MUMBAI: Believe, one of the world’s leading global digital music companies, announced an exclusive music distribution deal with Panorama Music, the Indian music company behind blockbuster Bollywood films such as Omkara, Pyaar Ka Punchnama franchise, Raid and Drishyam franchise to name a few.

Panorama Music was created by film producer, distributor, and studio executive Mr. Kumar Mangat Pathak. A prominent name in India’s music and entertainment industry, he serves as Chairman of Panorama Studios.

This partnership marks a new stage in Believe India’s history, as it accelerates its expansion into the new Bollywood OST market, namely albums coming out from Hindi language movies, which constitutes the country’s largest music segment. Believe’s Label and Artist Solutions (L&AS) will exclusively distribute all content for Panorama Music, which includes Hindi Film Music, Hindi Independent Music and Regional Music, working alongside to provide global distribution support for their catalogue and future releases.

The recent release of the soundtrack from the film Drishyam 2 with Panorama Music is the first example of this collaboration. Bollywood movie producers traditionally have been working with Hindi language-focused music labels to release their albums and mostly it has been a rights sell-out. With the market evolution, Bollywood producers are now starting to look at retaining the music rights. This partnership is a way to further strengthen the independent music scene, Believe being a key player in supporting local indie labels/producers and contributing to building a sustainable and healthy local music industry in India.

Announcing the partnership, Vinay Guwalani, Director Label and Artist Solutions– Believe India added, “We are thrilled for this landmark partnership with Panorama Music, where Believe will be the partner for all releases under Panorama Music. We already started strong with Drishyam 2 which was a smash hit at the Box office, and we look forward to many successes together in the new Bollywood OST market, especially with the experience and legacy that Mr. Kumar Mangat Pathak and his team bring to the partnership. Our vision is to fully support Panorama Music and we are always open to finding and collaborating with future-oriented artists and labels.”

Founded by successful producer Kumar Mangat Pathak and Abhishek Phatak in a bold entrepreneurial move, Panorama Music is one of India’s upcoming companies in the entertainment industry. With a focus in Bollywood and Premium Independent Music, Panorama Music entered the independent music scene with the launch of “Drishyam 2’. As it looks to build its national and international fan base, Panorama Music’s vision is to be a next generation platform for music artists, thereby a critical source of emergent new artistic talent in the country.

Commenting on this association Kumar Mangat Pathak, Chairman and Managing Director, Panorama Music, “Panorama Music was launched a year ago to further strengthen the 25+ years legacy of Panorama Studios of producing premium pathbreaking content and attracting the best talent in the industry. With Panorama Music, our endeavor is to create diverse music content with both fresh and established talent and accrue a robust catalogue. We are fortunate to have a partner like Mr. Ajay Devgn who has consistently supported us since our inception and entrusted us with his directorial Runway 34 as the first Bollywood OST with the label. The music of Drishyam 2 set the right tone for the film with Devi Sri Prasad’s unique sound on the trailer and the songs. With this partnership with Believe and their expertise in digital distribution we are set to take our music content global and look forward to setting newer benchmarks.”

Vivek Raina, Managing Director of Believe India, says: “It’s been fascinating to see, and accompany, the growth of India’s independent music scene grow over the last few years. So much so that it has started to gain market share from OSTs and I’m convinced that this evolution will stabilize in next few years to allow a co-existence of OST and independent music segments, both having a strong market share. Our partnership with Panorama Music certainly constitutes an exciting step towards this direction. Our digital expertise and transparency will allow Bollywood producers to look at options to self-release and retaining the rights.”

Since its launch in India in 2013, Believe has focused its efforts on developing a strong network of regional labels and independent artists via its Label and Artist Solutions business, with the acquisition of Venus in 2019 (renamed Ishtar in 2021), and the acquisition of key Tamil independent player Think Music in 2021. This strategy has allowed Believe to successfully capture the Indian regional market and to put its unique digital expertise and values of transparency, fairness and equity at the service of local artists, labels as well as movie production houses at all stages of their development across independent music, non-film and music film, which is a market specific to India.