Mumbai: EMI Virgin announced their exclusive distribution agreement with boutique music label, IndiaBeat today.

IndiaBeat, which has had a popular presence on the Internet as an online radio station and music-related social networking site since 2006, covers the genres of Indian classical, jazz, progressive rock and fusion music. Slated for its debut in the latter part of June 2008, IndiaBeat is planning releases by critically-acclaimed artistes including, Sanjay Mishra, Pete Lockett, Amit Chatterjee, Broto Roy, Amit Heri, Henrik Andersen, Shashank and several others. A marketing kick off with a sampler is expected later this month.
"India is a vast nation with diverse musical tastes. Classical, jazz and fusion music performances, while very well attended have a poor co-relation to CDs sold. Thus it is IndiaBeat's clear objective to help popularize and sustain niche genres for the discerning music lover in India," says IndiaBeat co-founder Samiran Gupta.

"We are looking forward to infusing the IndiaBeat catalogue in to our repertoire in India. Like all EMI products, our customers can look forward to taking home a rich musical experience each time they purchase from the IndiaBeat catalogue," said EMI senior manager Anand Srinivasan