Vasundhara is seventeen years old. She, along with most of her friends, have now settled on Linkin Park, a California-based band that produces what is popularly known as nu-metal sound. Vasundhara isn’t finished yet. Linkin Park, she informs, is her favourite band “at this point of time”. Her love for this American band, it seems, is ephemeral. The affair might be over as soon as she comes across a band that has something new to offer. Vasundhara insists that she does not have a ‘favourite’ performer when it comes to music. “My friends and I are into band hopping”, she says with a grin, before putting the headphones back on.

Shakira, who performed in Mumbai on Sunday night — but reportedly failed to make the audience go wild — would be a worried woman, if she were to hear what Vasundhara said. The fact that her latino charm and disarming lyrics have not been able to hold captive a generation of restless teens would be truly galling. But then there is a more important reason for the singer to lose sleep over the disloyalty on display. Teenagers, in today’s music industry, represent a crucial segment. According to some estimates, in India they comprise nearly 30 per cent of the total purchases. A liberalized economy can hardly ignore the demands of such a burgeoning sector. What is also evident is that the boys and girls in this age bracket are extremely conscious about their role as consumers. They make demands, and the failure to meet them on the part of music companies eats into the profit margins. Music companies cannot afford to turn their backs on such a lucrative market. For that matter, neither can Shakira. A sizeable teen following would ensure her and any other musician decent sales figures.

But Shakira need not find fault with her own self for the erosion in her teen fan base. There are larger forces at work, some of which are frankly beyond her control. One of the crucial factors that has contributed to the gradual fading out of the loyal fan among teens is their access to the new forms of technology. The internet has revolutionized music, and the way people, adults as well as children, look at it. It has brought about a wide array of choices, making it impossible for a young, impressionable mind to remain committed to one artist and his sound. The availability of user-friendly technology has made downloading music easier and affordable. The internet also hosts numerous online stores and music libraries that have led to an increasing number of young people who are willing to listen to, and experiment with, new sounds. Debdipto Banerjee is a perfect example of the ‘new-age’ listener. He might be all of fourteen, but his passion and knowledge of hip-hop would make even an adult blush. He says that the search engines enable him to gather information about this genre. Currently, he is listening to Akon, the new hip-hop star, and adds that his mother doesn’t know about the singer’s liberal use of expletives.

Significantly, most teenagers are aware that music, today, comes as a complete package. In a sense, the artist has given way to the performer. Lyrics and tunes are important, but what also happens to be crucial is a musician’s presentability. “I used to like the way Shakira danced, but have you seen the Pussycat dolls sway”? asks another teen, waiting to pay up in front of counter with an armful of CDs. Clearly, lights, sound, choreography and even an artist’s body matter more than a voice in this age of the showman. “I buy what I see,” informs Debdipto, casually. It is evident that for teenagers, the onset of music videos changed music forever.

It would also be puerile to keep the record companies out of the web that has led to shifts in music taste. Modern music, like most other forms of art, is a commodity that needs to evolve and change to meet burgeoning demands.

Riddhish Chhatrapati of Universal Music is in his thirties but he feels about eighteen. He still finds the time to visit the pubs and discos in Mumbai. And it is on these visits that he learns what young people want. “We introduce a new song during busy nights. If the crowd (comprising teenagers as well as adults) takes to the dance floor, we know that we have a hit”, says Chhatrapati. The tunes need to be changed frequently, setting off a vicious cycle where the survival of an artist and a music company is dictated by their ability to innovate. This, according to Chhatrapati, has enriched and diversified music. What he doesn’t mention though is that the fairy tale also has a dark side — the meteoric rise is often followed by a cruel fall, when an artist fails to keep pace with the changing times.

However, the loyal teenage music fan is not ready to take his final bow yet. There are pockets of resistance, in a landscape that changes its tunes all too frequently. Sayan Ganguly, also fourteen, has just grown a faint moustache. He is confident that he is going to keep one for the rest of his life. He is equally resolute when it comes to his taste in music. He listens to Pink Floyd, and only Floyd. He has discovered a band that is his all-time favourite.

Shakira had once written that the stage is the only place where she feels truly uninhibited. The audience, she added, becomes a huge mirror, its response reflecting her inner most feelings. Perhaps, Sayan’s words would make Shakira hopeful. Some of the faces that she sees on this mirror will stay, perhaps, for a long time.