Indi-pop refers to Indian pop music. It was in the 1990s, when Alisha Chinai brought out her hugely successful ‘Made in India’ album that was given wide publicity on MTV that Indi-pop came to the public eye in a big way. Till then, popular music was, by and large, film music.

Some of the notable early performers were the hugely talented singer-songwriter from Goa, Remo Fernandez, the inimitable Usha Usthup, the renowned playback singer Asha Bhonsle and Sharon Prabhakar.

From the 90s onwards, the music industry began to give a lot of encouragement to Indi-pop music by producing, marketing and launching many albums. Soon a number of people struck out and a good percentage of them also met with success.

Some of the second-wave singers who caught the attention of the public were Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi, classical vocalist Shubha Mudgal who tried her hand at popular music briefly, Sonu Nigam who is today an established playback singer, Lucky Ali who had a distinctive style, and Baba Sehgal who was a rage among the youth.

Today, Indi-pop continues to thrive in the niche that it has carved for itself and there are many musicians in this field who have come by great name and fame. In the recently concluded Commonwealth Games hosted by India, Indi-pop singer Shaan sang a farewell song in Hindi at the closing ceremony.