Selling to Indians overseas is a natural niche for music promoters because the influence of Indipop grows from the Indian community and then spreads, says Mishal Varma, senior programming director for MTV Networks Asia in Singapore. There have been such successes before. So did pop star Daler Mehndi, who used to run a taxi business in California before he was discovered by Indian music company Magnasound, the first to popularize Indian pop music. Hopeful record companies now send MTV 40 Indian music videos a day, up from 80 per year in 1996. For the moment, however, the biggest market for Indian music is in India.
Critics say the music is still mostly bubble-gum and largely derivative.
But the Spice Girls are bubblegum, too. Their Indian counterparts could be just a song away. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.