Excel Entertainment Starts Its Own Record Label, With Universal Music As Shareholder

Excel Entertainment, the Mumbai production house run by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, launched a record label called Excel Music in early August. Universal Music Group has taken a stake in the venture as a strategic shareholder and will run its marketing and distribution.

For a company whose name is attached to Dil Chahta Hai, Rock On!!, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Gully Boy, the move is overdue. Excel has spent more than two decades making films whose soundtracks outlived their theatrical runs. Until now, the songs went out under somebody else's label.

What the label will do

Excel Music will put out soundtracks and background scores from Excel's own productions. It also plans to work with other filmmakers and production houses around the country, which makes it a label in the full sense rather than an in-house release desk.

Its first album was the soundtrack to Mirzapur: The Movie, the big-screen continuation of the streaming series, which was due in cinemas on 4 September. The lead single brought in Haryanvi rapper Dhanda Nyoliwala for his first Hindi film song.

"Music has always held a special place in our creative journey," Sidhwani and Akhtar said in a joint statement, calling the label "a natural extension of that passion".

Sanujeet Bhujabal, Universal's managing director for India and South Asia, said the company wanted to help build "a distinctive destination for exceptional music across genres", and pointed to its roster, catalogue and distribution muscle as what it brings to the table.

Why studios want the masters

The logic here is about ownership. A hit film song earns for decades, on streaming, on YouTube, in syncs and on the radio. Producers who license those rights away at release give up the long tail. A studio that keeps them builds a catalogue that grows in value with every film it makes.

Universal's role is the interesting part of the structure. Rather than simply buying soundtrack rights film by film, it now holds equity in a producer's label. That gives it a seat at the table for Excel's future slate, while Excel keeps its name on the records.

Excel is not alone in reaching for its own music arm this year. Yash Raj Films opened an independent label within days of this announcement. The difference is direction. Yash Raj is looking beyond cinema for artists, while Excel's first job is to keep its own film songs at home.

(Source: official press release)