Sony Music India (SMI) has signed a new deal with rapper Raftaar and his independent label Kalamkaar.
The rapper, from Thiruvananthapuram, is also a producer and TV personality. He has 907,631 monthly listeners on Spotify and founded his label with business partner Ankit Khanna.
Kalamkaar works with young hip-hop, rap, pop and EDM artists including Deep Kalsi, Rashmeet Kaur and Yunan.
Rajat Kakar, managing director of Sony Music India, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Raftaar and the Kalamkaar label into the Sony Music family at an exciting time for independent music in India. As a company with reach spanning multiple repertoires and with artists at the core of what we do, partnering with Raftaar helps us continue to play a key role in showcasing India’s young music talent both here and abroad.”
Hip-hop is the world’s most influential culture
Raftaar
Raftaar (real name Dilin Nair) said: “We are excited to be a part of the Sony Music family which is renowned for being artist-centric in everything it does. Hip-hop today is the world’s most influential culture and has witnessed a rapid upsurge as an authentic and relatable genre, with rap undeniably maintaining its appeal through the years. Our aim at Kalamkaar is to discover and launch the next wave of Indian hip-hop talent. So our new partnership with Sony Music is key in accelerating the growth and reach of the independent music movement - not only in India; but also among the millions of Indian diaspora around the world.”
Ankit Khanna added: “We have worked diligently alongside our talent roster to build an independent label that puts creativity and collaboration at the heart of every release. We look forward to this new partnership with Sony Music India, which aims to increase the scale and scope of non-film music in India, break independent hip-hop and rap into the mainstream and reinvigorate the listening experiences of music enthusiasts.”
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