MUMBAI – In an effort to widen its share of the market for Bollywood music — which accounts for more than half the listenership on Indian streaming platforms — Warner Music India has signed an exclusive partnership with local label Jjust Music.
An English-language single by Hindi film actor Tiger Shroff is among the initial batch of releases.
As previously reported in Billboard, the deal, announced today, is part of the major’s plan to bridge the worlds of Bollywood and “non-film” or commercial Indian pop music.
Jjust Music was founded in 2019 by Hindi film actor and producer Jackky Bhangnani. His father, movie producer Vashu Bhagnani, runs Pooja Entertainment and Films, which released a string of hit comedies in the 1990s.
“The idea is building non-film music on the scale of film music,” Jay Mehta, managing director of Warner Music India and SAARC, said in February. “Since Pooja [Entertainment] is a big production house, they have access to actors” who can record or star in the videos of non-film songs, he said, “and enable us to make this transition seamlessly.”
While film soundtracks struggled somewhat due to pandemic-related production issues, Bollywood music continues to dominate India’s streaming platforms, making up more than 50% of all music consumed on Gaana, a leading streaming service.
Mehta says WMG aims to release “at least two Bollywood soundtracks, around 20 non-film songs and few Indian regional language tracks” a year with Jjust Music. The first release under the deal will be the soundtrack to the upcoming Punjabi-language comedy movie Main Te Bapu starring singer-actor Parmish Verma.
Warner Music already has an exclusive licensing agreement with Tips Music, which holds the rights to some of the most popular Hindi film soundtracks from the 1990s and early 2000s. The soundtrack to the 2021 Bollywood movie Bhoot Police was released in September, after the tie-up.
Although Shroff’s single has been described by Warner Music as its “first foray into marquee Bollywood releases,” the song is not tied to a film. It will be the newest attempt at turning Shroff into a recording star. The popular action film actor has thus far released four non-film tracks on three different labels. His first two, “Unbelievable,” in Hindi, and “Casanova,” in English, were put out by Big Bang Music, a joint venture between Sony Music and Collective Artists Network, the Indian entertainment management company to which Shroff is signed.
Shroff’s most recent non-film tune, the Punjabi-language “Poori Gal Baat,” was for Zee Music Company.
With nearly 30 million views on YouTube, Shroff’s most-watched video so far is “Vande Mataram,” a patriotic Hindi ballad that was released on Jjust Music. Jjust’s collaboration with Warner Music will give “Indian music and artists the same exposure, support and opportunities as international music,” Bhagnani said in a press release Monday.
The joint venture will go beyond distributing and marketing Jjust Music’s output in foreign markets. “This will help us add value to our artists’ careers by offering support in a huge range of areas from live shows to brand partnerships,” said Mehta in the release.
Still to come, as part of the major’s strategy to tap the audience for Bollywood music, is a yet-to-be-announced licensing and distribution deal with Vishesh Films. Like Tips, the production house has a number of hit Hindi film soundtracks in its bank.
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