Saregama, the label that owns one of the oldest film music catalogues in the country, spent the first half of this financial year putting more of its money into non-film songs. Haryanvi and Bihari tracks were on that list, next to its iPopstar albums in Hindi and Tamil and an album by the Punjabi artist Nijjar.
That came out of the company's Q2 FY27 earnings call, which The Economic Times reported on 9 November. Managing Director Vikram Mehra said Saregama plans to spend around ₹1,200 crore on new content between FY28 and FY30. That estimate assumes content budgets rise about 10% a year from this year's figure of roughly ₹325 crore.
Big-label earnings calls don't usually matter much to a singer in Rohtak or Ara who uploads songs on their own. This one does, a little. Here's why.
What Saregama actually said
A few points from the report are worth knowing:
- The music business earned ₹251.3 crore in the July to September quarter, up 35% from a year earlier. Mehra said part of that came from a weak base last year.
- The catalogue has more than 1,80,000 songs and grows by about 4,500 to 5,000 new releases a year.
- Saregama guides for a five-year payback on new music it acquires, followed by 55 to 75 years of returns.
- It represented 340 artists through its artist-management arm at the end of the quarter, and earns a share of their live shows, wedding bookings and brand deals.
- It has built technology to track AI-generated covers and remakes of its songs on streaming platforms. It either buys them out or asks for them to be removed.
- Mehra also mentioned the possibility of releasing some new content first behind a paywall.
The second half of the year swings back to films, with albums like Love & War and Naagzilla lined up. So this isn't a label walking away from Bollywood. It's a label that decided regional and independent music deserves a proper budget too.
Regional music is now worth a big label's money
If you make Haryanvi or Bhojpuri music, you already knew there was an audience. Now a listed company is telling its shareholders the same thing.
Spotify said something similar this month. Its India head of music, Dhruvank Vaidya, told Moneycontrol that five of Spotify India's top 10 tracks in 2025 were artist-first releases, meaning songs not tied to a film. YouTube went further earlier this year and started weekly charts for Haryanvi and Bhojpuri music videos.
The practical upshot: expect more competition for the same playlists, reels and trending slots, because labels with marketing budgets are now chasing the songs that independent regional artists used to have mostly to themselves.
The real lesson is in the payback numbers
Look again at that payback line. A label expects to earn back what it pays for a song in about five years, and then keep earning from it for half a century or more.
That's how valuable a master recording is to the people who understand the business. When an artist sells or hands over their masters for a one-time fee, that long tail of income goes with it. We see this regularly at RMX. A devotional singer from Rajasthan records forty bhajans over ten years, and the ones still earning every Navratri and Janmashtami are the ones they kept in their own name.
None of this means a label deal is bad. A label brings money, marketing and reach that most independent artists can't match on their own. But before you sign, read what happens to the masters, for how many years, and in which territories. If the contract says "in perpetuity", ask why.
AI covers of old hits are being watched now
A lot of creators make AI versions or remakes of old Hindi film songs and upload them through distributors. Saregama has said plainly it tracks these and either buys them out or has them taken down.
If your release is a cover or remake of someone else's song, you need the right licence first, whether a human sang it or an AI did. We wrote a step-by-step guide on clearing a cover song in India under Section 31C. Uploading without it now carries a bigger risk than it did a year ago, because the owners have the tools to find you.
Your own original songs are a different matter. Using AI tools to help with music you own is a separate question, and we covered it in this guide to using AI tools legally.
Paywalled releases are spreading
Mehra's comment about releasing new content behind a paywall first lines up with what Spotify is already testing in India. Its Premium Early Access pilot gives paying subscribers some Universal Music releases up to three days before free users.
For most independent artists, our advice hasn't changed: release to everyone on day one. Most regional listeners are still on free plans, and holding a song back from them usually costs you more than it gains.
What to do this week
Three small things, if this news made you think:
1. List every song you've released and check who owns the master for each. If you don't know, find the contract or ask your distributor. 2. If you've released covers, confirm you hold a licence for each one. 3. Write down who gets what share for every collaboration. Our royalty split guide has a simple format.
Keeping your masters with RMX
At RMX Music, the songs you distribute stay yours. We deliver to 95+ platforms and pass on 95% of royalties. More than 3,000 artists and 2,200+ labels have released 20,000+ tracks with us, a large share of them Haryanvi, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Rajasthani and devotional music. A Label account is a one-time ₹4,500 for life, with unlimited releases and artists. If you run several labels, the Agent account is ₹15,000 for life.
If big labels are betting on regional music, there's no reason you shouldn't keep betting on your own songs. Create your RMX account and put out your next release in your own name.