state owned TV. Any chance of making a fanbase by concerts vanished when terrorists started threatening to attack venues post 9/11. Singers changed industry to either acting in TV dramas, or left it altogether of other ventures. ( You can find Pakistani Rock stars running a dollar store in Scranton or running a radio Channel in Houston)<p>This mean that there is more risk taking, since most people making music are doing it out of passion, not because they believe this could lead to a career. And they take to social media, and have an equal chance of getting on your recommended list as some one who is already established.<p>This means that Indians looking for some "fresh" music are getting some interesting choices from across the border, since these tend to not be drowned out by music labels.<p>Also, now Brands are using the social media scene to make their own channels. Coke, Pepsi, Nescafe, Walls ice cream, heck even Strepsils have their own small music scene, just make a small music studio, hire a house band and invite singers to jam and essentially create a musical ad<p>I feel that these new programs have now also devolved into a same old routine where singers are now, instead of creating new music and taking risks, are just taking old popular songs and covering them with a new twist, the title of the old song providing an incentive to click.<p>++++<p>Still, Pasoori was a good song, it was not just a cover of an old song and it was not just a jam session with the house band, so good for Coke Studio to encourage some thing beyond the routine