Here’s how AI is shaping the future of the Indian music scene in 2025 by being more of a creative co-pilot than a competitor.
On June 21 this year, the world gears up to celebrate World Music Day 2025. On the occasion, it would not be wrong to say that the current Indian music scene is at a thrilling crossroads with tradition and technology interspersed and so is creativity and code. Amidst all this, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), once considered to be a threat to artistic authenticity, has gained popularity. And in fact, is now enabling musicians to explore new ways of creating, producing, and experiencing music. Be it for composing background scores or using it for real-time voice modulation, AI has become a tool to help artists cut down on production time, and reach a wider audience.
Amidst fears of AI “replacing” musicians, Indian artists are now using AI as a co-pilot rather than a competitor. With AI-powered softwares, musicians are now generating melodic loops and producing ambient soundscapes. The control still remains at the hands of the musicians but AI now helps to aid the process.
With AI-driven mastering tools, music production can happen in hours, when earlier it used to take days. Indie studios across Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai are regularly making use of AI to balance audio levels and optimize EQ. It overall helps independent musicians to get professional results without studio setups. It has enabled artists from smaller cities or regional backgrounds to get a global reach.
One of AI’s biggest breakthroughs has been the language localization in Indian music. With over 22 official languages and multiple regional dialects, AI has assisted Indian music artists to transcend linguistic boundaries. With the translation tools, artists are now able to adapt lyrics across multiple languages and it has proven to be a game-changer for folk-fusion and multilingual acts.
With the usage of voice synthesis and AI voice cloning, one can now imagine a duet happening between a living artist and a digitally recreated voice of a past legend like Kishore Kumar or Lata Mangeshkar. These experiments remain controversial but the trend is starting to emerge.
Nonetheless, the fusion of AI and music raises questions about copyright, consent, data ownership, and hence, Indian music labels are keen to develop guidelines around AI use. As we celebrate World Music Day 2025, it looks like AI is here to amplify India's rich music legacy, and not erase it.
