Glossary / Indian music

Industry terms

Non-film music

Non-film music is Indian music made outside the film industry, such as indie, pop, rap and singles released on their own, rather than songs written for films.

Also called: NFM, Indian indie music, independent music in India

By Aulto · Last reviewed

Why does the term exist?

For decades, film soundtracks dominated Indian music, so music made outside films got its own label: non-film.

How big is non-film music now?

A growing share of what Indians stream, driven by independent artists, rap and regional pop releasing directly on streaming services and YouTube.

What's different about releasing non-film music?

There's no film marketing behind it. The artist and their team build attention themselves, which makes the release plan, fan list and social presence matter more.

Example

An independent Hindi rapper releases singles every six weeks with no label, building listeners through reels and a fan list.

  • Rollout

    A rollout is the whole plan around a release, from the first tease to the follow-up weeks after it comes out.

  • Owned audience

    An owned audience is the people you can reach directly, like your email list or opted-in WhatsApp contacts, without depending on a platform's algorithm.

  • Caller tune

    A caller tune (CRBT, caller ring back tune) is a song people hear instead of the ringing sound when they call someone, set by the person being called.

  • Devotional music

    Devotional music is music made for worship and spiritual listening, like bhajans, aartis, kirtans and mantras, and it is one of India's largest music categories.

  • Lyrical video

    A lyrical video is a video that shows a song's lyrics on screen as it plays, the Indian music industry's go-to first video for a new song.

  • Regional language release

    A regional language release is music in one of India's many languages, such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi or Punjabi, released to reach listeners in that language.

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