Believe India's BL/UR Imprint Bets On Indian Pop That Ignores Language Borders

Believe India already runs an imprint for each of three languages: Neue for Punjabi music, Mahra Tora for Haryanvi and Think Indie for Tamil independent music. The fourth, BL/UR, launched at a networking event in Mumbai on 21 August, is organised around a kind of pop instead of a language.

The date was picked for Believe's 20th anniversary.

The first roster

Six acts make up the first roster:

• Marathi pop artist Sanju Rathod
• Composer and producer Anurag Saikia
• Rapper and lyricist Farhan Khan
• Desi hip-hop artist Khullar G
• Electronic duo Rusha & Blizza
• Rapper-songwriter Bali

Rathod's debut album is part of the first slate. He is known for the singles "Gulabi Saadi" and "Shaky". Farhan Khan, a poet and rapper, has blended qawwali with other genres. Rusha & Blizza fuse electronic, Indian and global sounds. Khullar G and Bali are rappers too, which makes three hip-hop acts on a label billed as a pop imprint.

Saikia went first, with "Badeela", the opening song from Pardesi, a six-track pop EP due later this year. It draws on Rajasthani music and came out of his travels through the state. He has handled large numbers before. "Ishq Hai", from the third season of Mismatched, has passed 269 million Spotify streams. "Badeela" came out at the launch on 21 August, and Believe describes it as the first preview of the EP.

"A new generation of Indian artists are growing up without looking at identity as local or global," she said in a statement.

The thinking

Akhila Shankar, director of Believe Artist Services for India and South Asia, explained the label. "A new generation of Indian artists are growing up without looking at identity as local or global," she said in a statement. "The future of Indian pop will be shaped by the freedom to draw inspiration from everywhere while remaining unmistakably Indian."

Vivek Raina, managing director of Believe India and South Asia, called BL/UR "a natural evolution" of the company's approach to artist development. He said the future of Indian pop lies "in breaking down the boundaries between genres, sounds and influences". He also tied the launch to the anniversary. "As we mark Believe's 20th anniversary, BL/UR represents where we see Indian music heading next," he said, describing "a new generation of artists drawing from diverse cultural and global influences to create a sound that's distinctly contemporary, distinctly Indian, and built for a global audience."

Believe says the imprint will give artists room to work outside standard commercial formats while keeping creative control, with artist development at the centre. Its artists will release tracks and EPs exclusive to the imprint. The company pitches it as an alternative to commercial Bollywood music and calls it an "exploration studio" for artists. Believe's line for the label is that it is "designed to blur in-country and global boundaries with a fresh, modern sound". It is language-agnostic, the only one of Believe India's four imprints not tied to a single language.

Sorting by sound

The language imprints let Believe go deep in regional markets that were growing fast. They also sorted every artist by the language they sing in. A Marathi pop singer, a rapper and an electronic duo would not have ended up on the same one.

On BL/UR they have. Saikia's own record shows why: a composer whose biggest song came from a streaming series, now releasing an EP built on Rajasthani music. A language label would not know where to file him.

Believe says the imprint also changes how it presents itself, moving it past its Artist Services and Development identity towards being led by imprints. Put simply, the company's own label name now goes on the records, not just its services behind them.

(Source: Believe press release, Believe BL/UR label page)

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